By Pat Hammert/Staff Writer

Canadian County’s 72-bed jail is overcrowded with inmates who are either waiting for their chance to declare their innocence to the court or those that have failed in the attempt.

Those that failed — currently about one-sixth of the jail’s population — wait around in the jail until state Department of Corrections has a space in a state institution.

The problem: The 17 correctional centers and penitentiaries operated by DOC are overcrowded, too. So how long are the adjudicated prisoners held in county jail?

“Until the 12th of never,” Canadian County Sheriff Lewis Hawkins said.

Costs to house the inmate becomes a county cost, much to the dismay of sheriffs in non-metro counties across the state, he said.

The only reprieve is the 72-hour rule. Once a county jail reaches 90-percent capacity, then counties can initiate a demand to DOC. Within 72 hours, the inmate in county jail is transported to a DOC facility.

When Hawkins became sheriff 17 years ago, DOC would schedule inmate transfers, but that doesn’t happen now that space is a premium. State inmates number almost 25,000, with a similar number under probation.

“They have no room; they can’t take them. So we hold them at the county,” he said.

Last week, Canadian County deputies transferred 11 inmates to state holding facilities, using the 72-hour rule.

Hawkins said rarely is the county jail not at capacity, yet warrants are sitting in filing cabinets on county individuals with lesser charges, such as failure to pay child support or petty theft.

“I don’t have room to put penny-ante people in here,” he said.

At least one cell is always available in case a county arrest is made of an individual “who’s a danger to the public at large.”

When community sentencing laws in the 1990s created the need for more minimum security cells at the county levels, Canadian County began planning ways to expand the jail space across Penn Street to the north.

But Hawkins said the county-owned property on the next block is not large enough for the county’s needs. About 10 acres is needed for an adequate and secure facility, he said.

With a county that is the third largest in the state in population, Canadian County needs at least a 250-bed jail.

Built in the mid-1980s, the current building’s plumbing, heat and air systems are failing. When constructed, “they took every shortcut in the world to save money,” Hawkins said.