Oklahoma County creates trust to manage troubled county jail

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma County’s Board of Commissioners has created a trust to manage the troubled Oklahoma County Jail.
The three-member board voted unanimously Wednesday to create a nine-member trust to oversee the jail’s operation and finances.
The Oklahoman reports that the trust moves the jail closer to the possibility of privatization. The trust could decide to allow the sheriff’s department to continue to run the jail, hire a private company to run it, or make the trust responsible for its operation.
Officials say the 13-story jail has been an issue since it opened in 1991. Inmates easily escaped because of design defects. In 2009, the U.S. Justice Department found 60 civil rights violations and it came under federal supervision.
The jail has also had a high number of inmate deaths in recent years.