Decline in positive COVID-19 cases, continued drop in population highlighted in newest CJAC report
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The Oklahoma Criminal Justice Advisory Council recently released a new report highlighting the decline in positive COVID-19 cases and the continued decrease in the population of the Oklahoma County Jail.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted justice systems all over the country and Oklahoma County was no different. When the OK County Criminal Justice Authority took over operations of the OK County Detention Center (OCDC aka jail) in July 2020, COVID testing expanded significantly. With expanded testing, the Trust Authority discovered numerous new cases at the OCDC. Detention and correctional facilities are one of the epicenters of the COVID outbreak both in Oklahoma and nationally.
In August 2020, COVID cases peaked at 215. However, as the chart below shows, through the partnership of OCDC administrators and the Detention Center’s medical provider Turn Key Health, the COVID count dropped dramatically to only single digits at the end of 2020 with an average of 1,022 tests per month being administered. Of the 5,111 total tests administered since August, 344 of them were positive, a rate of 7%.
Current testing protocols require testing of detainees in the following circumstances:
- All detainees prior to court appearance
- All detainees being transferred to DOC
- Detainees being transferred to another agency
- All symptomatic detainees
- Cell partners to any confirmed positive detainee
For Detention Center staff, testing protocols require testing of symptomatic staff, exposure testing and at the request of staff that wish to have one at any time.
Jail population above FY 20 average due to delay in transfers
One of the regular OK County Detention Center (OCDC) functions that COVID has interrupted is the transfer of detainees from the OCDC that have received their final sentence either through trial or plea agreement. On a weekly basis anywhere from 25 to as many as 50 detainees leave the OCDC and go to the Lexington Assessment & Reception Center for their initial OK Dept. of Corrections reception processing. Due to COVID, that regular weekly process has sometimes halted altogether or alternatively, been severely limited each month. This interruption has noticeably raised the daily jail population at OCDC.
For the Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20), the total jail population average was 1,624, down from 1,663 for most of FY19. The trend for monthly average jail population for FY21 has been above both those FY19 and FY20 yearly averages ranging from a low of 1,732 to a high of 1,840 per month. However, for both the first and second quarters of FY20, the jail population awaiting transfer to DOC has been well above average ranging as high as 453 in July, just as the Trust Authority was taking control of the Detention Center, to a low of 172 in September. Throughout the second quarter, the DOC count awaiting transfer out of the jail has been over 250. Comparatively, the jail population in 2006 was over 1,000 persons greater on December 31 with a total population of 2,781. Although the interruption in the DOC transfer schedule has increased the jail population, the underlying jail population numbers continue to be in line with FY19 and FY20 averages. If not for the delays in DOC transfers, the FY21 monthly averages would be at or below the FY19 and FY20 averages, which is an encouraging sign that despite COVID, progress to safely reduce the jail population continues.
The quarterly report also includes an overview of the impact of the 2020 election season on members of the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Advisory Council and an update on the OKC Municipal Court’s Penalty Reduction Program.
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