Saturday may have been the only chance for residents to walk in and out of the newly constructed Blaine County Jail without so much as a by-your-leave.
That’s because there was an open house going on, complete with tours and refreshments. The tours were led by Sheriff Travis Daugherty with assistance from other deputies, jailers and staff. The new facility, Daugherty said, was built as an 84-bed unit, but when the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal issued the certificate of occupancy, it was rated for 108.
It seems the building has a space for everything. When the public enters, the first area is reception where they can ad-dress staff through the glass dividers. A kiosk is being in-stalled so that friends or family can add money to an in-mate’s account.
Near the entrance are a report room, where officers can fill out paperwork from their laptops, which may be fitted onto desks that have the option of the user sitting or standing. The laptops – each deputy is assigned one – were donated by Devon Energy.
There is an office for the lieutenant and sergeant, one for the undersheriff and one for the sheriff. The sheriff’s office is fit-ted out with a television and comfortable chairs, but not for gaming. They are arranged so that long sessions reviewing body camera video don’t feel so long.
Part of the officers’ area is also configured so that it can be used for small training sessions.
There are, of course, areas for attorney visits, but a glass will always separate the inmate from the public. Daugherty said all the rooms are built to that standard so that the inmate can have no physical contact with the public.
T here are four segregation cells for detainees on special charges that might put them in danger if they were in the general population, or if they have shown a tendency to fight with other inmates. There are also clinic cells for medical necessity and isolation cells for those who might have been exposed to a communicable illness, such as COVID.
Additionally, there is a cell with a fully flushable floor for detainees who may have a mental illness or who habitually spatter the jail staff with their own wastes. This cell has no furnishings that an individual might use to harm themselves.
One of Daugherty’s pride and joys is the sparkling new stain-less steel kitchen. It is set up for efficiency and to meet state standards.
The meals are prepared there, then transported to the inmate pods by jail personnel.
The inmates eat in their pods. There are four 20-person pods and a segregated female pod as well. A central control runs the entire jail. Visitors were not treated to a viewing of the control room.
When an individual has been placed under arrest, he or she arrives at the jail in a patrol vehicle, which pulls into the sally port. The roll up doors on either side are closed with the police vehicle inside. The detainee is taken to receiving and stripsearched. His or her clothing and belongings are immediately placed in a commercial size vacuum sealer and sealed.
This, Daugherty said, lowers the chance of contraband being smuggled in and also eliminates the probability of bedbugs being introduced to the facility.
The detainee will then go through digital fingerprinting and an iris scanner to ensure proper identification.
The pods have upstairs sleeping quarters separated into cells of four and a downstairs bull pen where the residents can spend their waking hours.
The bunks have been fitted out with what the sheriff de-scribes as the toughest mattresses they could find, with covers that prevent ripping, thwarting attempts to hide items inside. They also have built in pillows.
The laundry area has an enormous capacity commercial washer and dryer. These will be run by staff, not trustees. They were costly and having the staff use them is a measure to increase the longevity of the machines.
There is also a small courtroom in the facility with a storage area for documents right outside. Attorneys may also sit in the galley storage area to wait on their hearing time and work on papers. The courtroom has a television so that video conferencing is a possibility if the need arises.
Daugherty also said the small court space will allow for training sessions to be held there as well.
Blaine County has been saving for construction of a new jail for a number of years and was able to pay out of pocket for the facility, which came in slightly under its original $13 million budget.