Comanche County finding solutions to its jail; Lawton still looking

While Comanche County has found a temporary solution to its jail problems, the City of Lawton is still searching.

Administrators with the Comanche County Detention Center said Monday the jail’s population was comfortably under 300 this weekend, but almost 100 of its prisoners were being housed in three other counties.

The situation reflects new agreements Comanche County has made with entities in other counties. While the agreement with Tillman County is long-standing, those with Grady and Okmulgee counties are new. The net effect was 95 prisoners from the Comanche County Detention Center housed in three other counties: 73 in Tillman County, 13 in Okmulgee County and nine in Grady County. That left 267 inmates in the county jail on Friday and 284 on Monday, compared to the 283 inmate population mandated by state health officials.

Commissioners further cemented their solution Monday, extending their agreement with Tillman County through the 2024 calendar year and approving an agreement with Pottawatomie County through June 30, 2024.

Western District Commissioner Josh Powers has said Tillman County will remain the county’s primary housing option because of its proximity, and a potential agreement with Greer County is attractive for the same reason. Counties that are further away provide a flexibility through standby beds, he said.

The City of Lawton doesn’t have an overpopulation problem — actually, it’s municipal jail often houses far less prisoners than it is built to hold. But, the issue for many city officials is whether the city wants to be running its facility, or hire a private contractor to do it. The discussion isn’t new, and this past summer, the council discussed a proposal to create a jail authority to operate the facility located on the south end of the Lawton Public Safety Complex on Railroad Street.

The City Council’s ultimate decision authorized city staff to issue a Request For Proposals, a process that solicits a private firm that city officials say can provide the expertise and data they need to decide whether to privatize municipal jail operations.

“We need to know,” said Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren, arguing a professional firm can help the city decide whether it want to continue having the municipal jail as a division of Lawton Police Department. “I’m not sure (Police) Chief (James) Smith wants to operate a jail.”

Smith said he would like to explore the idea of privatizing jail operations, adding while the existing staff does a good job, there might be someone who could do it even better, and the RFP would prove that. While no one working in the municipal jail is a police officer, they do work for Lawton Police Department and that relationship would continue even if the council opts to privatize operations.

“It may be better to get someone who does it for a living,” Warren said.

Ward 2 Councilman Kelly Harris said another option may be a venture with the Comanche County Detention Center.

The city’s 24,673-square-foot jail has an overnight capacity of 112, but has averaged 49 inmates a day in last 12 months. While 60 days is the maximum amount of time an inmate may be held, two weeks has been the average length of stay in the last year. The jail is designed for misdemeanor offenses (those with felony charges are transferred to the county jail), with pods divided into male and female units.

The request for proposals is seeking information on operating the jail, to include providing and maintaining adequate staffing; operating the jail in conjunction with federal and state requirements; and caring for inmates, to include feeding and escorting them to places outside the jail. City officials have said the RFP is based on the one the City of Tulsa used before it privatized its jail.