Oklahoma County Jail Trust Rejects Proposal To Fire Administrator Greg Williams

The Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority, or jail trust, opted not to entertain a motion to fire Greg Williams, the detention center’s administrator since 2020.  

New trustee and Pastor Derrick Scobey made the motion to fire Williams after a video presentation of local news reports about the jail and a slideshow of the inmates who have died since Williams started in the job.  

Fourteen inmates have died while in jail custody so far this year.  

“We are clearly among the worst if not the worst jail in the United States of America,” Scobey said.  

No other trust members seconded Scobey’s motion, killing the proposal. The trust voted to formally evaluate Williams’ performance next month.  

Trustee Sue Ann Arnall called the idea “premature” and said the trust could change its directives to Williams regarding jail management. Ben Brown defended Williams’ improvements to the jail, including a renovated water system, and his reputation as a cooperative leader of the facility.  

“I’m going to continue to do everything we can to eliminate every single death,” Williams said.  

Several community members, including pastors, denounced the violence and living conditions at the jail during public comment. Some also called for a change in leadership.  

“People’s lives are at stake,” said Garland Pruitt, president of the Oklahoma City NAACP. “If I get a traffic violation, open container, anything else and I go to jail-- I shouldn’t run the risk of dying.”  

During the meeting, Scobey questioned Williams about the investigation into Danta Thomas. Thomas was charged in September with raping a female inmate in the jail’s booking area while she was handcuffed to a wall.  

Although the incident with Thomas allegedly happened in July, charges were not filed for nearly two months. Thomas was released before the charge was filed and was arrested in Florida in September for the allegation.  

Related: OCDC Inmate Accused, Charged With Rape Arrested In Florida 

District Attorney David Prater made an unscheduled comment about the delay and said it was due to a lack of paperwork submitted by jail investigators.  

“Continuously, we said 'bring us a probable cause affidavit and a charging packet, that’s all we need. We understand you have an investigation that will continue, but we need to get this man charged with the rape.' He had been released a long time before we ever got that.”  

After the meeting, Williams responded to Prater’s comments.  

“There were some statements and some witnesses that we needed to get a hold of and interview,” Williams said. “We took our time to do that, and we probably took too long.”