Oklahoma
Oklahoma County jail refuses inspection, setting up fight with state Health Department • Oklahoma Voice
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma County jail has twice refused surprise inspections from the Oklahoma State Department of Health, setting the stage for a potential standoff between the county’s district attorney and the state agency tasked with ensuring county jails are safe.
The decision to block what should be a routine annual inspection has raised concerns among some who said unannounced visits are not unusual and are necessary to ensure inmates are receiving proper care.
County officials first denied entry to an inspector on June 25, saying the jail did not have enough staff to support the inspection, and again Tuesday for the same reason.
Jail officials instead invited the Health Department to conduct the inspection on a predetermined date.
The state Health Department rebuffed that offer in its own letter dated July 1, which Oklahoma Voice obtained with an open records request.
“We will not be deterred from obtaining an accurate understanding of how the facility operates on a day-to-day basis and decline your invitation for a planned and potentially curated inspection,” wrote Health Commissioner Keith Reed.
He wrote that it was concerning that the jail did not have adequate staff for inspections given its history of “noncompliance with basic health, safety, and sanitary standards.”
The agency then attempted a second unannounced inspection Tuesday morning.
In response, the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office sent a letter stating that the agency had “exceeded its lawful authority.”
Aaron Etherington, assistant district attorney, wrote in the letter that the Health Department must submit a 10-day notice prior to any inspections.
The Health Department maintained Wednesday that unannounced inspections are legal and necessary and 10-day notice is not required.
According to Oklahoma law, inspectors employed by the health department are permitted to enter the jail for inspections.
Damion Shade, executive director for Oklahomans For Criminal Justice Reform, said the agency has the right to conduct unannounced inspections.
However, he said there could be legal context the public is unaware of that led the district attorney to support the jail in this case.
Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, said he is a long-time advocate for improving prisons and detention centers around the state. When it comes to surprise inspections, he’s very supportive of them.
“If they know something is coming, they’re gonna do things differently and prepare … If we have random inspections, you’re gonna have to be prepared at all times,” Humphrey said. “Who wouldn’t want that?”
The Oklahoma County jail has been plagued with problems since it opened in 1991. A trust, the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority, took over administration of the jail in July 2020 but the jail continued to experience above average death rates, poor facilities, overcrowding and understaffing.
“I think there are historical issues that have plagued that jail, really, since its design and inception,” Shade said. “I think it’s unfair to blame them (the trust) for all of those years of lost public trust.”
In 2023, The Oklahoman conducted a lengthy investigation which covered the long history of issues with the jail. Since the trust took over, over 40 people have died in custody, with four people dead this year alone.
A grand jury decided in March 2023 that the trust controlling the jail should be dissolved, returning control to the county sheriff. So far the nine-person trust has opted to continue running the facility.
Shade said that abiding by state laws reflects a commitment to voters and the Oklahomans incarcerated in the jail. He said these unannounced inspections could help to rebuild public trust in the jail.
“If the state Health Department was going to a school and the school said, ‘Hey, we don’t have enough staff to walk you around. We can’t do surprise inspections,’ … I don’t think the public would be satisfied with that type of explanation in the context of a school,” Shade said. “So we certainly shouldn’t be satisfied with that explanation in the context of a jail where we have Oklahoma citizens.”
Back in 2022, unannounced inspections revealed repeated violations of state standards. Shade said such inspections help protect the civil rights of the people in the jail and ensure that they are being properly cared for.
“You (voters) all pay the taxes. You have a right to know what is happening in any space that you are paying for to house Oklahoma citizens. Be that a school, be that a jail or a prison,” Shade said. “Oklahoma voters have a right to know what’s happening.”
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Oklahoma
Oklahoma State expected to lose talented EDGE to transfer portal
Oklahoma State EDGE Kyran Duhon plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, On3 has learned. Duhon was a member of the 2024 recruiting class.
Duhon spent one year at Oklahoma State, logged 16 total tackles (eight solo) across nine games. He began his career at UTEP, where he had a productive true freshman season, Duhon finished 2024 with 43 total tackles, including seven sacks and two PBUs.
At UTEP, his one season there resulted in second team All-Conference USA honors. He was also named to the On3 True Freshman All-America Team as well as the the Conference USA All-Freshman team.
However, Duhon’s stay in Stillwater didn’t go as expected. Oklahoma State finished the season with a 1-11 record, which included the Cowboys firing longtime head coach Mike Gundy after a 1-2 start. Doug Meacham was named interim head coach but ended the year 0-9.
