The Cleveland County Board of Commissioners says Sheriff Chris Amason’s office hasn’t been cooperating with an investigation into deaths at the county jail in Norman. 

The County Commissioners hired SIMCO Correctional Consulting LLC in September to conduct an internal investigation into the root cause of detainee deaths at the Cleveland County Detention Center and develop recommendations to enhance safety and health protocols. 

More than six weeks later, SIMCO has not received any of the investigative materials it has asked the Sheriff’s Office to provide, the County Commissioners said in a statement Tuesday. 

“The sheriff’s lack of response thus far is simply unacceptable,” the Commissioners said. “If future requests for cooperation go unanswered, the Board of County Commissioners will consider using the power granted under Oklahoma State Statute to subpoena relevant materials from the sheriff’s office.” 

The Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to The Frontier that it has collected “all relevant documents and will be providing them to the District Attorney’s Office for appropriate dissemination.”

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“Given that some of these documents are part of ongoing litigation, we are handling them with the necessary legal precautions,”  Terrah Hicks, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, said in a text message. 

“Sheriff Amason is fully committed to exploring every possible avenue in order to take proactive steps towards reducing these tragic incidents,” Hicks said. 

At least five Cleveland County detainees have died this year. Alex Jermaine Wright, 34, was the most recent death at the jail, according to the Sheriff’s Office. A detention officer found Wright unresponsive in his cell during the early morning hours of Oct. 3. The cause of death is still under investigation. 

The Frontier and The Marshall Project published a joint investigation in July into jail health care provider Turn Key Health Clinics that highlighted the 2022 death of Shannon Hanchett in the Cleveland County Detention Center.