Comanche County Detention Center cited numerous times for overcrowding

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  • The Department of Corrections, Comanche County Commissioner and Facilities Authority Chairman Johnny Owens said that the Comanche County Detention Center was not equipped to deal with the pandemic.
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LAWTON – The jail at ground zero of one of the largest Covid-19 outbreak in Oklahoma has been cited numerous times for overcrowding and was found not to be in substantial compliance with established state health standards any of the three times it was inspected last year, documents obtained by the Southwest Ledger show.

Detailed in an inspection report by the State Department of Health, documents show the Comanche County Detention Center has continued to remain out of compliance from inspections performed in January, October and December of 2019.

We keep five years of jail inspection records,” Shelley Zumwalt, spokesperson for the State Health Department, said Tuesday. The CCDC has been cited for deficiencies in the last five years “and they have repeated deficiencies for being over-capacity,” she said.

Copies of the December report were sent to William Hobbs, administrator of the Comanche County Detention Center, to Comanche County Commissioners and to members of the Comanche County Facilities Authority.

“Based on the repeat deficiencies cited, you are provided notice that the facility was found not to be in substantial compliance with established standards,” wrote Barry Edwards, the manager of the Detention Program at the health department, in a letter to Hobbs accompanying the report.

Edwards, however, was reluctant to speak about the report with reporters. He said he was not able to comment, saying instead “that everything has to go through the communications staff.”

The Southwest Ledger also reached out multiple times to Hobbs, the facilities administrator, for comment. As of 4:30 p.m. on May 19, those telephone calls had not been returned.

State Health Commissioner Gary Cox issued a quarantine compliance order against the CCDC on May 16. Cox’s order notes the health department tested inmates and personnel alike at the facility and that the tests “indicated an outbreak of Covid-19 involving both inmates and center personnel.”

“Preliminary results indicate a 28 percent positive rate among the approximately 363 tests administered by OSHD,” Cox’s order said. The order requires that anyone incarcerated in the center for longer than fourteen days must remain in quarantine.

The number of tests performed this month echoes the health department’s report last December. That report indicated the facility had a rated capacity for 283 inmates, but at that time – Dec. 13, 2019 – had an inmate population of 347, including 330 unsentenced male and female inmates and 17 inmates of both sexes who had been sentenced.

The inspection reported also found that juvenile cells were located next to adult inmates and that many inmates were double-bunked. Another deficiency noted that one cell had 16 beds and 31 inmates while another cell had 21 inmates and far fewer beds. The report noted that at least one toilet in the facility was leaking.

The Comanche County Facilities Authority oversees the jail’s operations. In a media statement issued Tuesday by the Department of Corrections, Comanche County Commissioner and Facilities Authority Chairman Johnny Owens said the jail was not ready for a COVID-19 outbreak.

“We were not equipped to deal with this pandemic. We reached out to the state for help and have received an incredible response from people who jumped right in, working alongside jail administrators and employees to turn this around,” Owens said.

Bob Ravitz, the chief public defender in Oklahoma County, said there is little that any agency can do about crowding in an Oklahoma jail.  The Oklahoma State Department of Health has oversight of jails “but they can’t take remedial action” for any deficiencies their inspectors find, Ravitz said.

The OSDH has a division that is responsible for inspecting jails throughout the state. The statute requires the department to inspect all city and county detention facilities at least once each year to ensure they abide by specific standards.

State law provides that if a deficiency cited in an inspection report – such as consistent overcrowding – is not corrected within 60 days after delivery of the report, the State Health Commissioner “is authorized to refer the non-compliance to the Attorney General or the District Attorney.”

However, the statute also provides that “before making any referral, the time period for compliance may be extended for a reasonable period upon demonstration of a good faith effort to correct the deficiencies and achieve compliance.”

Therefore, a completed “Plan of Correction” must be returned to the OSDH within 15 days of receipt of the agency’s notice-of-deficiency letter, “explaining how you will correct and maintain compliance with the repeat violation(s) cited above and the expected date of compliance. Your plan will be reviewed to determine acceptability based on reasonableness and a demonstration of good faith effort to correct the deficiency.”

 

(By KaraLee Langford, M. Scott Carter and Mike W. Ray)