Tinker, MWC ink contracts on juveniles, jail services

Published April 25, 2013
By Mike W. Ray
Tinker Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --
The legacy of community partnerships between Tinker AFB and Midwest City continued recently with the signing of contracts pertaining to juvenile justice and to jail services.
A "Memorandum of Understanding" allows Midwest City to offer juvenile intervention services "for rehabilitative purposes" as an alternative to eviction from base housing or complete debarment from Tinker for relatively minor offenses.

In addition, a "Memorandum of Agreement" allows the short-term confinement of adult male and female prisoners from Tinker in the Midwest City jail, as an alternative to placing all base detainees in the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center at Shawnee.
Both agreements were the culmination of four months of negotiations between officials from the base and the municipality, said Lt. Col. Rick Johns, deputy commander of the 72nd Mission Support Group.

Lt. Col. David Vercellone, Staff Judge Advocate for the 72nd Air Base Wing, and his legal staff "did a huge amount of the paperwork" on both contracts, and Staff Sgt. Julian Cutrone of the 72nd Security Forces Squadron "was our go-to person for all hands-on, face-to-face work at the jail," Colonel Johns related.

Juvenile Intervention
Prior to the MOU, Tinker had little recourse in dealing with a juvenile offender. Typically, Tinker has about one juvenile lawbreaker per month and consistently the crime is theft from the Base Exchange, Colonel Johns said. The offender is banned from the BX for a year and has to pay a fine to the facility, perform community service and provide a letter of apology.

"That is not an ideal solution," Colonel Johns said. "We want to turn these kids the right way."

The MOU specifies that Midwest City will provide juvenile offenders from Tinker with a formal probation plan that typically will last for three to six months "but can be extended."

The plan may include community service, drug testing, tutoring, attendance at education programs, restitution, apology letters, monthly school visits, an exploratory family interview and a background assessment.

Upon completion of the probationary period, Midwest City will provide Tinker AFB with a summary of the minor's progress, the MOU states.

The program will not cost Midwest City or Tinker AFB anything, because the child's parents or the juveniles themselves will pay the bills. The fees range from a minimum of $100 to a maximum of $800. The program cost for someone who commits petty larceny is $600.

The program is strictly voluntary, but participation is mandatory "if you want to pass the Juvenile Assistance Council and not have your case referred to Juvenile Court downtown," Colonel Johns said.

The MOU will be in effect for one year and will renew automatically each year unless terminated by either party.

Jail Services
The MOA between Tinker and Midwest City governs the short-term pre-trial housing of male and female detainees and post-trial incarceration of inmates.

Until now, Tinker has transported its detainees to Shawnee, a round trip of about 60 miles. In comparison, the Midwest City jail is a seven-mile round trip from Tinker.

In addition, Pottawatomie County charges Tinker $50 per day for each detainee from the base. In comparison, Midwest City's rate will be $48 per day, assessed at an hourly rate of $2. So if a Tinker detainee is held at Midwest City for, say, four hours, Tinker will be charged $8. Pottawatomie County charges the full daily rate regardless of how long a Tinker detainee is held there.

Consequently, base officials expect to realize significant savings on fuel, vehicle wear-and-tear and on manpower.

Tinker will continue to use the Shawnee facility for those inmates without a recurring need to be brought on base, Colonel Johns said, but other detainees will be transported to the Midwest City jail.

Midwest City has a 70-bed jail, Manager Lily Krout said. And, like the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center, the Midwest City Municipal Jail has video surveillance of all of its cells, and female detainees are segregated from male inmates, Ms. Krout said.
The MOA pledges that Tinker detainees will be housed separately from the general jail population "if possible," depending on the head count at any particular moment, and female detainees will be segregated "by both sight and sound" from male inmates, "subject to the limitations" of the facility. The agreement also provides that military detainees will be separated "by status (pre-trial/post-trial), custody grade, sex, officer and enlisted."

The pact also mandates that detainees must be visited by their unit commander or designated representative "at least monthly," and should be allowed to contact the first sergeant of their unit.

Confinement "may be required on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis," the MOA provides. Typical jail confinement for a Tinker detainee is about three weeks to two months, Colonel Johns said. Although the MOA authorizes confinement for up to a year, any prisoner whose detention exceeds four months usually is sent to the Naval Consolidated Brig operated by the U.S. Navy at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California, while prisoners with longer sentences are taken to the Leavenworth federal penitentiary in Kansas, he said.