Grady County jail employees laid off

CHICKASHA, Okla. (AP) _ Grady County jail employees get some bad news four days before Christmas. <br/><br/>Forty employees are being laid off because the four-story jail is being closed. <br/><br/>Sheriff

Thursday, December 23rd 2004, 6:14 am

By: News On 6

CHICKASHA, Okla. (AP) _ Grady County jail employees get some bad news four days before Christmas.

Forty employees are being laid off because the four-story jail is being closed.

Sheriff Kieran McMullen and the county industrial authority have worked with state officials for the past year to secure a long-term lease for the jail's fourth floor.

That would have created 234 paying beds to pay operating expenses and the jail's one-point-three (m) million dollar annual bond payment.

But when Republicans took control of the state House, the deal fell through.

Incoming House Speaker Todd Hiett says it wouldn't be responsible for him to commit the money until the Legislature reconvenes in February.

That left the county with a 645-thousand dollar state check to pay housing costs for more than 100 state inmates.