OKLAHOMA CITY — One week before the next scheduled meeting of the Oklahoma County Jail Trust, Derrick Scobey resigned his position as vice chair – but, Scobey noted, he is not leaving the trust, merely giving up his leadership position.
Scobey’s term as vice chair lasted less than a month. Scobey was appointed vice chair during the trust’s highly contentious Nov. 10 meeting, during which he was accused of transphobia in connection to statements he made last month to and about an employee at an Edmond clothing store in an incident that led to Scobey’s arrest just days before the meeting.
Scobey announced his resignation with a letter dated Dec. 1 addressed to Oklahoma County officials, in which he explained that he did not want to serve in a leadership position for the board.
“I believe the Trust should have greater input into the operations of the Detention Center at a policy and strategic level. The current direction appears to move away from this principle, and I cannot in good conscience serve in a leadership capacity under an approach with which I fundamentally disagree,” reads Scobey’s letter.
Scobey also said he objected to the fact that a new chief financial officer had been hired “without the knowledge, input, or approval of this Trust,” though the trust has no legal authority over employment of the CFO position. Still, Scobey said, “even if a formal vote was not required, it is my opinion that the Trust should have been informed before such a significant hire was made, or at minimum, immediately afterward. The failure to do so undermines our ability to fulfill our oversight responsibilities.”
Scobey said the Jail Trust is “in desperate need of financial resources,” but had failed to finalize an agreement with the Oklahoma City Police Department (OKCPD) that he said would provide more than $100,000 a month for the jail. The majority of detainees at the facility come through OKCPD arrests. Scobey suggested that the county risks losing that funding, if OKCPD “chooses to take their business elsewhere,” such as Cleveland County or with a smaller municipality in the area.
Scobey wrote that there are other reasons “I have not enumerated” in the letter that led to his resignation.
Scobey’s letter also notes that he will not be attending the board’s December or January meetings.
“I do not have to share the reasons for my absence(s), but I felt it appropriate to inform the Trust of my expected absences,” Scobey’s letter reads.
Scobey later clarified that he is not resigning from the trust and will continue to serve on the team handling the contract with the OKCPD.
“I serve at the pleasure of District One Commissioner Jason Lowe, and I will continue in this role until he decides otherwise or until my term expires,” Scobey said. “Lastly, I want to note that out of all 30+ non-elected officials who have served on the Jail Trust, I am the only one who has not resigned.”
The Trust has experienced an extraordinary amount of turnover and turmoil in the five years it has been in existence, created to improve management of the Oklahoma County Jail after 30 years under the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office. About 30 members have served on the seven-member trust over the last five years.
The Nov. 10 meeting was exceptionally dramatic. Member AJ Griffin got up and left in the middle of the meeting after member Ferlin Kearns asserted that the law dictates that all members of the trust reside in Oklahoma County. Though Griffin’s position would likely have withstood a legal challenge, she chose to resign from the trust.
“The ambush at the meeting was the only indication ever given me that my volunteering my time to the county wasn’t welcome. I have other important work to attend to and wish the county good luck addressing the needs of county detention center detainees,” Griffin said in a statement.
Steve Buck, who recently called for a self-evaluation of the trust, stepped down as chairman, and at the Nov. 10 meeting members chose the newest member, Jim Holman, to lead the trust as its next chairman. Scobey was chosen to serve as vice chairman.
Scobey was called out during the public comment portion of the meeting by Oklahoma City activist Mark Faulk for “multiple derogatory remarks against trans people” made on Scobey’s social media.
Scobey made several posts regarding an incident in November in which his wife claimed an employee at White House Black Market in Edmond touched her inappropriately. Scobey went to the store and confronted the employee, posting the video of the encounter online. The video does not show the employee’s face, but clearly shows them from the neck down wearing a dress. When asked to leave the store, Scobey refused and demanded to be arrested by Edmond Police when they arrived.
“You kept referring to a trans woman as a man in a dress repeatedly,” said Faulk, arguing that Scobey’s apparent animosity toward transgender people should disqualify him from serving on the trust. “Trans people are at a much higher rate in that jail. Black trans women is the highest demographic of people arrested in the country. I don’t believe someone who has an obvious transphobia is the person we want as the chair of the trust.”
Scobey, who also serves as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, stood by his comments.
“The book that I hold to, it lets me know male, female,” Scobey said during the Nov. 10 meeting. “Nobody can make me say anything that the book tells me I ought not to live by.”
