The Detention Center
Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center
- Operated byPottawatomie County Public Safety Center Trust (PCPSCT) — a public trust, not the Sheriff's Office
- Name as the county writes itPottawatomie County Public Safety Center (the facility's own disclaimer text uses this name repeatedly; abbreviated PCPSC)
- Name the state usesPOTTAWATOMIE COUNTY DETENTION FACILITY — differs from the county's usage
- State facility IDDET099
- OperatorPottawatomie County Public Safety Center Trust (PCPSCT), a public trust that took acceptance of the jail on January 1, 2003
- Executive DirectorBreonna R. Thompson — Assistant Director from June 2009, appointed Executive Director May 2017
- First trust-era administratorRod Bottoms, who came to work for the Jail Trust in October 2002 and retired in July 2006 (now deceased)
- State inspectionOklahoma inspects this jail. Read the state report →
Source: Pottawatomie County — official source · checked August 21, 2026
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✗PREA audits — not published
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✗How to post bond — not published
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built2005 — a Certificate of Occupancy was issued April 12, 2005 allowing the jail to begin operations in the new building; inmates were consolidated from two locations into the one facility in May 2005
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Construction of the new jail facility began shortly after the Jail Trust took acceptance of the existing jail on January 1, 2003
- No later expansion is published; the trust's site says program expansions are 'part of the future operation plans of the facility'
The Sheriff
Sheriff Freeland Wood
- NoteConfirmed identically by the county's official .gov sheriff page, the Oklahoma State Election Board 2024 roster and the Oklahoma Sheriffs' Association directory. Note that the sheriff does NOT operate the county jail here — see the jail record.
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office · checked August 21, 2026
The Judges
Oklahoma elects its district judges in nonpartisan elections. District and associate district judges set bond and decide who waits in this jail.
District Court, Judicial District 23
- Hon. John Canavan — District Judge, 23rd Judicial District (chambers: Pottawatomie County Courthouse, (405) 275-1296)
- Hon. Sarah Bridge — District Judge, 23rd Judicial District (chambers: Lincoln County Courthouse, 811 Manvell Ave, Chandler)
- Hon. Tracy McDaniel — Associate District Judge, Pottawatomie County
- Hon. David Cawthon — Special Judge, Pottawatomie County ((405) 273-0971)
- Hon. Emily Mueller — Special Judge, Pottawatomie County ((405) 273-0971)
Pottawatomie County Courthouse, 325 N. Broadway Ave., Shawnee, OK 74801 — Court Clerk Valerie Ueltzen, (405) 273-3624
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked August 21, 2026
The County Commissioners
They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.
- What they controlThe detention budget, the building itself, and the agreements that let other agencies rent its beds.
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and answers to voters, not to the board.
- The boardBoard of County Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- PUBLIC TRUST OPERATOR: the jail is operated by the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center Trust (PCPSCT), a separate public trust, not by the Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office.
- The county and the state use different names: the county and trust say 'Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center'; the Oklahoma State Department of Health inspection report is headed 'POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY DETENTION FACILITY'.
- The facility's published mail policy refers to 'this facility's Consent Decree' governing publisher-sent publications, but neither the county nor the trust publishes the decree or names the case. Reported here only as what the facility's own page states.
- Commissioner agendas and minutes are off-site on a CivicClerk portal rather than on the county's own .gov site.
- The trust site's Location, Mail, Medical, Commissary, Visitation, Employment and Inmates pages are served under both www.pcpsct.org and the county site's /189/ path; the county-site copies of several subpages render the homepage text rather than the subpage content.
- No county- or trust-published capacity, budget, in-custody death record, PREA material, or inspection report was found.
- Commissioners (2024 Election Board roster): District 1 Melissa Dennis, District 2 Greg Rush, District 3 Abbigale Thompson; individual pages at /163, /162 and /161.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Pottawatomie County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).
How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?
Your VOTE is POWERFUL.
The sheriff who runs this jail is elected. So are the commissioners who pay for it.
- Find your polling place — OK Voter Portal →
- Your county election board →
- Register to vote in Oklahoma →
The county election board runs the polling place in Pottawatomie County and prints the ballot the sheriff’s name is on. Links from the Oklahoma State Election Board and vote.gov.
Names verified August 21, 2026 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered