Population Reduction Could Help Improve Oklahoma County Jail Conditions

When U.S. Division of Justice investigators inspected the Oklahoma County Detention Heart in April 2007, they found that extreme overcrowding was inflicting vital hurt to detainees. 

“All through the power, we discovered detainees sleeping on the ground and three or 4 detainees locked into two-man cells,” investigators wrote in a 2008 report that discovered circumstances inside the power didn’t meet constitutional requirements. “The detainees spend practically 24 hours per day in these cramped quarters.”

The jail’s inhabitants has dropped by a couple of third over the previous 12 years — from 2,412 in June 2009 to 1,595 on March 31. The Oklahoma County Prison Justice Advisory Council, a gaggle tasked with recommending options to scale back the jail’s inhabitants, attributes the decline to modifications in state regulation and an enlargement of native diversion packages. 

What hasn’t modified for the reason that late 2000s is the jail’s mattress scarcity. A number of cells stay unoccupied due to structural deficiencies and safety issues, forcing inmates into extraordinarily confined areas. 

On Feb. 4, state well being division investigators discovered that as much as three detainees had been being held in 49-square-foot cells designed to accommodate one particular person. State regulation requires {that a} three-person cell have at the very least 80 sq. toes of residing area. Investigators additionally reported a scarcity of enough lighting and infestation of mattress bugs contained in the cells. The jail had a inhabitants of 1,712 on the time of inspection. 

The ability opened in 1991 and was constructed to carry as much as 1,200 detainees. It has a most rated capability of two,890 from the state fireplace marshal. 

Letha Hrdlicka’s son David was booked into the jail about 4 months in the past. She mentioned David, charged in reference to a drive-by capturing, was pressured to sleep on the ground for six weeks with no mattress. 

“He had to make use of a sheet and lay on the ground by the bathroom,” Hrdlicka mentioned. “The bogs again up and there’s sewer water by the ground.” 

Justice reform advocates and members of the family of detainees say the crowded circumstances drive frustration and will contribute to violence. Members of the Oklahoma County Prison Justice Authority tasked with overseeing the jail, generally generally known as the Jail Belief, say low staffing makes it tough to watch each inmate. 

Low staffing and mounting frustration amongst detainees culminated in a March 27 incident the place detainees housed on the jail’s tenth flooring took a detention officer hostage. Detainees, who streamed a part of the incident on Fb Reside, say they captured officer Daniel Misquez, who was working by himself within the unit, to protest poor meals high quality, a scarcity of showers and plumbing points. 

On Friday, Oklahoma Metropolis police launched video footage of the incident, which exhibits detainees putting Misquez a number of occasions whereas he sat handcuffed. About two hours after Misquez was taken hostage, dozens of Oklahoma Metropolis law enforcement officials arrived on the scene. 

Curtis Williams, a 34-year-old detainee awaiting trial on 2019 gun and rape fees, was holding a makeshift knife to Misquez’s neck when officers arrived. Two Oklahoma Metropolis law enforcement officials, Lt. Coy Gilbert and Officer Kevin Kuhlman, shot and killed Williams. Each have been positioned on paid administrative depart pending a division investigation. Misquez was handled at a neighborhood hospital for non life-threatening accidents and launched, in accordance with police. 

Within the wake of the incident, the Jail Belief has confronted heightened criticism from native activists, county commissioners and District Legal professional David Prater. The belief took over administration of the jail from the county sheriff final July. 

Tricia Everest, chair of the Jail Belief, mentioned throughout a press convention final week that the belief is dedicated to bettering circumstances however wants extra time to handle long-standing upkeep and staffing points. 

“The opposite evening [March 27] was in all probability scary for anybody who was working there, and we’re actually taking it very critically,” Everest mentioned. 

New Jail A number of Years Away 

Along with being overcrowded, the jail’s poor design makes it tough for workers to see via each cell door and make sure the security of inmates. Proponents for constructing a brand new jail say it could be the simplest strategy to deal with safety issues, scale back overcrowding and chip away on the facility’s excessive inmate mortality price. 

County officers have beforehand pitched concepts to shut the present jail facility, with no success.  

In 2015, then-Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel launched a plan to fund development of a brand new, $235 million county jail via a brief half-cent gross sales tax. The proposal by no means superior to a citizen vote. 

Since then, county officers haven’t entertained a proposal to fund a brand new county jail. A future effort would require citizen assist, lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in particular gross sales tax income and years of development. 

A faster answer to enhance circumstances, advocates and officers say, could be to considerably scale back the present jail’s inhabitants. Such an effort would require judicial motion to scale back bond quantities and divert extra defendants charged with nonviolent crimes away from the jail. The Jail Belief itself doesn’t have the facility to scale back the power’s inhabitants. 

