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The Washington County Commissioners tabled their annual inspection of the County Jail in Bartlesville on Monday morning.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Commissioners voted to postpone the annual inspection of the jail until Monday, April 5th. Sheriff Scott Owen commended the Commissioners for their wise decision to hold off on the visit. He said they're within State statute to inspect the jail later this year. He thanked the Commissioners for considering the health and safety of the inmates and staff.

Sheriff Owen said they've maintained a clean and safe jail environment. He said the jail population has dropped down to the lowest it has been in quite some time with 126 inmates in detention over the weekend.

The jail had been averaging an inmate population of 150 to 160 inmates at one time prior to last weekend. Sheriff Owen said they implemented a few restrictions involving failure to appear warrants because of the increased jail population. He said they discussed with the officers that they make arrangements with the District Attorney's Office and the Court Clerk's Office, and / or with the City of Bartlesville's Municipal Court System, to reduce the amount of failure to appear warrant arrests in the jail.

Sheriff Owen said he would welcome an inspection at any time. He said the jail is always above board.

2020 was a challenging year, but Sheriff Owen said it was a good year. Sheriff Owen said he believes there will be more challenges in 2021. He said he is looking forward to the future and for things to get better.

The annual inspection of the Washington County Detention Center is conducted by the Commissioners in accordance with Oklahoma State Statute. The statute that the Commissioners operate under for this type of inspection is as follows:

"County commissioners shall inspect the jails in their respective counties at least once each year, and shall fully examine the health, cleanliness and discipline conditions of the jail. The person responsible for the administration of such jail shall provide the county commissioner with the name, age and basis for incarceration of each prisoner and if it appears to the commissioners that any provisions of law have been violated or neglected they shall give notice to the district attorney of the county. This inspection shall be in addition to that performed by the State Department of Health."