JAIL JUSTICE CONCERNS URGENT, MINISTER SAYS

The president of the agency that supplies chaplains and volunteers for the
Tulsa Jail says the plight of prisoners is now his most urgent issue.

The Rev. J.W. Johnson is president of Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry and
pastor of the First Baptist Church of North Tulsa.

Johnson said he and his board are less optimistic than the spokesman for
another group of ministers about progress at the Tulsa Jail. He also said
he is deeply concerned about prisoners' civil rights after the jail is
privatized.

The ministers and Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry have challenged jail
operations in the wake of an Aug. 10 fight between black and white
prisoners at the jail, and Johnson has pointed to what he calls "systemic
injustice."

After a meeting with Sheriff Stanley Glanz at Shiloh Baptist Church on
Tuesday, the Rev. Melvin Bailey, Shiloh's pastor, said he was confident
that improvements would be made. Bailey said Glanz, who runs the jail, took
the ministers' concerns seriously.

Johnson said that at this point, he is more guarded.

"I don't know the sheriff," he said.

"I'm going to go with my confidence in Rev. Bailey, whom I do know, and I'm
going to have some optimism. My position is to be conservatively optimistic."

Four jail employees were fired after the Aug. 10 fight after sheriff's
investigators said they had evidence that one or more employees had beaten
a white inmate after the fight.

Glanz said he would provide additional racial sensitivity and people-skills
training to jail employees.

Johnson said the situation in the Tulsa Jail reinforces for him the belief
that Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry must focus on the corrections system at
all levels.

The ministry already was planning a major educational effort on
corrections, "The Justice Assembly," beginning Sept. 15.

The assembly will be a nine-month project intended to help citizens
understand the criminal justice system and advocate for change.

The sessions will be held once a month for nine months at Fellowship
Congregational Church, 2900 S. Harvard Ave. Sessions will run from 9 a.m.
to noon and then be repeated from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. The suggested donation
is $3 per session.

The first session will include an overview of the corrections system from
former District Attorney Bill LaFortune, followed by a panel discussion on
how Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and other religious traditions
have been involved in outreach to prisoners.

Organizers have said they hope everyone -- including families of inmates,
volunteers, ministers, concerned citizens, lawyers and corrections
employees, will attend in hopes of improving the prison system.

Ministry officials have said the current effort to rewrite state
truth-in-sentencing laws and community sentencing laws was a major reason
for tackling the issue this fall.

Johnson said the Aug. 10 jail fight has made "The Justice Assembly" even
more urgent.

"This is on the top burner with us at this moment. I can't see anything
competing with it."

The 75-year-old ministry has long provided the official Tulsa Jail
chaplain. It also coordinates more than 400 volunteers who teach classes
and conduct services in the jail and other correctional facilities in Tulsa.

One of the major interfaith organizations in Tulsa, it also operates the
Day Center for the Homeless.

Dana Sterling can be reached at 581-8398.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski