Five inmates at the Oklahoma County jail were treated for drug overdoses over a recent two-week span as fentanyl and other opioids continue to get inside the facility.
Jail officials say the drugs continue to get into the jail despite routine searches being conducted on detainees leaving and returning to the facility, as well as on people just arrested. Random searches also are conducted on employees who work either for the agency or third-party vendors.
The problem inside the jail isn’t new — 130 successful overdose interventions have been carried out there during the past year — and this week’s announcement about recent interventions seeks to raise awareness about the problem, jail CEO Brandi Garner said.
The agency announced the successful interventions a week after The Oklahoman published its year-long investigation into 43 deaths at the jail that have occurred since the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority took over operations from the sheriff’s office on July 1, 2020.
How the Oklahoma County jail screens incoming inmates
The investigation showed the jail has become — through homicides, drug overdoses, suicides and COVID-19 deaths — one of the deadliest in the nation. The Oklahoma County jail was the subject of a multicounty grand jury investigation that concluded control of operations should be returned to the sheriff.
To combat contraband problems inside the jail, Garner said her staff now conducts strip searches of returning detainees who temporarily leave the jail for court hearings. Some searches have turned up drugs, often stashed within body cavities in an attempt to escape detection, she said.
New arrivals are screened using a low-radiation body scan. For those where scans show something suspicious, they are advised to voluntarily surrender what it shows or be diverted for a more detailed search. Those individuals could face additional criminal complaints depending on what is found.
“Usually, those are larger quantities (discovered by body scans). When you are talking about a single pill, it may look like a button on a pair of pants on a body scan image if it is placed right. And with women, it is easier (for them) to hide contraband because of their physiological differences,” Garner said.
“When you have 60 to 100 people coming into the facility every day and dozens of other detainees leaving and then returning, it makes it extremely difficult to catch everything. We must stay vigilant and continue to be extremely proficient in our efforts to eradicate contraband from the facility,” Garner said.
As for employees and vendors, the jail’s policy states “all staff and volunteers (and visitors) may be subject to random pat down searches.” It also states, “refusal by any employee to submit to a search may be grounds for corrective discipline, including termination.”
‘Drugs are one of the main reasons why people die in the Oklahoma County jail’
Authorities arrested an employee of a contracted food vendor in July 2021 on accusations he smuggled tobacco, marijuana and cellphones to inmates. In October 2021, authorities arrested a medical assistant working for Turnkey Medical on accusations that person was bringing in marijuana, methamphetamine, fentanyl and tobacco.
Then, in December 2021, a detention center officer was arrested on complaints of distributing a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute, use of a firearm while committing a felony and carrying a weapon, drugs or alcohol into the jail. The guard, identified as Reagan Widener, 27, was fired from her job.
After the multicounty grand jury concluded its work, the special prosecutor advising the grand jury said constant undercover drug operations should be happening inside the facility.
“Drugs are one of the main reasons why people die in the Oklahoma County jail,” District Attorney Jack Thorp said in April.
Garner credits Oklahoma’s efforts to provide her facility with a supply of naloxone as a first-line defense in cases where detainees appear to be suffering from overdoses.
“It’s a life saver. I hate to think how many people in our community would be dead without it,” Garner said.
The CEO said the staff needs the cooperation of the jail’s detainees and outside law enforcement agencies in order to better control drug abuse issues inside the facility.
While past successful overdose interventions haven’t been publicized, Garner told The Oklahoman, “I am done with that.
“I want the public to know that, yes, it’s happening, but here is what we are doing to try to curtail the problem of contraband getting inside the jail.”
By Jack Money – Oklahoman
Tags: Jail Overdose Opioid Epidemic Overdose