The Oklahoma County Detention Center will soon have fewer people checking on detainees and ensuring their safety after jail officials canceled a contract with a staffing company to save money at the cash-strapped facility.
The jail entered an agreement with Louisiana-based VieMed Healthcare Staffing LLC in May 2024 to staff the jail with 20 to 30 contract workers whose sole task would be to conduct sight checks on detainees. The jail was paying the company about $180,000 a month for staffing.
The jail has long struggled to retain and recruit detention officers. And the lack of staff means security checks are routinely missed, The Frontier reported in 2024…