(Update: Hours after the publication of this article, Gov. Kevin Stitt announced that Sharon “Shel” Millington would become interim director of the Office of Juvenile Affairs, replacing Tim Tardibono. The following article remains in its original form.)
Repeated unrest at the Central Oklahoma Juvenile Center in Tecumseh edged toward pandemonium last weekend, with local police responses rejected by Office of Juvenile Affairs leaders and Department of Corrections employees ultimately called in to quell the chaos and fill key positions vacated by injured staff members.
According to state lawmakers, the town’s police chief and the Oklahoma Public Employees Association, the situation has spanned at least six weeks, with a significant percentage of COJC employees now on medical leave or workers’ compensation claims.
“There’s a high ratio of injuries for staff. I can’t give you an exact number. I have asked for that information but have not received it,” said Dixie Fox-Jackson, the OPEA’s co-executive director. “It’s very, very serious when you have to have a DOC [Correctional Emergency Response Team] come in and stabilize a unit. The staff are fearful for themselves and for the kids. Something needs to be done.”
With back-office staff and kitchen workers shifted into unit positions, some employees reported working more than 20 hours straight while allegedly being told they could not leave, according to Tecumseh Police Chief J.R. Kidney. He said one employee was so tired after a long shift that they fell asleep at the wheel and caused a wreck with injuries while driving home.
“I definitely feel like COJC is in a crisis and needs some oversight to help with the students, residents or whatever you want to call them and the employees — and then overall to ensure that the citizens of Tecumseh are safe,” Kidney said.
OJA executive director Tim Tardibono, whom Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed to lead the agency one year ago, did not respond to an interview request about the situation at COJC, but OJA’s chief of strategic communications texted NonDoc a statement Friday morning.
“We are unable to comment on any open investigation or specific case,” Jennifer Francis said. “As always, the safety and security of our youth and staff is our utmost priority.”
‘Director Tardibono has not briefed the board’
Concerns about the safety and security of residents and staff first reached Kidney’s radar Sept. 12.
Kidney said his department received a 911 dispatch to respond to a chaotic situation at COJC, a sprawling campus on the south edge of town that houses Oklahomans who have been “adjudicated as youthful offenders or delinquents and placed in OJA custody.” According to Fox-Jackson, COJC housed 51 youth as of Friday morning.
“We get a call that it’s out of control out there and they need all the help they can get,” Kidney said of the Sept. 12 incident. “We respond numerous units out there, and when we get there they won’t let us in the gate. The superintendent out there (Darryl Fields) says everything is under control. He obviously has the appearance that he has been in a physical altercation himself. He’s breathing heavily, he’s sweating profusely, but (he says) everything’s under control, so they don’t let us in.
“And in about less than an hour, they call and they need two ambulances, one for staff and one for one of the residents. So it had gotten that bad.”
Kidney said he and his officers received information from COJC employees who were afraid for their safety and of losing their jobs if they spoke out publicly.
“We started hearing from several employees about how bad it was, how dangerous it was — that they’ve got a lot of employees out right now on injuries and stuff like that,” Kidney said. “The office staff is having to help on the units, and those people ain’t even trained to be on those units. But they’re so short-handed, that’s what is going on.”
Kidney, Fox-Jackson, two state lawmakers and a host of other people connected to OJA all described similar concerns and frustrations about the situation at COJC, although none could pinpoint specific reasons for the recent rise in violence and chaos within the recently rebuilt and well-regarded state facility. While multiple people said they had heard rumors about OJA policy changes that have allowed COJC residents more access to music, video games and common spaces, Fox-Jackson said she has not heard concerns about any “policy changes” from OPEA members.
“Ultimately, I want to get the facts,” said Rep. Danny Sterling (R-Tecumseh). “I will never throw anybody under the bus, figuratively saying, but I want to make sure we get the facts, find out what is really going on, who is really calling the shots, who is making the final decisions. Is it people at the facility or is it their superiors telling them what to do? I think that right there is very crucial information that we need to gather and figure out, because chain of command could definitely be something that we need to be looking at.”
