Oklahoma City, Okla — The Oklahoma County Sheriff is no longer in charge of operations at the jail.
A group of appointed residents known as the jail trust officially took over Wednesday morning.
According to Mac Mullings, the Program Services Coordinator for the trust, “The big change is, the criminal justice authority, we want to make sure people inside the jail know that we actually, they’re not just a number. We do care about them.” County commissioners, just over a year ago decided to ease the work load of the sheriff by bringing in a group to help.
In a county as large as Oklahoma County, they said it allows the sheriff to focus more on law enforcement and political issues while the Criminal Justice Authority will take care of operations inside of the home base.
“The sheriff had full responsibility of the detention center as well as all of his outside law enforcement duties and that has been separated,” said Greg Williams, the Jail Administrator.
With now more of an availability to focus on operations, more of an emphasis is reportedly being put on mental health and substance abuse resources. Read more at Fox 25.