As a Tulsa County commissioner seeking to become Tulsa’s next mayor, Karen Keith finds herself in the middle of the upheaval over conditions at the Family Center for Juvenile Justice — a facility she was instrumental in getting built.
The state Office of Juvenile Affairs placed the facility on probation in May 2023 after identifying numerous areas of noncompliance, including “youth being kept in their rooms/isolated, education concerns, and problems handling grievances and resolutions.”
OJA lifted the facility’s probation in January, but the problems haven’t ended there. Two former detention officers have since been arrested, including one who was charged with human trafficking after a 17-year-old resident accused him of paying her for sex. And a federal civil rights lawsuit that lists the three-member Board of County Commissioners as a defendant was recently amended to include 30 alleged victims.
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At a gathering of the Tulsa chapter of the Oklahoma Federation of Democratic Women last week, Keith offered some unsolicited thoughts on the situation and reminded the audience that county commissioners have no say in the operations of the facility.
“We have no say on who is hired,” she said. “And so that goes to the district judge; the district presiding judge is over that along with a state agency, which is OJA, who has oversight.
“So we gave him a great building, but we are all so, so concerned about what you all — and I heard at the same time that you did — what was happening, or alleged to have happened.”
Keith’s response evidently didn’t go over well with the other Democratic candidate for mayor in the nonpartisan race, state Rep. Monroe Nichols, who also spoke at the event. In a message posted on X, formerly Twitter, the next day, Nichols bemoaned county officials’ lack of accountability.
“Last night, I heard the longest serving county commissioner once again claim no responsibility for the treatment of the youth at the center,” Nichols wrote. “It’s clear, adults are fighting to protect their careers, not these vulnerable kids.”
He wasn’t done. A few hours later — responding to a tweet critical of the county commissioners’ response to questions about conditions at the juvenile center — Nichols was back on X questioning why those in the know didn’t lobby the Legislature to change state law to protect the young people in the facility.
“Or even called a legislator,” Nichols wrote. “I don’t recall that ever happening. Youth being abused just wasn’t anything they cared about. They clearly still don’t.”
Keith responded on Wednesday, saying Nichols had stooped to an “all-time low in a desperate attempt to score cheap political points from an alleged tragedy.”
“In seeking to blame the commissioners, Rep. Nichols has fabricated and distorted facts,” Keith said. “But more importantly, he has ignored the fundamental reality that the state agency charged with the responsibility of securing the safety of the justice-involved youth is answerable to the state Legislature including Rep. Nichols — not the county commissioners.”
Keith also clarified what she meant when she told the Democratic gathering last week that “I heard at the same time that you did — what was happening, or alleged to have happened.”
Those remarks pertained to the arrests and alleged crimes of now-former juvenile center personnel, she said, not to OJA’s placing the facility on probation.
“Commissioners were made aware of the fact that OJA had placed the operations on probation based on certain allegations. None of these allegations involved sexual or physical assaults,” Keith said. “At my direction, my chief deputy met with both the director of the facility and representatives of OJA to discuss the nature and extent of the allegations and what steps needed to be taken to resolve the problems.”
Keith said her office continued to monitor the situation and that in August OJA reported that the facility was making progress in addressing the issues that had landed it on probation.
“In December of 2023 the commissioners were advised that most of the issues had been resolved to the satisfaction of the OJA, and in January of 2024 the OJA terminated probation,” Keith said. “The commissioners and the public in general relied in good faith on the OJA’s determination that all of the original probation issues had been resolved to their satisfaction.”
She reiterated that in Tulsa County, District Judge Kevin Gray, chief judge of the Juvenile Division, has sole authority to hire and fire and is the immediate supervisor of all employees at the Family Center for Juvenile Justice, including the director.
“Within the constraints of applicable state law, I and my fellow commissioners have always acted in the best interests of our youth,” Keith said.
On the other hand, Keith added, Nichols “sat on the sidelines.”
“During this probationary period Rep. Nichols was a no-show. Now, as a political candidate for mayor, he feigns concern and tries to play the blame game,” she said.
Nichols denied that his remarks had anything to do with politics.
“I am a dad first,” he said. “This is about how we treat vulnerable youth in our community, holding our elected leaders accountable for their actions — or in this case inaction, and the need for swift changes to protect future children and families from being further victimized.”
Describing advocacy for vulnerable youth and a call for accountability as “stooping to a new low” clearly indicates Keith’s lack of commitment to improving conditions for children housed at the juvenile center and their families, Nichols said.
“Soon after I learned of the issues at FCJJ in May, I reached out to the executive director of the Office of Juvenile Affairs and met with him immediately thereafter,” Nichols said. “In contrast, Commissioner Keith and her colleagues on the Board of County Commissioners for two years, according to the federal lawsuit, ‘perpetuated an undue and preventable risk to juvenile detainees at the Juvenile Detention Center, for rape, sexual abuse and harassment’ due to their inaction.”
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