LAWTON – Acting as the Comanche County Facilities Authority, the Comanche County Board of Commissioners signed off Tuesday on a plan to provide online training for Comanche County Detention Center employees.
The authority approved an agreement with Relias LLC, a North Carolina-based company that provides courses in various fields, including corrections. Relias will offer online training about supervising juvenile inmates to jail employees.
The service will begin Feb. 1 and continue for 36 months. Cost is $8,250 a year, with a one-time setup fee of $3,000.
The training is essential for the jail to begin housing juvenile inmates again, said jail administrator William Hobbs.
“This is just another step for us as we work toward getting certified to hold juveniles,” he said. “Once we do start, we have 55 staff that will have to go through that training to get certified to supervise juveniles.”
In November 2021, the jail lost its state certification to hold juvenile inmates until it could satisfy the requirements outlined in the Oklahoma House Bill 2311, which brought the state into compliance with the 2018 Juvenile Justice Reform Act. HB 2311 requires total separation for juvenile and adult inmates, and it mandates separate juvenile and adult jailers on all shifts, among other standards.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health and the state Office of Juvenile Affairs determine whether city and county jails meet the requirements for holding juveniles.