Public defender seeks to expedite inmate transfers

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A public defender wants hundreds of inmates transferred from the Oklahoma County jail to state custody. <br/><br/>In documents filed yesterday, Oklahoma County Public Defender Bob

Saturday, August 5th 2006, 12:49 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A public defender wants hundreds of inmates transferred from the Oklahoma County jail to state custody.

In documents filed yesterday, Oklahoma County Public Defender Bob Ravitz said overcrowding at the jail has reached dangerous levels.

More than 600 state inmates in the county jail await transfer to the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center. Ravitz says that's more than twice what it was less than 18 months ago.

Corrections officials say one-thousand-410 inmates statewide are waiting to get into Lexington.

Administrators of the nearly three-thousand-inmate capacity jail use the money they're paid to house state and municipal prisoners to cover some of the jail's operating costs.

Sheriff John Whetsel says the county makes about 11 (m) million dollars a year doing that. But he also says he feels the county has been taken advantage of in the process.