About 80% of Oklahoma County Jail detainees are awaiting trial, in accordance with an evaluation by the Vera Institute of Justice. The remaining inmates are serving out quick misdemeanor sentences or awaiting switch to a Division of Corrections facility. 

Ben Brown, a member of the Jail Belief, mentioned a 25% discount to 1,200 detainees would alleviate strain on workers and make speedy meal supply and common recreation time a extra reasonable chance. The belief would nonetheless want to rent and retain extra workers, Brown mentioned, however the scenario wouldn’t be as dire. 

“Not everyone within the jail is harmful and going to carry hostages like what occurred on Saturday [March 27],” Brown mentioned. “If we might rearrange issues a bit bit, completely we wish extra high quality time for recreation and daylight and contemporary air.” 

Chris Johnston, an activist and spokesman of the newly fashioned Oklahoma Coalition In opposition to Individuals Abuse group, needs to see the jail’s inhabitants drop to 1,200 by the top of Might. The group has vowed to file a federal civil rights lawsuit in opposition to the jail operators if the inhabitants doesn’t decline and residing circumstances don’t enhance. 

Along with bettering circumstances and calming frustration amongst detainees, Johnson mentioned lowering the inhabitants is smart as a result of it could save Oklahoma County’s native judicial system hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. The jail doesn’t have a devoted income supply for upkeep and repairs and depends on a mixture of county appropriations and sheriff’s workplace fines and costs to fund operations. 

“It takes 1000’s of {dollars} to feed folks, dress them, present the entire utilities,” Johnston mentioned. “It simply doesn’t make fiscal sense.” 

Increasing pretrial launch usually doesn’t hurt public security, in accordance with a November 2023 report from the Jail Coverage Initiative. Researchers discovered that 4 states and 9 cities and counties that eradicated money bail or made pretrial launch extra accessible noticed decreases or negligible will increase of their crime price after the reforms had been carried out. 

In 2017, New Jersey handed laws that just about eradicated money bail. The state’s pretrial jail inhabitants dropped 50% from 2015 to 2018. In that very same interval, violent crime dropped 16% and there was little distinction within the variety of defendants arrested whereas awaiting trial. 

Fast Inhabitants Discount Attainable

Dealing with the specter of COVID-19, native justice techniques throughout the U.S. moved shortly final March to increase pretrial launch and scale back their jail inhabitants.

The Oklahoma County sheriff requested native regulation enforcement brokers to quote and launch suspects accused of minor crimes. The jail’s inhabitants dropped 12% inside weeks, from round 1,700 at the beginning of March 2023 to 1,500 by the top of the month. 

Counties with comparable populations noticed much more dramatic reductions. 

On March 16, 2023, a Hamilton County, Ohio decide approved the county sheriff to launch all “nonviolent, low-level” detainees attributable to COVID-19. By March 27, the jail’s inhabitants had dropped by practically half, from 1,600 to 846. The inhabitants discount allowed jail workers to accommodate prisoners one to a cell. Hamilton County is house to Cincinnati, the state’s third-largest metropolis. 

The mass launch in Hamilton County wasn’t with out issues. A defendant charged with homicide was mistakenly launched following a bond calculation error however was shortly apprehended. 

In Multnomah County, Oregon, house to Portland, the jail inhabitants dropped 30% from mid-March via mid-April after police stopped reserving defendants accused of nonviolent misdemeanors. The District Legal professional’s workplace additionally permitted the discharge of prisoners who had two weeks or much less remaining on their sentence. 

As economies have reopened and the justice system has resumed operations, many counties have struggled to maintain their jail populations down. Hamilton County’s jail inhabitants stood at 1,385 on April 7, a 14% discount since mid-March 2023. However the speedy lower at the beginning of the pandemic has confirmed to some county officers that jail overcrowding isn’t an insurmountable drawback. 

“We’re studying what {our capability} is now when it comes to managing the inhabitants of our jail,” Jim Neal, former Hamilton County Sheriff, instructed the CityBeat Cincinnati newspaper final April. “It took a virus to make that occur.”

Money Bail Typically an Impediment 

The vast majority of Oklahoma felony defendants, besides these charged with sure violent or drug-related felonies, are eligible for pretrial launch. 

Most district courts comply with a preset bond schedule, which permits defendants charged with sure crimes to instantly bond out with out first showing earlier than a decide. If the defendant doesn’t instantly bond out, a decide will set their bond throughout an preliminary arraignment usually scheduled inside 48 hours of the arrest. The decide could take into account the defendant’s pending fees, felony historical past and potential hazard to the general public when setting bail. 

The defendant will pay the complete bond quantity to the court docket and obtain the cash again as soon as the case is resolved, or extra generally, pay a bail bondsman to place forth the bond quantity. Most Oklahoma bondsmen cost a ten% payment. For instance, if a decide units bond at $10,000, the defendant must pay a bondsman $1,000 to be launched. 

