The Oklahoma County Jail Trust pushed back a vote on proposed bylaw changes by 30 days after a trustee complained he was never given the document to review before the meeting. Pastor Derrick Scobey, who sits on the trust, said the new bylaw language would shift significant authority away from individual board members and toward the chair, vice chair and the jail administrator.
A Document Trustee Says He Never Saw
According to KFOR, the proposed bylaw changes were added to the trust's meeting agenda at the last minute, leaving members without a chance to review them beforehand. Scobey said he did not receive the bylaw document to read over the weekend and only managed to go through it early Monday morning, just before the meeting. He raised concerns about both the timing of the submission and the substance of what it proposed, telling colleagues the jail administrator would end up with more power than trust members themselves.
The trust ultimately voted to delay a decision on the bylaws for 30 days, giving members more time to weigh the changes. The dispute over how much authority should rest with leadership versus the full board is not new. Trustee Scobey previously raised similar concerns, as covered in Hoodline's report on the court fight over jail pay hikes, after Jail Trust Chairman Jim Holman unilaterally approved detention staff pay raises despite a board vote against them and a severe budget deficit.
A Trust Already Under Fire From Multiple Directions
That pay-raise episode prompted the Neal Center for Justice to file a formal complaint in March seeking Holman's resignation, according to a report reviewed via News 9. Around the same time, Oklahoma County Commissioner Jason Lowe moved to dissolve the Jail Trust entirely following a $5.4 million budget deficit and unauthorized employee pay raises, with six board members voting in favor of recommending dissolution, per KGOU.
The trust has operated the Oklahoma County Detention Center since operational control was transferred from the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office in July 2020 as a reform effort, KGOU has reported. That arrangement has generated friction ever since, including a lawsuit Sheriff Tommie Johnson III filed against the Jail Trust and County Commissioners in June over who holds legal responsibility for transporting detainees between the jail and courthouse.
Budget Crisis Forced Deep Staffing Cuts
The governance debate is unfolding against a backdrop of severe financial strain. The Oklahoma County Budget Board voted 7-1 in March to approve a $4.2 million emergency fund transfer to help cover the detention center's nearly $5 million budget deficit and avoid a potential state takeover or staff layoffs, KGOU reported. To close its own budget gap that same month, the Jail Trust voted to terminate a $180,000-per-month contract with VieMed Healthcare Staffing LLC for 20 to 30 dedicated safety check workers, leaving just 74 detention officers supervising roughly 1,500 detainees as of April, according to the same outlet.
The facility has also failed twelve consecutive state health inspections since the trust took over in 2020, per records cited by the Addison Law Firm. State records and media reviews cited by the same firm indicate at least 60 detainees have died in custody at the jail since July 2020, a toll that has fueled mounting civil litigation. In May, the estate of a detainee won a $7 million lawsuit tied to his 2021 beating death by a cellmate, according to Ponca City Now, adding to the financial pressure bearing down on the trust.
Administrators Point to Improving Death Numbers
Not every recent data point has been grim. Jail administrators reported to the trust in July that two detainee deaths occurred during the 365-day period ending July 4, which they described as one of the facility's lowest rolling 12-month death totals since 1999, KGOU reported. Whether that improvement will ease pressure to overhaul the trust's governance structure, or to dissolve it outright, remains an open question as the delayed bylaws vote looms next month.
Hoodline previously reported on a $14 million budget windfall that could help offset some of the facility's financial troubles, as well as a jury's $2 million verdict against the jail in an inmate death case. For now, the 30-day delay leaves the trust's power structure, and its future, unresolved.
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