Chronic understaffing at the Oklahoma County Detention Center has contributed to poor living conditions, overworked employees and routinely missed sight checks of detainees, The Frontier’s reporting found. The story is based on interviews and a review of Oklahoma State Department of Health inspection records and other documents.
The jail now has the lowest number of staff since the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority took over operations from the county sheriff in 2020, according to data provided by the jail.
Here are five takeaways
- The Oklahoma County Detention Center has failed to meet state Health Department standards for nine inspections since 2020. Five of the inspections cited insufficient staffing as a repeat deficiency and six listed routinely missed sight checks.
- The jail now has 263 employees, including 164 detention officers. Brandi Garner, the jail’s chief executive, said a staffing analysis conducted by the National Institute of Corrections suggests closer to 500 workers are needed to run the jail properly.
- Garner said the jail, which has a budget of about $33 million a year from Oklahoma County, lacks adequate funding to hire more staff or to give existing employees a raise.
- The jail failed two Health Department inspections this summer after staff turned inspectors away. Detention Center officials said there was not enough staff present at the jail to support the inspection process. The jail has since sued the Health Department, claiming the surprise inspections were unlawful.
- At least 45 detainees have died at the jail since 2020, including five so far this year. A 2023 grand jury found chronic understaffing at the jail and that many of the detainee deaths were preventable.
