Nearly halfway through 2025, the Oklahoma County Jail is on pace to break its grim record for detainee deaths while still struggling with staffing shortages, failed inspection reports and doubts among those tasked with overseeing the facility’s day-to-day operations.
Seven detainees have died at the jail this year. The most recent, Mario Latreal Mason, hanged himself at the jail May 12. He had been sentenced to life in prison the month prior and was awaiting transfer to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections at the time of his death.
Sixteen detainees died at the jail in 2022, its worst year on record. The jail saw seven deaths per year in 2023 and 2024. Since the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority — known as the “jail trust” — took over operation and governance of the detention center in 2020, there have been 58 detainee deaths, according to the People’s Council for Justice Reform.
Over a 20-year period when the jail was operated by the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office, there were 73 deaths, the group said.
Along with the deaths, a string of arrests this year has exemplified a facility that has gained a reputation as an easy mark for those looking to smuggle items into the jail, thanks in part to media coverage of the jail’s problems and failed inspections. Four people were arrested in April in a scheme to smuggle fentanyl-soaked paper through the facility’s mail room. Then in May, police arrested two people in connection with a plan to smuggle drugs and cash to a jail staffer who intended to pass the items to a detainee.
An Oklahoma State Department of Health inspection report from December found substantial problems with a lack of site checks and rodent infestation at the 34-year-old jail. That report came after jail officials attempted to block inspectors from accessing the facility in 2024 for unannounced inspections. The Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously ruled May 29 that OSDH does have the authority to inspect the jail without notice.
The lack of site checks, along with other negligent practices from jail staffers, can be fatal. Some of those who have died at the Oklahoma County Jail were found long after they had become unresponsive in cells, and in April, an employee was charged with second-degree manslaughter when she failed to act during a fight between two detainees that resulted in one of their deaths.
The families of some of those who have died are suing the county on behalf of their loved ones. Those lawsuits and others frequently appear on the executive session portion of county commissioner and jail trust meeting agendas. The family of Cory McMichael, who died in jail in 2022, is suing the county, as is the family of Christa Sullivan, who died at the jail in 2021. Others have sued for non-fatal injuries. One former detainee’s suit claims he was roughed up by a guard while sitting on a toilet.
While questions about the funding and future of the new county jail have delayed the 34-year-old facility’s eventual decommission, what appears clear to officials and the community at large is that Oklahoma County detainees are dying at an alarming rate. The deaths are occurring more frequently than in Tulsa County and Cleveland County, and more often than at some jails in large metropolitan areas throughout the country, including New York City, which has had five deaths across its jails as of April, and the infamous Fulton County Jail in Georgia, which has a similar tower design to the Oklahoma County Jail and tallied four deaths last year.
Since its inception, 20 people have served on the Oklahoma County jail trust, with some lasting less than six months. The jail’s death rate may have played a role in some decisions to come and go. Former jail trust Chairman Joe Allbaugh resigned — for a second time — on April 30, leaving Steve Buck to serve as his interim replacement.
“The first thing I’d say is my heart breaks every time somebody is injured or, unfortunately, dies,” Buck said. “And that’s true whether it’s in jail, whether it’s on a highway, or on a commute home. It pains me. And that was kind of the conversation we were having today about the status quo. We have an obligation to be the best we can. Sometimes you’re the best you can be. Even then, unfortunate things happen. But for those things we can be better at, we owe it to the constituents to be better.”
Buck will serve as interim chairman until June 30. But as someone who juggles running a business among other personal obligations, Buck would not commit to any service on the trust, as chairman or in any other capacity, beyond that date, citing the possibility of forfeiting his seat to “somebody who has more time to give as a volunteer.”
“The demands on volunteer members of the trust — the number of hours, the different functions — are quite extensive,” Buck told fellow trust members May 12. “So, in the micro, I am willing to accept (the chairmanship) through June 30, but any service that I might have after July 1, provided there is not a significant change in the direction we are taking our body and our ability to provide care in the best possible way — I would be unlikely to continue service after July 1. You should be aware that, absent a significant change in operational approach, I would not be a candidate. If that means you should prefer to elect someone else at this time, I understand that. But I want to make clear that the status quo (…) we must move away from the status quo.”
‘I miss my son’
Debra Stanton was at work in February 2024 when she got a phone call informing her that her son, Derek Strother, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Oklahoma County Jail.
