OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – An inspection report deadline given to the Oklahoma County Jail Belief by the Oklahoma State Division of Well being in early March is approaching, and the belief’s chair informed KFOR they’ve made a variety of enhancements in current weeks.
“Heat showers for the primary time, working bathrooms, much less sewage,” Tricia Everest, chair of the Oklahoma County Felony Justice Authority, or the jail belief, mentioned on Tuesday.
These are all issues Everest mentioned the belief and jail workers have been engaged on enhancing contained in the jail.
“I’m actually impressed with our crew. They’re trying on the root causes of a few of these perpetual issues the constructing has had,” Everest mentioned.
Again on March 8, OSDH despatched a letter hooked up to a current jail inspection report back to Jail Administrator Greg Williams.
The letter reads:
Expensive Mr. Williams:
On February 5, 2023, our workplace carried out an annual inspection and investigations, throughout a go to to your facility, to find out in case your facility was in compliance with the necessities of the Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC) in Title 310, Chapter 670, Metropolis and County Detention Facility Requirements. Deficiencies recognized throughout this inspection are listed on the enclosed Assertion of Deficiencies (SOD) kind.
Pursuant to Title 74 of the Oklahoma Statutes, at Part 193(B), you might be offered a report (SOD) of the deficiencies recognized within the situation or operation of the ability and particular proposals for his or her answer. Based mostly on the deficiencies cited, you might be offered discover that the ability was discovered to not be in substantial compliance with established requirements.
Pursuant to Title 74 O.S. Part 194, [if] the deficiencies listed within the report haven’t been corrected, inside sixty (60) days after supply of the report, the Commissioner of Well being shall be approved to file a criticism with the Lawyer Common or the District Lawyer.
If you need to supply a response or offered an alternate “Plan of Correction”, please ship correspondence through e-mail to CCDF@well being.okay.gov. If in case you have questions, please contact our workplace at 405-426-8170.
Sincerely, Barry Edwards
Detention Program SupervisorEnc. Assertion of Deficiencies
cc County Commissioners
The report discovered an issue with mould and mildew on the partitions and flooring of the showers, not all inmates getting showers, a mattress bug infestation and meals carts not being delivered in a well timed method.
Officers mentioned at a press convention on March thirty first that a variety of these points will be attributed to a essential staffing scarcity.
“You have got painted concrete and you’ve got the bathe curtains, it’s a relentless perpetual. So, we’re studying how we are able to higher change them to the aluminum or to the metal showers, so there’s not a mould rising,” Everest mentioned.
Everest additionally informed KFOR they’ve made 15 new hires since final month’s lethal hostage state of affairs on the tenth ground of the jail, with 9 extra potential hires following a current job truthful.
“We take a look at the numbers and in case you take away the particular applications that went with the Sheriff’s Workplace, simply within the final couple years, we are able to’t get above actually 330-340 workers,” mentioned Everest. “We want, for my part, 500 to do every thing.”
Though the OSDH deadline, 60 days from March 8, is up on Could 7, Everest mentioned a report shouldn’t be due again to OSDH till the tip of Could.
“It’s being finalized,” she mentioned.
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