Comanche County Commissioners weigh plan to store the belongings of prisoners

Comanche County Commissioners want to weigh their options before making a decision on whether the county needs to provide additional storage space for the items of prisoners held in the detention center.

Commissioners tabled action Monday on a proposal to provide a metal container for the Comanche County Detention Center, space that would be used to store the belongings of prisoners. The problem is two-fold: is it the county’s responsibility to store the items and exactly where would that container be located.

“The need for a Conex is there,” said Jail Administrator Bill Hobbs, about plans to give him more storage space.

The need may be there, but Central District Commissioner Johnny Owens said there still is a problem.

“There’s nowhere to put the Conex box,” he said, about the limited options for space associated with a detention center that is built on the county courthouse’s east side, on a land-locked block in downtown Lawton.

Hobbs said storage space is always a problem for the detention center, even more so when the jail has more inmates than it is designed to hold. He said he uses a small storage room for the items form prisoners who are placed within the county facility. On Monday there were 460 bundles of personal belongings (the total tally of prisoners in the county jail, along with 69 that are being held in the Tillman County jail on behalf of Comanche County).

Hobbs said there is another problem when prisoners are apprehended with items such as bicycles or scooters: because he has limited storage space, those items typically are placed outside in an area enclosed by a fence.

Talking to Lawton Police Department isn’t an option, because the municipal jail also has limited storage space, Hobbs said. Lawton police officers often pick up prisoners that are either transferred to the county facility or taken there immediately, and they come with any items they may have had at the time of arrest.

Western District Commissioner Josh Powers, a former police officer, said the issue becomes more pressing when you consider people who are picked up for crimes, who have most of their personal belongings stored in shopping carts. Powers said law enforcement “inherits the stuff” until those prisoners get out of jail.

Commissioners said the problem is one that needs to be discussed by county and city officials, and Powers said he would coordinate those discussions “once we get a (legal) opinion from the DA.” District Attorney Kyle Cabelka, legal adviser for the commissioners, said that opinion isn’t one he could offer in an open meeting, but also said it isn’t necessarily the detention center’s obligation to keep those items.

Powers while there will be some cost associated with a metal storage container, that cost is irrelevant when compared to the major issue.

“Where we place it is still the problem,” he said, adding it is an issue government officials need to address for the sake of those who carry everything they own out of necessity. “Sometimes, people are arrested with everything.”