County Commissioner On Tulsa's Juvenile Justice Center: 'There's Been A Great Deal Of Change'

It has been 104 days since the Tulsa County Board of County Commissioners took control of the Juvenile Justice center after allegations of abuse and misconduct surfaced in April.

County Commissioner Stan Sallee wants to reassure the community that changes are being made.

"We were previously the landlord of the facility, and when OJA came to Tulsa to voice their disappointment and the closure of the facility by the judicial system, the judges that were overseeing this, we had no choice but to take over," said Sallee.

The facility was shut down after an inspection found issues that went unresolved and a federal lawsuit was filed alleging physical, sexual and emotional abuse. As well as, illegal drug use within the facility among other things.

"There's been a great deal of change, a lot of administrative changes. We've hired a manager that an assistant manager that between them, have over 50 years of correction experience in Oklahoma in policies, procedures, management of thousands of correctional inmates throughout the state of Oklahoma," said Sallee.

Two former employees are facing criminal charges related to the lawsuit that was filed.

News On 6 took a tour of the facility back in September as changes began as an effort to be more transparent with the community on how things are being run inside.

"(We are) hiring the right people, assessing, doing evaluations on all the personnel, letting go some of the personnel, hiring new folks come in and bringing in the federal grants that we were able to obtain To look at all of our procedures and policies, talking with mental health professionals throughout the region," said Sallee.

A group of former inmates is suing the Juvenile Justice Center and entities associated with it, including the Tulsa County BOCC. The lawsuit says the facility and those running it violated the civil rights of those incarcerated.

Sallee can't comment on the lawsuit but maintains commissioners did not step in until they were asked.

He says that moving forward safety and transparency is a top priority.

"We've asked the public defender's office to (set up) office right next to our manager's office. I mean we're not hiding anything. We're being transparent. We're doing everything we can to improve the quality of life for the kids that are there." said Sallee.

Sallee says the BOCC will be over the Juvenile Justice Center as long as they need to before they hand it back over to a new judge.