On Oct. 17, Kidney’s department received another call for assistance through 911. The dispatch Kidney’s officers received said that a “unit is out of control and staff is not equipped.”
“On Friday night, we get a call that the place is out of the control and that they need help. So we send several units, and again we are told that they don’t need us, and they didn’t let us in,” Kidney said. “At that point in time, it had made it all the way up to Secretary (of Public Safety) Tricia Everest and to Karen Youngblood, which is their (board) chairwoman, and then all these people got involved.”
Youngblood is the longest-tenured member of the OJA board, which was shifted into an advisory capacity in 2019 when the Oklahoma Legislature granted Gov. Kevin Stitt hiring and firing power over the executive directors of five major state agencies.
On Tuesday, OJA’s board held its regular monthly meeting in Oklahoma City, but the agenda featured no item about COJC concerns, an omission that reportedly baffled and frustrated some board members who had begun hearing rumors of injured employees and campus chaos over the weekend.
“The way the governor and Legislature structured this, we are now an advisory board, and as such, we are not in the direct line of authority to be able to comment,” Youngblood told NonDoc. “At present, Director Tardibono has not briefed the board of issues.”
Kidney, however, said he has spoken with Tardibono a handful of times.
“Basically (he said) that they’ve got it under control and that if they ever did need us they would call, and all that kind of stuff,” Kidney said. “But if you tell me something is under control and then less than an hour later you’re calling for an ambulance, I just can’t help but think it’s not under control.”
To that end, Kidney said his department received another dispatch Saturday stating “14 residents outside of their unit and they couldn’t get back on their unit.” He said a different COJC administrator called minutes later and said the situation had been resolved.
Rep. Emily Gise (R-OKC) has been involved in several conversations about the COJC situation this week. She said she had been told some policies at the facility have changed this year.
“I’m deeply concerned about some of the policy that keeps staff and the youth safe being relaxed,” Gise said. “I’ve also heard that there are 20-year-olds in the facility, so that’s something a lot of the [legislators] have been talking about. (…) COJC is not a facility that is equipped to handle 20-year-olds with violent crimes (on their records).”
Noting that OJA operates a charter school on the campus, Gise said COJC is “designed for youths with the potential to be rehabilitated.”
“I’m concerned about the safety of the staff. I don’t feel like the director is protecting the staff here by turning away outside help. I’ve heard staff working 30-plus hours, driving home and getting in a wreck,” Gise said. “I would say staff at the facility are following the director’s orders. The director is very involved in the day-to-day operations, and I believe that leadership determines the day-to-day operations of that facility.”
Fox-Jackson said OPEA, which represents state workers, is “calling for immediate action to stabilize these facilities.” She said that “would include assessing the staffing levels, training, security measures and overall management practice to restore this facility to safe and efficient operations.”
“We have serious concerns about the ongoing safety issues, and particularly we are concerned about the welfare of both the employees and the youth in their care, and that’s got to be a stop priority,” Fox-Jackson said. “We are aware that conditions within the facility have become increasingly unstable and (are) placing our employees and their clients in unnecessary risk. Absolutely no state worker should fear for their safety while performing their duties. And no young person in the custody of the state of Oklahoma should be fearful for their safety as well or (be) housed in an environment that fails to ensure their protection and rehabilitation.”
Rep. Daniel Pae (R-Lawton) suggested that Stitt should review Tardibono’s employment.
“I’m deeply concerned for the safety of OJA staff, community detention workers and the youth in their care,” Pae said. “These centers were built for rehabilitation, not violent offenders. It’s putting everyone at risk, and I’m not confident current leadership at the top of the agency is prepared to act.”
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Meeting minutes: OJA ‘facing challenges’ for months
While Youngblood declined to answer questions about the current situation at COJC, she has shared concerns about Tardibono in a public setting before.
