The Oklahoma State Capital

With little discussion, Logan County Commissioners this morning authorized Logan County Sheriff Damon Devereaux to expand the county's contract with a politically connected healthcare provider.

Turn Key Health Clinic, LLC currently provides medical services to the county's inmates. The newly approved amendment to the Turn Key contract will expand the company's services at the Logan County Jail to include mental health and psychiatric services.

District 3 Commissioner Monty Piercy asked County Clerk Troy Cole if Logan County Sheriff Damon Devereaux, who was not present at the meeting, supported the amendment. Cole answered that Devereaux was supportive.

On a motion from Piercy and a second by District 2 Commissioner Charlie Meadows, Commissioner Chairman Mark Sharpton declared unanimous support for the proposal.

There was no public discussion of the potential for an increased cost to the county, due to the new amendment.

The company's relationship with Logan County dates back to March 31, 2017, when Oklahoma House of Representatives Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols, the founder of Turn Key, personally visited Guthrie to attend a Commission meeting.

In that meeting, Devereaux expressed his desire to abandon the county's $12,000-per-month health provider contract with an Illinois-based provider due to that company's purported failure to provide an onsite nurse for five weeks, creating a "huge" liability for the county.

The new contract with Turn Key required the county to pay $17,650 monthly but also purportedly included significantly more hours of service.

Turn Key's costs to the county have increased since that time. In September of this year, the county paid Turn Key just shy of $22,000.

In the 2017 meeting, then-District 1 Commissioner Marven Goodman asked Echols about the impact of the mental health crisis in Oklahoma jails. Echols stated that jails are increasingly unable to find available mental health facility capacity to house inmates and cited substance abuse as a factor for the increase in mental health issues.

Since that time, Turn Key has come under increasing scrutiny for its handling of inmate mental health incidents. In July, The Marshall Project, a criminal justice journalism program, published an in-depth review of Turn Key and claimed that at least 50 individuals have died while under Turn Key's care.

That investigative project failed to cite any incidents in Logan County. However, in 2019, Charles Bowlds, an inmate at the Logan County jail, filed pro-se litigation against Turn Key, Devereaux, and Sheriff's office employees, alleging that Turn Key had failed to provide access to needed dental care. According to court documents, Turn Key didn't send Bowlds for outside dental treatment until approximately sixteen months after initially being made aware of his dental issue. The case concluded in a settlement after Bowlds' pro-se litigation overcame a series of legal hurdles. The agreed-upon amount of the settlement was redacted from court papers.

In 2016, Turn Key garnered statewide attention after a report by The Frontier described how Echols had donated to Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado's campaign fund and then requested Regalado to change a requirement of the county's solicitation for a health care provider for the county's jail. That requirement had mandated that any bidder for the contract must have experience in providing services to large jails. After Echols met with Regalado, the requirement was modified, and Turn Key bid for and received the contract.

Turn Key also serves the large county jail in neighboring Oklahoma County; at least, until later this month, when Turn Key is expected to abandon its arrangement to provide health services at that facility. Turn Key CEO Flint Junod cited the jail's failure to provide proper security staffing levels as the motivating factor for why this company is walking away from the arrangement.

In other actions, the Commissioners oversaw the opening of contractor bids for the ongoing renovation of the county's newly leased office space. Sharpton noted the wide variance in the bids. Commissioners will likely determine the winning bidders at a future meeting.

Commissioners also submitted the county's annual application for a performance grant from Oklahoma Emergency Management.