“I got a phone call one morning while I was at work saying that he was in critical condition and (asking) how soon I could get there,” Stanton said. “Then I got a phone call almost immediately following the first one, saying that he was pronounced dead at St. Anthony Hospital, but I believe he was already dead when they brought him to the hospital. I believe he died in that jail.”
Stanton said her son had picked up a homeless man because he felt sorry for him — the first in a string of events that led to his detention. Strother dropped the man at a nearby convenience store, she said. As he drove away, he realized his wallet was missing and returned to the store to confront the man. A dispute ensued, which led to panic.
“He reached into his pocket, maybe to show my son he didn’t have anything in his pocket, and I don’t know, but at some point, my son freaked out at that point, thinking the man might be going to pull a gun, and he jumped in his vehicle and took off,” Stanton said. “And when he did, he got into a wreck.”
The wreck killed Myreon Lacey, who was making a left turn when Strother sped through a red light, according to police. Strother was booked into jail in December 2023, where he remained on manslaughter and DUI charges until he died of a narcotics overdose about two months later. Three doses of Narcan were administered by paramedics who treated him at the jail.
Stanton said she spoke frequently with her son while he was in jail. The fact that he caused the death of another man weighed heavily upon him. He told her he planned to write a letter to Lacey’s family apologizing.
But he also talked to her about conditions inside the jail.
“He said to me, ‘Mother, we never see anybody here unless they’re passing out your meds or giving you your food. We never see them,'” Stanton said.
Jail staffers are required to conduct at least one sight check per hour of each cell. Missed sight checks have been a recurring deficiency documented in Oklahoma State Department of Health inspection reports as recently as last year, and as far back as 2022.
All jail deaths are investigated by the jail. In Strother’s case, he obtained drugs inside the jail and overdosed.
“I never got the results of the investigation,” Stanton said. “I had to wait for the coroner to let me know that my son died of fentanyl and methamphetamine.”
As far as Stanton knew, Strother had said he did not use hard drugs. He had told her he drank and smoked marijuana as a way to cope with his bipolar disorder — although cannabis can often exacerbate the condition. Strother had remained steadily employed as a roofer and car detailer, among other jobs.
“Derek was a hard worker,” she said. “He and his girlfriend had one set of twins going on 5 years old. He was always working and providing for his family. He was a good person.”
Strother had suffered from headaches while inside the jail, Stanton said. She said her son sustained a head injury in the car accident, and she received documents saying her son had a brain bleed, which she believed was caused by the wreck.
“When he first got out of the hospital, he had a headache that was so bad,” she said. “And he called me crying and begging me to call down there and get him some help. And I had to call and call.”
Stanton believes the headaches may be one reason why her son took fentanyl while in jail.
“I know he smoked, and I know he drank, but I don’t think he would take something to end his own life,” she said. “Now, would he take it, thinking it might help his health and make himself feel better? I don’t know. I think a lot of people would do that in the same situation. I did my own investigation because nobody would help me. And on some of the paperwork I got, it said that due to his brain bleed, his thought process could change to where he might do things more impulsively.”
For Stanton, the absence of her son has left a void in her life. She and Strother used to speak daily, she said.
“I miss my son,” she said. “It’s horrible. It’s beyond comprehension.”
She recently accompanied Strother’s two young children to his grave.
“They cried,” she said. “They were hugging that gravestone. They were devastated. They didn’t understand. They wondered where their daddy was. We told them, ‘Daddy’s gone to heaven. He’s with Jesus.’ But at 5 years old, how much of that do they understand?”
‘I don’t think they have enough people’
Oklahoma City police booked Dina Lattrell Kirven into the Oklahoma County Jail for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle following a wreck on April 8, 2023. Hours later, he was found dead inside a holding cell in the booking area. He was 26 years old.
“The female he was with said she was the one driving the vehicle, and so she just left him there and fled the scene, from what I understand,” said Volare Scott, Kirven’s mother.
A medical examiner found Kirven had died of a fentanyl overdose. He had been in jail for about six hours. Scott is suing the county and the doctor who released him to police following the car wreck.
“They should have done a better job of keeping an eye on him,” Scott said. “That’s part of my complaint. Whoever was on duty didn’t check on him, and then my complaint against the hospital was because they saw him, and they released him to the police, when I don’t think he was in any condition for that. They just rushed him off to jail.”
Scott, who lives in Atlanta but still has family in the OKC area, also has concerns about how the jail is operated. She doesn’t believe enough staff members are employed, and she said there seem to be few people willing to step up and take responsibility. When she asked questions about Kirven’s death, she said she was given the runaround.
