Midwest City Councilor and longtime civil rights advocate Sara Bana will hold an official campaign kickoff for her candidacy for District 1 Oklahoma County Commissioner at former Village Mayor and city councilor Sean Cummings’ Irish Pub on Sunday, November 17, from 2-4p. The primary election will be February 11, 2025.
Sara Bana is a widely known and highly respected civil rights activist and advocate for marginalized people in Oklahoma County and detainees in the country’s most deadly and inhumane county jail, the Oklahoma County Detention Center. While many other public figures and politicians, including at least one who has announced his candidacy for county commissioner, supported and even endorsed the $260M jail bond, Sara and her associates, the People’s Council for Justice Reform, worked to alert taxpayers about the conspired sham in an informational series of town hall meetings and press conferences. Three years after its passage, everything the organization warned about has been exposed. The process has now devolved into lawsuits, expansion of mass incarceration, and arguments about how to fully fund the jail project.
Sara has also publicly opposed the creation of the jail trust, the medical and mental health contract with TurnKey Medical Clinics, the use of ARPA and CARES Act funds for the jail, and the building of the jail at 1901 E. Grand in Oklahoma City. In the alternative, Sara supports a reform-based justice system that prioritizes mental health, drug and alcohol addiction treatment, and housing solutions for those who are unhoused or living in extreme poverty. Sara promotes evidence-based policies that will reduce the jails population to fewer than 800 individuals, while upholding our Constitution, morality, and reducing taxpayer costs.
Sara opposes the idea of increasing Ad Valorem taxes or adding a county sales tax to help pay for building a larger billion-dollar jail. She believes instead that we can further reduce jail population through restorative mental health and addiction programs and bail reform. This in turn will allow us to build a smaller jail at its current location and spend the savings on programs and infrastructure that lift up all areas of Oklahoma County.
As a decades-long advocate for all people, Sara Bana is running to eradicate corruption and government waste in our county government. She will work to implement systemic criminal justice reform, resolve the humanitarian and constitutional crisis at the jail, and create access to mental health services across eastern Oklahoma county. Sara also believes county government can do more to uplift the middle class by promoting home ownership and expanding affordable housing.
Currently, Sara is assisting the US Department of Justice in their investigation of the State of Oklahoma Department of Mental Health, Oklahoma County and the Oklahoma City Police Department for Americans with Disabilities Act violations and a failing mental health delivery system.
For more information, to contribute or volunteer, voters can go to www.sarabana.com
CONTACT:
Sara Bana (405) 537-4955
