Stephens’ mother Shannon Stephens and his aunt say they left messages at the detention center’s administrative offices dozens of times in the months leading up to his death.
Six detention officers at the Oklahoma County jail have been charged with assault and mistreatment of inmates since October. Seven inmates have died there in the last three months and at least 84 inmates there have died since 2009, a rate more than double the national average.
Oklahoma jails and prisons, which have cultivated some of the state’s biggest outbreaks of the disease, are still on the waiting list for the COVID-19 vaccine.
COVID-19 relief was meant to give a lifeline to hospitals, especially the small, rural facilities that struggled to stay open before 2020. But in states like Oklahoma, problems created by confusing guidelines could cause harm long after the pandemic.
Rural emergency responders say hospitals in Tulsa, Lawton and Oklahoma City are filling with patients.
The Frontier’s reporting on COVID-19 in Oklahoma prisons wouldn’t be possible without support from our readers.
Efforts to shorten prison sentences and roll back the use of sentence enhancements have so far been blocked by state district attorneys.
Oklahoma voters soundly defeated a measure that would have made major changes to the state’s criminal justice system. A measure that would have funded part of the state’s Medicaid expansion also fell short.
