Hughes County District Attorney, Erik Johnson met with Hughes County officials, including the Sheriff and Commissioners Monday to discuss the future of the Hughes County jail which was hit with 56 violations in the last jail report. As the DA explained, the jail is the county’s biggest liability.

Johnson’s recommendation was to shut down the jail and house Hughes County inmates in the Seminole County Jail in Wewoka. However, Johnson said, they are currently working to get the cost per inmate per day lowered considerably, in order for that to be feasible for Hughes County to afford.

Hughes County Commissioner Coal Dilday responded to the DA’s recommendation by saying that he would hate to give away over $600,000 to another county. Not to mention the number of jobs that would be lost. Dilday asked for time to gather the proper information needed to make any decision concerning the future of the jail, including an accurate estimate of needs and costs to bring the jail up to code.

Hughes County Commissioner Jim Lively agreed with Dilday reporting that the County spent close to $120,000 on updates last year and still have an estimated $300,000 left from the County’s effort to build a new jail, a bond issue that was voted down by county residents.

All three commissioners, Dilday, Lively, and Dwight Barnett agreed that they did not want to see Hughes County lose the revenue which the jail provides. It was discussed to possibly add another $100,000 to the maintenance budget for the next fiscal year, in order to make the necessary updates needed to the jail.

Sheriff Marcia Maxwell shared the same concerns of revenue but also added that Hughes County could not afford to house inmates in Seminole County because the cost per inmate per day is so much more out of county. This is an issue DA Johnson said he is working to lower and believes he can negotiate the cost down to near $40 per day per inmate. The cost to house a single inmate in the Hughes County Jail is $27.50 per day.

Speaking with DA Johnson after the meeting he said that it is his job to advise the County Commissioners. Ultimately, Johnson said, his primary concern is an adverse lawsuit by an inmate. He cited multiple cases in the State of Oklahoma in which inmates have won major lawsuits against county jails, including a recent suit in which an inmate from Tulsa County was awarded $82 million for receiving improper care while in detention. Johnson said he wants to get in front of this, not behind it, be proactive, not reactive.

He is working with the County Commissioners on possible upgrades and updates to the jail in the near future. Johnson says that he is happy to work with the commissioners on a possible solution for the jail going forward.

The commissioners are working to get the estimate of needs and costs together in order to move forward in solving the problems in our county jail, but all agree that they do not want to see Hughes County Jail shut down.