“I don’t think they have enough people,” she said. “That’s one of the problems. And they need to stop hiring people who are bringing in drugs. They need to hire some ex-military or older people to work there. And they need to stop sending so many people there. They are putting people in for petty crimes and mental health problems that don’t belong there. It’s not right. Something needs to be done. They call it the deadliest jail in America for a reason.”
Scott said she continues to follow developments with the Oklahoma County Jail from Atlanta. When she learns of a new jail death, it’s a reminder of what her son went through in the facility.
“I see that they have deaths, and I just can’t believe it,” she said. “And I know that every time there is one, there are parents who are going through the same things that I do, and others do. It’s very painful to me to see.”
Kirven had problems before he was booked into jail, but he had been trying to get his life together, Scott said.
“He was trying to fight his demons,” she said. “We had gotten involved as a family. We did counseling at Red Rock. My child didn’t have a chance once he went down there to that county jail. And like I have told jail staff, my child was not a throwaway. His grandmother was a school teacher for many years. His dad drives a school bus. He went to church. He did all of it. So, it hurts because my child wasn’t a throwaway. He wasn’t unloved. He loved to laugh. He had a big heart and a big mouth with jokes. I miss him so much.”
‘Time is imperative’ to find funding for planned new jail
The present 13-story tower jail has been riddled with problems since it opened. In the beginning, it was mostly known for escape attempts. Today, some have blamed the jail’s design for its high in-custody death rate.
County voters approved $260 million in bond funding for a new jail in 2022. The facility would be two stories, and proponents have said it would ease some of the problems with sight checks and elevator use at the reddish tower that sticks out on the west edge of downtown OKC like a public pimple.
The cost estimates for the new jail, initially sold to the public as a $300 million facility, have ballooned to $610 million for a 1,800-bed detention center. Last year, the Citizen Bond Oversight Committee recommended that county commissioners consider raising property taxes or instituting a county sales tax to pay for construction and operations of the new jail. Oklahoma County is the only one of the state’s 77 counties without a sales tax supporting public safety operations.
Most recently, a controversial proposed land swap between Oklahoma County and Crooked Oak High School near the new jail’s planned location was dropped over budget concerns.
Some doubt the new jail will ever be built. Allbaugh, who served as the jail trust’s third chairperson in five years until he resigned in April, said he has doubts the project will be completed.
“I’m afraid the new jail’s going to fall by the wayside because no one’s going to pick it up and run with it,” Allbaugh said in an interview with The Oklahoman’s Richard Mize. “I’ve been harping for a new jail for a long time, but nobody wants to step up and fund it. [Business leaders] aren’t going to allow a tax.”
Nearly a year after the county purchased the tract of land at 1901 E. Grand Blvd. for the new jail and its accompanying mental health facility — and months after the committee recommendation — little progress has been made.
Citizen’s Bond Oversight Committee Chairman Steve Mason told county commissioners May 29 that the committee hopes they will move forward with funding and construction on the new jail as soon as possible.
“At our meeting a week ago, like many people in this community, we expressed frustration,” Mason said. “We have a site. We have a design. We have a price. But we’re not building the jail, although we are building the behavioral care (center), which is great. So we passed a motion last week asking the board of county commissioners to aggressively pursue all funding options to build the jail as soon as possible, as designed.”
Mason said the clock is sticking, and further delays could raise the price of the new facility even more.
“Our problem is that our estimate of $610 million for 1,800 beds is good through September,” Mason said. “If it takes us two years to find the funding and break ground, at 8 percent inflation a year, that’s about another $80 million of inflation. So time is imperative.”
During the meeting, District 2 Commissioner Brian Maughan acknowledged it would be an uphill climb to convince county voters to approve a sales tax to fund the new jail’s construction and its day-to-day operations. Maughan said the effort would likely fail at this point and would require work to build a coalition to get a sales tax passed.
“We’ve been pursuing aggressively some options for funding. It just seems that it would be imprudent to go out and try to propose something with no support behind it and have ‘destined failure’ written all over it,” Maughan told fellow commissioners.
District 3 Commissioner Myles Davidson said the county is limited in the way it can raise funds, but he struck an optimistic note on funding options that would be less controversial.
“The biggest issue is, we’re limited on our taxation and what we can actually do,” he told fellow commissioners. “It’s either a sales tax that covers everything, or ad valorem (property tax). And ad valorum in these times — probably not a great idea. Raising people’s property taxes is rarely successful, so we need some statutory authority to do something besides one of those two things.”
