Faith And Community Leaders Call For Change In Oklahoma County Jail Leadership

Faith and community leaders gathered Friday to call for the administrator of the Oklahoma County Detention Center to be removed.

Pastor John A. Reed Jr. hosted the news conference at Fairview Missionary Baptist Church.

"We need to join together as a community to say to the Jail Trust that there must be a change made in the leadership," Reed said

The group of faith and community leaders are calling for Greg Williams to be removed as the CEO of the jail, saying they are concerned about the deaths and "terrible" conditions at the facility. 

"This isn't because he has bad character, but is simply saying that he's not good at his job," activist Jabee Williams .

So far this year, 14 inmates have died at the detention center. In 2021, 14 inmates died as well.

Rev. Shannon Fleck, executive director of Oklahoma Conference of Churches, compared the death rate at the Oklahoma County Detention Center with that of Rikers Island.

"Rikers Island Jail in New York is prolific in this nation for its, I'd say, terrors, atrocities, abuses. None of us can deny that," Fleck said. "Rikers Island has a population of approximately 5,700 inmates and has seen 16 deaths this year. Our jail has a rough population of 1,700 and has had, so far, 14 deaths this year. Rikers Island has a death rate at 2.8 deaths per 1,000 and ours has a rate of 8.2 per 1,000."

Faith and community leaders said they are also concerned about the violence at the facility.

"As a woman who has to live her life every day cognizant of how i move for my personal safety, it is highly concerning that there are women being sexually assaulted in our county jail," said Fleck.

Other incidents of violence include the sexual assault and beating of an inmate who was later rehoused with his attacker, according to a lawsuit.

In addition, the Oklahoma State Department of Health ordered the jail to pay a $350,000 fine for repeat violations, an order that facility administrators appealed.

Faith and community leaders want an interim administrator to serve in place of Williams until a replacement can be found.

"Going forward, nothing less than a full national search, transparent search committee comprised of some of these leaders here, community members that can have input, buy-in and role in the process of selecting and evaluating who would be qualified to take over the administration of that jail," activist Jess Eddy said.

Williams issued a statement following the news conference: “Since the day I took this job, I have been focused on improving conditions and operations at the Oklahoma County Jail. While much work remains to be done, and some problems are not solvable in our current building, I will continue to work hard every day to make our facility as safe as it can be for our staff and our detainees.”

“I’d like to thank the community members who share their input with us, and especially the groups who come to the table with solutions to help lower the jail population and connect detainees with assistance we are unable to provide inside the facility,” Williams added.

In addition, Jim Couch, chair of the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority, released a statement in support of Williams: “In his time as CEO of the Oklahoma County Jail, Greg Williams has provided excellent service to our community, especially to the detainees and staff at the jail. Under exceedingly difficult circumstances, including a global pandemic, he has overseen projects which made material improvements in conditions, reversing decades of neglect in the facility.”

“As the Jail Trust acknowledges, much work remains to improve safety and security and, most importantly, to do everything we can to stop deaths in the facility," Couch added. "We work constantly to increase staffing levels and remain vigilant against contraband. We thank members of the faith community and others who have shared their concerns and their desire to make things better, and we remain committed to making improvements to protect staff and detainees,” he said.

Earlier this year, voters passed a $260 million bond to help build a new detention center. The goal is to have it completed within the next five years.