Eric Morris has since been named as the program’s next head coach. He comes from North Texas, which finished with an 11-2 record and a trip to the American Conference championship game this past season. However, it doesn’t appear that Duhon will be sticking around during the changing of the guard at Oklahoma State this offseason.
Before college, Duhon was the No. 1,706 overall player in the class, and was recruited as the the No. 165 linebacker during the cycle, per the Rivals Industry Rankings, which is a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. He was ranked as the No. 242 overall player out of Texas.
Once the NCAA transfer portal opens on Jan. 2, players can officially enter their names in the NCAA transfer portal and go on to initiate contact with their preferred schools. The portal will be open for 15 days and close on Jan. 16.
Notably, players who are on teams competing in the national championship game are allowed five extra days to make their portal decision. The College Football Playoff championship game will be played on Jan. 19, so the players on those teams will be allowed until Jan. 24 to enter the portal and choose their next school.
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma man doing target practice in back yard charged in fatal shooting of neighbor
A man in Oklahoma is facing a manslaughter charge after he allegedly shot a woman several blocks from his home while firing a gun he got himself for Christmas at an energy drink can in his back yard.
As told in court documents reviewed by NBC News, the death of Sandra Phelps at the hands of Cody Wayne Adams illustrates how deadly the consequences can be when those engaging in the US’s prevalent gun culture do so unsafely. Adams’s back yard was not equipped to stop bullets from leaving the property and striking unsuspecting people in the surrounding area, according to authorities.
Phelps was sitting under a covered porch with family on Christmas and holding a child in her arms when they heard gunshots north of the house, said an affidavit laying out the circumstances of Adams’s arrest.
“Sandra commented that someone got a new gun for Christmas and then shortly after Sandra said ‘ouch’ and collapsed,” the affidavit said. It said there were no more gunshots after that.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to Phelps’s address at about 3.15pm Thursday, the Stephens county sheriff’s office said in a statement.
“We later received a call stating an individual had just received a gun for Christmas and was target practicing in his backyard and that they believed it would be pointing in the direction of the scene,” the sheriff’s office statement added.
“Investigators went to the reported address and spoke with an individual [who] confirmed he was shooting a target in his back yard and that he had heard that someone has died from a gunshot wound a couple of roads over.”
That individual was Adams, 33, who showed deputies a Red Bull can in his back yard that he had been shooting with his handgun, according to the affidavit justifying his arrest.
Authorities allegedly concluded that the vantage point from where Adams was shooting aligned with the angle of the bullet that killed Phelps. They also determined the home lacked a suitable shooting backstop meant to protect those in the surrounding area from being struck by stray bullets.
“Adams became visibly upset and began to cry” when he learned of Phelps, the affidavit added. He was arrested on a count of first-degree manslaughter and later released on a $100,000 bond.
In the US, unintentional deaths from firearms are a small percentage of gun deaths in the country. But they occur four times more often in the US than in comparable countries – and most involve a handgun.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma man accused of shooting neighbor dead during Christmas target practice
What began as Christmas Day target practice in an Oklahoma neighborhood ended in tragedy when a stray bullet fatally struck an elderly woman as she sat on her front porch holding a baby.
Cody Wayne Adams, 33, has been charged with first-degree manslaughter after firing the fatal shot, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by ABC News.
The woman, whose identity was not disclosed, was sitting on the front porch with family members at a home on County Road 1800 on Thursday afternoon when she was shot from several blocks away, the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.
According to the affidavit, the victim was seated on a love seat and holding a baby in her left arm when she was struck in her right upper arm. The bullet then entered her chest cavity.
Family members told the responding deputy that they had heard someone firing five to seven gunshots and that the victim had “commented that someone got a new gun for Christmas” and shortly afterward “said ‘ouch’ and collapsed,” the affidavit stated.
As investigators canvassed nearby properties north of the shooting, deputies found that all but one home had “suitable shooting backstops or firing locations,” according to the affidavit. The only exception was Adams’s home.
Adams allegedly told deputies that he had been shooting a Glock 45 he recently bought for himself for Christmas, using a Red Bull can as a target in his backyard, according to the affidavit.
When a deputy told Adams he suspected the shooting may have caused the woman’s death, Adams “became visibly upset and began to cry,” the affidavit stated.
Adams made his first court appearance Friday. A judge set his bond at $100,000, according to online court records. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for February 26, 2026.
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