According to meeting minutes from the OJA board’s June gathering, Youngblood discussed OJA’s historical challenges, praised past leaders and emphasized how the board should “insist” that “transparency, accountability and culture be the joint responsibility of the board and executive” director.
“We must commit to honest assessment — even if that creates temporary discomfort,” Youngblood said to conclude the meeting. “Sadly, I continue to hear and see evidence that the high standards set by this board and the last three directors are facing challenges.”
The board’s July meeting minutes include a reference to OJA losing three “high-level leaders” in recent months. During her June comments, Youngblood said she has been “denied” requested information about OJA’s operations, something she deemed a “red flag.”
“To begin to assess these questions we have assessed with previous directors and to put us all on the same page, I have asked for written reports that would allow us all to share the same information and work together to address any issues. That request has been denied multiple times. It raises a red flag with me,” Youngblood said. “Since it is unproductive — and potentially damaging — to not have a shared level of trust between the board and director, I will be recommending several connection points between the board and the director. The first being to form a working committee to interface with the director to ensure our communication is open and the hard-earned improvements of the past are being protected and built upon.”
An attorney who answered questions for a Q&A opinion column published in The Oklahoman this week, Tardibono was appointed to lead OJA by Stitt in October 2024 after six years working as executive director of the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Advisory Council. His official bio notes that his “first position” in government was at the Office of Juvenile Affairs about 25 years prior. At that time, OJA was concluding its required monitoring and reporting for a corrective action plan that had been born out of state scandal.
A federal lawsuit filed in 1978 — Terry D. v. Rader — resulted in a 1984 consent decree that lasted for more than a decade and fundamentally restructured Oklahoma’s juvenile justice system. Attorneys who filed the litigation found that incarcerated youth were often hog-tied with their limbs held behind their backs, and other children were sedated without medical authorization. The consent decree eventually spurred the Office of Juvenile Affairs’ creation in 1995. Required compliance with the correction action plan ran until 1999.
Calm times at the agency were short-lived, however.
In 2004, DOJ officials notified the state they were opening an investigation into “conditions of confinement” at OJA’s L.E. Rader Juvenile Detention Center in Sand Springs. One year later, the DOJ findings alleged that “the conditions of confinement violate the constitutional rights of youth confined at Rader,” and a lawsuit was filed by the federal government against the state of Oklahoma. A consent decree signed and approved in 2008 mandated dozens of remedial measures and required OJA to create “quality assurance programs” for ongoing monitoring. The Rader Center ultimately closed, and the COJC facility in Tecumseh remains as the state’s only secure care treatment facility for youth.
Youngblood’s June soliloquy concluded with a plea about “doing the right things for the right reasons.”
“Let me end where we should always begin: Our kids. We have no money of our own — we are the stewards of taxpayer dollars. We have no independent authority of our own — we are advisors,” she said. “But this board has a great track record of doing what is right for the young people who have found their way to our care. What we do is so much bigger than any one of us. If we succeed, almost no one will notice. There will be no awards. We will not get our picture in the media or online.
“Anyone seeking such self acknowledgement and aggrandizement is in the wrong business. But we will have something far greater: The knowledge that (we are) doing the right things for the right reasons. One that has redirected the path many of our kids were on, prevented them from being another casualty of Oklahoma’s prison system, and empowered them to make better decisions that lead to productive citizenry.”
Nine open jobs are currently listed on the OJA website, all of which are designated as being based in Pottawatomie County, the location of COJC. Eight of the jobs have been posted within the last 21 days.
Secretary of Public Safety Tricia Everest nor Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment prior to the publication of this article. DOC public relations chief Kay Thompson said her agency’s director had no comment on their involvement at COJC.
The OJA board’s next meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18.
(Update: This article was updated minutes after its publication to include an additional comment from a state lawmaker. It was updated again at 2:40 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, to correct reference to the DOC’s Correctional Emergency Response Team.)
