OKLAHOMA CITY – It’s been a big question for months – will the operations of the Oklahoma County Jail remain in the hands of the sheriff’s office or an administrator under a brand new jail trust?
On Monday, the Jail Trust Advisory Board voted 6-2 to appoint a new jail administrator.
Back in May, the commissioners voted to create a trust to identify problems at the jail and come up with solutions.
The idea behind the trust was to transparently dole out funding to maintain and staff the jail. Instead of going through only the sheriff, those decisions would be made with the sheriff, a commissioner, and several citizens.
“It will have citizen oversight predominantly with the sheriff, and then Commissioner Calvey from the commissioners will round out the nine-member board,” said Commissioner Brian Maughan told News 4 in May.
The vote to appoint a jail administrator means that position will run and operate the jail, reporting directly to the trust.
At this time, it is unknown if any detention staff could lose their law enforcement commission under a new administrator.
