By Harrison Grimwood
Muskogee Phoenix
MUSKOGEE, Okla. — Sleep is hard to come by for Roy Thompson, one of five people sharing a cell designed for three people.
Thompson is an inmate of the Muskogee County/City Detention Facility. He’s awaiting his assignment to an Oklahoma Department of Corrections facility.
“It’s crowded. I don’t get much sleep,” Thompson said. “I can stay up 48 hours just because it’s so loud.”
More than a dozen inmates sleep in “boats” and pads on the floor of Thompson’s pod. He shares his cell with four other inmates. His pod, designed to house 26 inmates, housed 57 inmates on Tuesday. The “boats” — large plastic bins that raise inmates off the floor — and the sleeping pads line the walls, are tucked under stairs, and take up floor space in the cells.
The detention facility, an inconspicuous building that nearly blends into the Muskogee Police Department next door, was 150 percent overcapacity last week with a total of 425 inmates.
Muskogee County Sheriff Charles Pearson said the jail, which is only supposed to hold 282 inmates, set a record.
“We got to get something done,” Pearson said. “It’s bad.”
As of Tuesday, 49 inmates were waiting to start their prison sentences with the DOC; 60 inmates are holds for the United States Marshal Service, at least 19 are people who failed to pay their fines and about another 50 inmates are people who failed to appear in court when they were supposed to, Jail Administrator Jeremy Garvin said.
Inmates said they have seen the size of their meals — regardless of complaints or praises of the food quality — fluctuate with the number of inmates.
“(The meals) have always been small, but toward the end of the month, they get smaller,” inmate Stanley Powers said.
Garvin said they have to feed more inmates with the same amount of food.
Powers shares a three-man cell. All three bunks are full.
“There’s only three bunks, but we try to look out for someone,” Powers said.
As Powers talked about the sleeping arrangements, he nodded to another inmate. That inmate sleeps on the cell’s floor because “it’s quieter in there,” Powers said.
Exercise is at a premium in Powers’ and Thompson’s pod. Those 57 inmates are largely limited to walking within the pod. Within the pod, they risk stepping on their fellow inmates.
Pearson said the jail needs a lot of work. He suggested several solutions to limit the crowding, the least of which was a bigger jail.
“If I had a 600-bed jail, I would fill it in a day,” Pearson said.
Oklahoma State Department of Health spokesman Cory Robertson said the department of health has cited jails for overcrowding.
"[T]his issue is common and it is up to the jail to correct,” Robertson said.
In extreme occurrences, the State Attorney General’s Office can force jail closures or enforcement. He said that would be “an extreme occurrence and case.” Robertson did not respond by end of business day Friday to inquiries about Muskogee County jail’s status.
Cherokee County Detention Center has 150 beds. As of Friday morning, they had 103 inmates. A Cherokee County jail spokeswoman said she has never seen the jail hit capacity. McIntosh County Criminal Justice Center has 143 beds. As of Friday afternoon, that jail had 132 inmates, McIntosh County Sheriff Kevin Ledbetter said.
Ledbetter said the differences between his jail and Muskogee’s is a function of numbers.
“McIntosh County has a total population of about 19,000 and Muskogee, the city, has a population of about 40,000,” Ledbetter said. "(Their jail) is not even twice (the size of) ours. That’s not nearly enough jail space.”
Jail space will fill up eventually, Ledbetter said.
Muskogee inmates are credited for three days for each day they are in, Garvin said. The sheriff’s office has struggled with inmates walking off during work programs, which are geared to reduce time and fines for those working.
The risk of the work programs, Garvin said, is when inmates walk away. Pearson said rehabilitation and drug court programs should be prioritized over incarceration.
“It’s a constant battle,” Pearson said. “I’m doing anything I can to get these people out.”
Pearson estimated that by the end of August, the jail’s population would be below 350.