INMATE NUMBERS WORRY OFFICIALS

The Tulsa Jail's inmate population could exceed federally imposed limits,
officials warn.

The Tulsa Jail had its highest ever monthly average number of inmates last
month, provoking concern among jail authority members Friday.

If the trend for July continues through the rest of the year, Tulsa County
sheriff's officials warned, the inmate population could break records and
exceed federally imposed limits at the lockup.

"We have 881 beds, and we were at 113 percent of that today," Chief Deputy
Bob Mackechney said Friday. "We can't go beyond 125 percent."

Officials also worry that if the trend continues, it could threaten efforts
to contain the population at the new, still-under-construction Tulsa Jail,
filling the facility's 1,476 beds long before projections.

Sheriff's officials have been sounding increasingly louder alarms for the
last several months as the inmate population in the old jail system crept
up well past a monthly average of 900 inmates to almost 1,000.

For July, the average was 1,003 inmates, a 3.8 percent increase over the
previous month, and a 16.22 percent increase over July 1997, when there was
an average of 873 inmates.

Prior to July, the record high monthly average was 999 inmates in May 1995.

And though 1998 is only a little more than halfway over, the yearly jail
population average of 932 inmates already is the highest it has been since
1995, when crowded conditions resulted in a yearly average of 946 prisoners.

The inmate population average has increased for the past four months in
1998, reversing a trend for almost the last three years in which sheriff's
officials, prosecutors and judges have worked to keep the average
population below 900 inmates.

This has included work-release efforts, sentencing alternatives and quicker
release of those serving time for fines and misdemeanors.

Mackechney said sheriff's officials weren't sure what was contributing to
the increased number of inmates, noting mainly an increase in the number of
arrests.

"We've also had an increase in the numbers of people who just refuse to pay
their fines, and a judge just gives them jail time," he said.

Jail authority members also wondered about the higher numbers.

"I fear a change of attitude among our criminal judges," County
Commissioner Lew Harris said.

Tulsa Mayor Susan Savage shared the same concern, saying, "We're in an
election year, and you get somebody demagoguing about letting people loose."

The new jail -- located in the northwest corner of downtown -- is set to
open in April. With every cell filled, it could hold more than 1,800 inmates.

To do so, though, would violate the standards of the American Correctional
Association, which says that some 30 percent of a facility's bedspace
should be reserved for single-cell use. Governments typically use the ACA
standards as a benchmark in defending themselves from civil rights lawsuits
and federal intervention.

So, without triggering this ACA pressure valve, there are effectively 1,476
beds available at the new jail.

But officials don't want to come anywhere near that total until after the
turn of the century. That's why the budget for Corrections Corporation of
America to run the new jail is only for 1,100 inmates.

Anything above 1,100, and the county must pay the private corrections
company more money, though the amount per inmate, per day actually decreases.

County Commissioner John Selph said the lockup is "dangerously close" to
noncompliance with a 1995 federal settlement order that mandated the
county's inmate population not go beyond 125 percent of its bed capacity.

"We've got to look at other options, whether it's jailing people on
weekends rather than during the week or other programs," Selph said. "When
you have people sitting in jail for failure to pay a fine, it becomes very
costly to keep them there.

"I want to have room in the jail for people accused of committing serious
crimes."

Tim Hoover can be reached at 581-8336.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan