Cleveland County judge raises concerns over potential civil rights violations inside detention center

Emails from a Cleveland County judge shed new light on potential civil rights violations inside the county's jail, as first reported by the Frontier. News 9 obtained the same emails through an open records request. The emails add to the long list of issues within the jail from inmate deaths to structural problems. 

April and May 2024 

The public issues behind the Cleveland County Detention Center go back to last spring. On April 19th, the jail’s staff found 36-year-old William Moore unresponsive in his bunk. On May 4th, CCDC staff found 58-year-old Thomas Pesina unresponsive in his cell. CCDC has had several deaths over the past two years and six deaths since the beginning of 2024. 

February 2024  

Cleveland County Sheriff Chris Amason and the Board of Commissioners have spared over budget issues to the point where the commissioners asked the state auditor to get involved. 

September 2024 

Amason has faced scrutiny over budget issues. The board has accused Amason of overspending. Last September, Amason cut 24 people from his staff amid budget constraints. 

The County spent $47,000 to hire a third-party company to analyze deaths at CCDC. Cleveland County commissioners hired SIMCO last year to conduct a root cause analysis of inmate deaths and recommend improvements for the facility. Commissioners said the preliminary report was finished but won’t release it yet due to attorney-client privilege. 

February 2025 

An Oklahoma State Department of Health inspection on Feb. 4 found, 

1. Filthy cells and showers, inmates going weeks without clean clothes or hygiene products 
2. Inmates sleeping on the floor because there weren’t enough beds 
3. Walls, ceilings, and floors that don’t meet Oklahoma Fire Code 
4. A failure to report inmate injury to the OSDH was also flagged in the inspection report. 

March 2025 

On Monday, The Frontier reported internal emails from Cleveland County District Judge Michael Tupper expressing concerns with jail administration. Tupper told jail administrators that delays with meetings between inmates and their attorneys rose, “to the level of constitutional violations.” 

“These delays in attorney access are not isolated incidents. Numerous attorneys have conveyed similar experiences, and the judges have addressed these issues with you in good faith on multiple occasions over the years,” Tupper said, in an email to CCDC staff. 

“Each time, assurances were given that these problems would be resolved, yet nothing seems to have changed. This repeated failure is deeply troubling and undermines the fundamental rights of inmates, including their 5th and 6th Amendment rights to counsel, as well as 8th Amendment issues relating to conditions of confinement.” 

Tupper also said he had concerns over a lack of medical care access for inmates. He said it, “represents systemic failures that cannot continue unaddressed." Tupper told CCDC these issues, “implicate significant legal and reputational consequences.” 

The commissioners expressed frustration over the jail’s continued issues, they placed responsibility on Sheriff Amason. They argued conditions have not improved even with record-high funding—including more than $1.1 million in additional jail repairs last year. 

“It is unacceptable that despite record-high funding to the sheriff’s office, the volume of in-custody deaths and Oklahoma State Health Department deficiencies continue to increase under Sheriff Chris Amason,” the commissioners said in a statement. They warned that other counties have faced multi-million-dollar lawsuits over similar jail conditions. “The taxpayers of Cleveland County beg the sheriff to take his legal responsibility seriously.” 

News 9 left multiple messages with the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office and did not hear back by the Monday 10 p.m. deadline.