OKC community reacts after police arrest 150 people, including teens
Oklahoma City community members react after 100’s of young people arrested at birthday party
- Facing a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall, the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority (jail trust) has dodged disbanding.
- A potential influx of revenue from undisclosed benefactors offers a possible solution to the financial crisis.
- The trust voted to conduct a comprehensive performance review in conjunction with county commissioners.
The beleaguered Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority was briefly at risk of being disbanded, but instead will continue its work in improving a notoriously deadly jail with new and ongoing money issues, trustees said.
Nearing the end of its fifth year in existence, the trust will stay active but not without a comprehensive performance review of its work, “including, but not limited to, evaluation of the merits of continued operational and financial oversight of the detention center.”
The Rev. Derrick Scobey came to the public trust ready to disband the organization and have someone else put in charge of the county jail.
Scobey, one of the nine jail trustees, did not move to dissolve the body after all. He said he held his fire because he learned of “a group of individuals that are … working on an innovative approach to bring additional revenue into the jail operation.”
“I do not have to comment today on where that help is potentially coming from, but I trust that it’s coming, and if it does not, then we know we’re back to Square One,” he said. Further, Scobey said, if no additional, adequate funding is found, he will recommend that the trust turn the jail over to a private operator.
Whether Scobey’s motion to disband the trust would have been seconded, which is required for a vote, is impossible to know. To dissolve, it would take five votes in favor, followed by a 2-1 vote of the Board of County Commissioners.
The trust voted on Friday, June 27, to arrange for a review of jail operations and finances in conjunction with county commissioners at the request of trust Chairman Steven Buck.
Later, the trust revealed a $5.8 million budget shortfall this fiscal year, which ends Monday, June 30, that it said will threaten continued operation of the jail as soon as Aug. 1. The jail is expected to have $38.8 million in revenue, including $33.7 million from the county general fund, and $44.7 million in expenses.
“That’s why the trust voted to actively engage with the Board of County Commissioners to discuss realistic solutions, funding strategies, and the ongoing direction of the authority,” Buck said. “It is absolutely in the public’s interest that these conversations happen openly, with urgency, and with full accountability to all residents of Oklahoma County who rely on us to ensure safety, security, and operational excellence at the jail.”
Scobey: Secret benefactors are working on a new jail revenue plan
Scobey did not disclose the secret potential benefactors but suggested that if the plan for revenue is successful, it could keep the commissioners from having to try to pass a sales tax or raise property taxes, and keep the U.S. Department of Justice from taking receivership of the jail for civil rights violations.
“Their effort represents a potential pathway to address our chronic underfunding … without placing an unnecessary burden on taxpayers or risking federal intervention,” Scobey said in a 20-minute litany of the jail’s failures, from the 58 inmate deaths under the trust’s watch, to bedbug infestations.
Scobey, pastor of Oklahoma city’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, is the longest-serving member of the trust who is not an elected official. He said he is one of about 30 trustees who have come and gone since county commissioners created the trust in 2019 and gave it control of the jail the next year.
“I have witnessed a cascade of systemic failures that have undermined public confidence, endangered lives, and called into question our very ability to fulfill our fundamental mandate that we have to operate a safe, secure and humane detention facility,” he said.
Scobey would oppose returning OK County jail to sheriff’s office
Staff misconduct, including smuggling contraband, sexual assault of prisoners, inmates’ unmet medical and mental health needs, 11 failed health inspections and a too-small workforce all represent “a betrayal of public trusty and a corruption of the very system meant to ensure safety and security,” Scobey said.
The pastor said the nearly 60 people who have died in the jail the past five years deaths are unacceptable: “Each of these (deaths) represents not a statistic, but a human life lost under our watch.”
Public criticism,” Scobey said, “is not unwarranted. It reflects the legitimate concern of taxpayers and citizens who expect competent, professional management of public institutions. …
“Many have said that the jail needs to be handed back over to the sheriff. But what I will not be a part of is crippling our Oklahoma County sheriff, Tommie Johnson (III), with him getting a jail that is underfunded. We will not cripple him.”
Secret ‘development opportunity’ could be ‘transformative’ for OK County jail
The secret jail revenue “development opportunity” could change everything, Scobey said.
“This represents not just an opportunity for incremental improvement,” he said, “but potentially a transformative change that could address the root causes of our ongoing crisis.
“So, in light of this development opportunity, I’ve decided that calling for the dissolution of the jail trust at this time would be counterproductive and harmful to these promised initiatives, and instead I am committed to working alongside of these groups in ways I can contribute.”
OK County jail trust chairman: After years of chaos, it’s time for trust, commissioners to ‘look in the mirror’
Buck explained his call for a performance review involving the Board of County Commissioners.
“There is an analogy that was used in the early ’90s about the self-licking ice cream cone,” he said. “A self-licking ice cream cone is an entity that exists only to continue to exist. It perpetuates itself. Candidly, I don’t make that statement to say that we should not continue to exist. That may not be the conclusion.
“But I don’t want to be part of a process that makes that assumption without a strong review of what we’re doing, and what we can do to be the best. We are 5 years old and it’s time, in my opinion, to look in the mirror.”
Buck said he would recommend a review, even if we were performing at the highest level of efficiency. Self-evaluation is a good and important thing, and it’s time that we do that.”
Jail trust critics condemn the power of money used to hurt people
Earlier, at the start of the June 27 meeting, regular critics of the jail and jail trust condemned the power of wealth used to harm vulnerable people.
“This what we know. There are always, behind the scenes, powerful, rich people who impede the progress of finding humanity in that jail,” said Mark Faulk, with the People’s Council for Justice Reform. “As long as money is more important than people, nothing will ever change. …
“It’s been five years. Five years. The time to have discussions about whether this trust has been effective has passed. None of you were here when the trust began. I’m not putting the blame on you. I’m just saying that this is a failed experiment. Fifty-eight deaths. …
“No one has the power to play Russian roulette with the lives of the most vulnerable citizens in our county. No one has the power to just roll the dice and decide who lives, who gets traumatized, and who dies in that jail. It’s past time to turn the jail back over to the sheriff and work together to get the funding that we need.”
Activist: ‘Not the Black Panthers,’ but the state constitution says power rests with the people
Activist Christopher Johnston alluded to past agreements with criminal justice officials, “a billionaire that’s holding you guys up, or two.” Elected officials can lose some donors without losing office because they’ll gain more electoral support from everyday people, he said.
“We can’t let people behind the dark, with their fat, grubby fingers trying to tip the scale,” he said. “I know one of these people and they pay for every single side (of politics), MAGA or liberal, because they hedge their bets. They’re business people. You don’t need their (expletive) money. You don’t need them.
“We run this county — all of us, not them. All political power is inherent in the people. That’s not the Black Panthers saying that. That’s out state constitution. It’s us, not them. (Expletive) them. Let’s dissolve this jail trust. It needs to happen. This experiment has failed.”
Staff writer Richard Mize covers Oklahoma County government and the city of Edmond. He previously covered housing, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com, starting in 1999. Contact him at [email protected].
