The Oklahoma County jail struggles with a shrinking number of detention officers

Written By: Maddy Keyes

(TULSA, Okla.) The chronically understaffed Oklahoma County Detention Center has even fewer guards than last year, despite efforts to hire and retain more officers with bonuses and wellness programs. 

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There are currently 360 staff members at the jail, including 134 detention officers. That’s 30 fewer detention officers than the jail had in 2024, according to numbers provided by the jail.

Oklahoma State Department of Health inspectors have cited the jail for insufficient staffing seven times since 2020, including twice since December. State rules require jails to have enough staff to supervise and keep detainees secure.

A staffing analysis had suggested it would take closer to 500 workers to properly run the jail, former jail CEO Brandi Garner told The Frontier last year. Garner resigned in February.

The Oklahoma County Detention Center lacks the funds and staffing needed to properly operate the jail, Paul Timmons, interim CEO of the jail, said during a town hall meeting on Aug. 26.

Jail officials provided updates on the 13-story facility during the meeting. Timmons cited extending detention officer training by six weeks and cell renovations as some facility improvements, but said the jail remains understaffed and underfunded. 

The Frontier reported last year that chronic understaffing at the detention center leads to missed sight checks at the jail. State law requires detention officers at jails to visually check on inmates at least once an hour. Over 50 detainees have died at the facility since 2020, including eight in the last year.

Mark Opgrande, a spokesperson for the jail, told The Frontier that the number of detention officers fluctuates because of staff turnover, retirements and challenges related to the position. While the jail has seen a reduction in detention officers compared to last year, the overall staffing levels have increased as they’ve integrated medical staff onto the detention center’s payroll, rather than using a private contractor, Opgrande added.

Opgrande said 27 officers graduated from two jail training academies this year. But the jail has lost at least that many in that time due to resignations, retirements and terminations. 

“As you can see,” Timmons told the crowd at the town hall. “We’re hurting for help.”

Timmons said they’ve made resources available to support staff well-being, including a separate employee break room, a wellness room and additional mental health resources. The jail also offers employees yearly longevity bonuses of $300 per year of service, up to five years. They’re continuing to evaluate other incentives and workplace wellness supports to improve staff retention, Opgrande said.

Timmons said the jail has a $39 million annual budget, which “is not enough” to run the jail. The jail trust had requested in April a little over $42.2 million from the Oklahoma County Budget Board, but was only allocated $33.7 million because there wasn’t enough money in the county’s budget to supply additional funds, Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan told The Frontier. 

The total Oklahoma County budget is around $138 million for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, but money is tight, Maughan said. Oklahoma County is the only county in the state without a dedicated sales tax to fund jail operations. 

“I wish that we could give more,” Maughan said. “I just don’t have the ability to do it all across the board.” 

If the jail has a special need down the road, Maughan said county commissioners would entertain providing supplemental funds as funding set aside for payroll becomes available as employees retire or resign.  

Maughan said he plans to call for a vote of county residents in the spring to create a sales tax, which would help fund operational costs at the jail and construction of the new facility. Having a sales tax would allow commerce and tourism to help shoulder the expenses as people come through the county for travel, he said, rather than having the burden sit squarely on Oklahoma County property owners.

“We need this new jail built yesterday,” Maughan said. “In the meantime, though, the current one has to continue to operate as our only facility, so we spend a great deal of money keeping it maintained and operational.”

The Rev. Derrick Scobey, a member of the trust that oversees the jail, said during a recent jail trust meeting that the jail could cut costs by reducing the time it takes to release detainees arrested for municipal charges. Detention center staff say it should take no more than 10 to 12 hours after a municipal release is received for an inmate to be discharged from custody, but Scobey said it currently takes an average of 2.56 days. Scobey said that figure is based on internal jail records over a 90-day period reviewed by a financial analyst at his church. 

“That’s a problem,” Scobey said. “Why is it a problem? We’re understaffed.”

Opgrande said that figure is “not out of the realm of possibility, ” but that he is unsure what charges it includes and is in the process of evaluating the figure. However, Opgrande said regardless of if it takes one day or three, the release process is longer than they would like. 

The time it takes to verify paperwork, confirm charges across jurisdictions and ensure all holds are cleared contributes to wait times for release, Opgrande said. To reduce the time, the jail would need improved coordination with municipal courts, streamlined verification processes and more staffing, all things Opgrande said the jail is currently working on. 

If municipally charged detainees were to be in and out of the jail within eight hours, Scobey said at the jail trust meeting he estimates it would reduce the overall number of detainees at the jail by 170 to 175 per day. 

In August alone, Opgrande said the Oklahoma City Police Department has arrested 387 people on municipal changes. All but 11 of those people were still in custody as of last week.

“Fewer detainees in custody would certainly lower costs,” Opgrande said.

The Frontier is a nonprofit newsroom that produces fearless journalism with impact in Oklahoma. Read more at www.readfrontier.org.