With few other options, Oklahoma County jail officials approve a new deal with Turn Key Health Clinics after company threatens to walk out

Written By: Brianna Bailey

(OKLAHOMA COUNTY, Okla.) The Oklahoma County jail trust has approved a $7.4-million deal with medical provider Turn Key Health Clinics after the company said it would end service in a matter of days without a new contract. The jail trust also approved plans on Monday to seek bids from other medical providers and hire a consultant to advise the trust on how to improve health care at the jail. 

Read this story on The Frontier here.

The jail trust took action after The Frontier and The Marshall Project published an investigation in July examining Turn Key policies and practices that have endangered people in jail. The investigation found that Turn Key employees didn’t send people to the hospital in dozens of cases when they were in crisis, catatonic or refusing to eat or drink. 

Oklahoma County Commissioner and Jail Trust Member Myles Davidson said he wanted to consider other health care options, but he was concerned that jail detainees would be left “high and dry” if Turn Key left the facility because the trust didn’t approve the new contract. 

“I don’t think anybody up here says that we can’t do better, because we can do better,” Davidson said. 

Turn Key Health Clinics notified jail officials in August that the company would leave Oklahoma County by Thursday if it hadn’t secured a new contract, Jail CEO Brandi Gardner told trust members. The Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority’s contract with Turn Key expired at the end of June, but the company has continued to provide medical care to jail detainees on a month-to-month basis. 

The jail trust delayed approving the contract with Turn Key at its last meeting in August when there was no support to bring it up for a vote. 

Gardner urged board members on Monday to approve the contract or face being left without any other medical care at the jail while seeking a new provider. The new 1-year Turn Key contract includes options for the jail trust to terminate the agreement within 30 days or 90 days if the board later decides on a different medical provider, she said. 

The Rev. Derrick Scobey was the only board member present who voted against approving the Turn Key contract. Scobey also unsuccessfully urged other board members to reject the deal. He said he would like the jail trust to hire its own doctor and nurses instead of working with another for-profit jail medical company. 

“I’m really tired of entities trying to push us and bully us around,” Scobey said. 

Members of the public also spoke at the meeting in favor of rejecting the Turn Key contract. 

Jodie Poplin, the mother of a woman incarcerated at the Oklahoma County jail, said her daughter has not received adequate access to mental health care and medications.

“You do need to reconsider who you’re hiring,” Poplin told board members. “You need real doctors, a real mental health doctor.” 

The Frontier and The Marshall Project’s investigation found the company staffed mental health and other medical positions with low-level nursing assistants trained to perform basic tasks like taking vital signs, but not to diagnose or assess medical conditions. 

At least 45 people have died at the jail since the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority took over operations from the county sheriff in 2020. 

Turn Key has been the medical contractor  at the Oklahoma County jail since 2018. 

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