Tulsa County’s board of commissioners deferred voting today on a resolution to set jail fees for municipal inmates.
Commissioners also skipped agreements with Jenks and Tulsa because they named only the criminal justice authority, not the board of county commissioners. Commissioner John Smaligo said his concern with the agreements was they did not include the Board of County Commissioners.
"The details of those contracts could be manipulated by other entities, in particular the municipalities, to effectively make whatever rate we set for municipal inmates in the jail ineffective," Smaligo said.
The commissioners’ resolution would have set the daily rate at $59 and tied it to the U.S. Marshal’s rate.
Undersheriff Tim Albin said the fight will keep going.
"They leave out parties to the contracts, and so until the cities and the municipalities decide that they're going to follow the protocol that the county commissioners set and follow the trust indenture, we're going to be doing this back-and-forth type thing until that point," Albin said.
Smaligo said Tulsa and Jenks' agreements just aren't how it's done.
"As long as we do handle this issue, specifically the way we've handled it the last 15 years, we'll be able to set a rate and move on down the road," Smaligo said. "And I think a lot of these other problems will be solved."
Jenks' agreement was submitted to the county this weekend. Smaligo and the district attorney's office, which represents the county in civil matters, share the same concerns.
