COUNTIES LOCKED INTO JAIL WOES

CHICKASHA -- Overcrowded, outdated and understaffed.

That's the dilemma at many county jails statewide, and one that has
put Grady and Comanche counties under the scrutiny of state inspectors.

Comanche County is strapped with a mandate from the state fire marshal
to ease overcrowding, while Grady County's mandate appears
forthcoming.

As Comanche County Sheriff Kenny Stradley deduces, "We're all backed
up against the wall."

Stradley is seriously cornered.

His jail's crowding problem is an election away from being solved. On
Tuesday, county voters are being asked to support a 10-year,
quarter-cent sales tax to fund a new $12 million, 250-bed jail. But
the Lawton City Council may have dealt the county a blow Tuesday night
when they voted 5-3 not to support the sales tax.

"We know the city council governs at the people's request," Stradley
said. "But they are not the people ... We're not trying to build a
Hilton, just a safe, legal place to house our prisoners."

The Comanche County jail is housing 161 prisoners in a 28- year-old
building with a capacity of 92. Many prisoners sleep in a visiting
room.

In Grady County, no sales tax proposal is even being considered at
this time.

Voters narrowly shot down a 1/2-cent sales tax in August to fund a new
jail. And the state Health Department has turned over its latest
findings of gross overcrowding at the Grady County jail to the state
fire marshal's office.

Grady County's 63- year-old jail, which has a capacity of 75,
regularly houses about 97 inmates.

"Our county jails are overcrowded, about 80 percent are overcrowded,"
said Don Garrison, the jail inspector division director at the health
department. "Everything from a few to a lot like Comanche and Grady
counties."

One idea floating about is to reduce incarcerations with fines -- a
venture that would undoubtedly involve the entire judicial system.

"That's ridiculous," Grady County Sheriff Stan Florence retorted.
"Every county has thousands of warrants on people who have been fined
and haven't shown up to pay. We have close to 2,000 warrants, and most
of those are bench warrants for people who fail to show up for court.

"So that's not an option."

Florence has another idea.

"It's an epidemic all over the state," Florence said. "This is nothing
new to sheriffs in Oklahoma. Unfortunately, what has not happened is
the people who run the jails -- the sheriffs, those who provide the
jails -- the county commissioners, and those who inspect the jails --
the jail inspectors and state fire marshals, have not sat down and
talked."

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady