County jail failed inspection last year

Ironically, on the same week that this newspaper reported the McCurtain County Jail had passed its annual jail inspection for 2023, Oklahoma Watch reported that 60 percent of Oklahoma jails failed their inspections last year – including McCurtain County.
The Oklahoma Department of Health reported that in 2022 when it made an unannounced inspection of the McCurtain County Jail, it found three violations, including fire detection system issues and standard of living issues.
The department said the jail had “failed to develop and implement policies and procedures for the safety and maintenance of sanitation, and maintain the automatic fire alarm and heat and smoke detection system.
The department also reported that “the facility failed to have at least 40 square feet of floor space for the initial inmate and at least 20 square feet for each additional inmate occupying the jail.
The health department said in that 2022 inspection that the jail had 99 inmates out a capacity of 136.
In this year’s inspection, which found no violations, the jail had only 62 inmates when inspected.