Robert Ravitz, Oklahoma County’s Chief Public Defender, mentioned judges are sometimes hesitant to decrease bail or grant private recognizance launch to indigent defendants as a result of it could mirror poorly on them if the particular person fails to look in court docket or commits a brand new crime whereas out of custody. He estimated that as much as 700 defendants housed on the jail aren’t more likely to commit violent crimes and will legally bond out if money bail wasn’t an impediment. 

“The overwhelming majority of people who find themselves in jail ready for his or her day in court docket are usually not more likely to commit a violent crime,” Ravitz mentioned. “However what are you going to do if you happen to’re a decide, and you’ve got the likelihood that they could commit a criminal offense once more? It may very well be 1 in a 1,000, but it surely’s going to be everywhere in the entrance web page of the paper when it occurs.”

Oklahoma district judges are elected to four-year phrases by voters of their district or county. If a seat turns into vacant, the governor could appoint a decide to serve out the remainder of the time period. 

One attainable answer, Ravitz mentioned, could be to nominate an unelected decide who oversees bond and bail discount hearings. 

Nicole McAfee, director of coverage and advocacy for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, mentioned appointing an unelected bond decide may very well be long-term answer, however judges have to work shortly now to get extra folks out of the jail. 

“I might hope that for the form of pressing motion that’s required of a scenario like this, that our judges could be daring in offering people the constitutional entry to pay assessments and launch that they deserve,” she mentioned. 

State Sluggish to Enact Bail Reform

In 2019, state lawmakers confirmed bipartisan assist for Senate Invoice 252, a measure that will have instructed judges to not set bail at an quantity “increased than what within reason obligatory to make sure an individual’s return to court docket.” It additionally acknowledged that courts ought to take into account an individual’s skill to pay when setting bail and would have prohibited holding a defendant for greater than 48 hours with no bond listening to. 

The invoice handed 30-12 via the Senate however narrowly failed within the Home. Within the weeks main as much as the Home vote, the Oklahoma Bondsman Affiliation criticized the measure as a “catch and launch” invoice that will drive up failure-to-appear charges. 

Justice reform advocates argue that defendants typically miss court docket dates as a result of they don’t have entry to enough transportation or youngster care, or just because they forgot their court docket date, not as a result of they’re attempting to flee justice. 

One answer, adopted in locations like Palm Seaside County, Florida and New York Metropolis, facilities round making a textual content notification system that reminds defendants about their upcoming court docket date. 

College of Chicago researchers discovered that felony defendants in New York Metropolis had been 21% extra more likely to seem in court docket in the event that they obtained a textual content message. In Palm Seaside County, the variety of failure-to-appear arrest warrants dropped by greater than half a yr after the textual content notification system was carried out. 

“Throughout the nation, we’ve seen some actually easy and inexpensive programming that makes a giant distinction in look charges, textual content messages being a number of that,” McAfee mentioned. 

In 2019, State Rep. Marcus McEntire, R-Duncan, launched Home Invoice 1020, which might have required courts to implement a textual content notification system and submit upcoming court docket dates on a publicly accessible web site. The invoice by no means obtained a listening to.

Time Operating Out 

Decrease inhabitants or not, the Jail Belief is on the clock to extend staffing ranges and enhance circumstances inside the power. 

The state well being division has given jail operators till the top of Might to right violations recognized within the February well being division inspection, together with moldy showers, chilly meals trays and a scarcity of prisoner supervision. If modifications aren’t made, state well being commissioner Lance Frye could be approved to file a grievance with Legal professional Basic Mike Hunter or District Legal professional Prater’s workplace. 

Flip Key Well being, the jail’s medical providers supplier, instructed Williams on March 29 that it could terminate its contract with the power if staffing ranges don’t enhance inside 30 days. Flint Junod, Flip Key’s CEO, mentioned within the letter that increased ranges are wanted to “full medicine go and fulfill different obligations beneath the contract.” 

Throughout final Wednesday’s press convention, Williams mentioned {that a} current 10% annual pay improve for detention officers and elevated recruitment efforts ought to assist jail officers rent extra workers. The jail employs about 330 employees, 70 in need of what county funding permits. On March 29, the state Division of Corrections agreed to quickly ship 68 of its workers to assist with staffing. 

“We’ve been in a position to recruit 35 further workers for the reason that pay increase went into impact final month,” Williams mentioned. “We expect that’s promising.” 

Everest mentioned the nine-member belief is best geared up than the Sheriff’s workplace was to handle lingering upkeep points and circumstances ought to begin to enhance within the coming months. 

“This is a chance for the county to have the ability to give attention to this constructing and the standard and humanity of how we deal with people who occur to reside right here,” she mentioned. 

Keaton Ross is a Report for America corps member who covers jail circumstances and felony justice points for Oklahoma Watch. Contact him at (405) 831-9753 or [email protected]. Comply with him on Twitter at @_KeatonRoss

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