LAWTON – Comanche County has another partner in the county’s effort to ease overcrowding at the Comanche County Detention Center.
The Comanche County Facilities Advisory Board, which is made up of the three county commissioners, approved on Feb. 12 an inmate housing contract with the Seminole County Public Building Authority. The contract allows CCDC to house some of its inmates at the Seminole County jail at the rate of $50 per inmate per day.
With the signing of the Seminole County contract, CCDC has agreements to house inmates at six out-ofcounty jails. The other five counties are Grady, Greer, Okmulgee, Tillman and Pottawatomie.
The Pottawatomie County jail is full, so it is not accepting out-ofcounty inmates at the moment, said CCDC Administrator Bill Hobbs.
Officially, CCDC has space for 283 inmates. However, the jail housed 285 inmates as of Feb. 12 and sent 72 additional inmates to Tillman County.
Six inmates were shipped to Grady County, 10 to Greer County and 10 to Okmulgee County for a combined total of 383 inmates.
Commissioner John O’Brien wondered why CCDC was still over capacity on Feb. 12.
“Can you explain?” he asked Hobbs.
Hobbs said CCDC will be able to send some inmates to Seminole County once that contract is approved, which should provide some relief. He added that it’s difficult to control the number of inmates who are booked into the jail.
“We don’t know how many are coming and going, as far as the jail’s concerned,” Hobbs said. “We do our best to keep that number down.”