Stephens County, Oklahoma — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Stephens County Jail

Operated byStephens County Sheriff's Office
Name as the county writes itStephens County Jail — used as the heading of the Sheriff's Office inmate search, 'Inmate Search – Stephens County Jail'. The Sheriff's Office also runs a division page headed simply 'Detention Center'.
Name the state usesSTEPHENS COUNTY DETENTION FACILITY — differs from the county's usage
State facility IDDET-112
Address101 S 11th, Duncan, OK 73533 (per the state inspection report) — the same address as the Stephens County Courthouse
Operator'The detention center is operated and managed by the sheriff's office.'
Detention Center AdministratorLieutenant Debbie Richardson — lifelong Stephens County resident, Cameron University 1993, previously Detention Officer and Assistant Jail Administrator with the Sheriff's Office, Probation & Parole Officer with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, and Chie…
State inspectionOklahoma inspects this jail. Read the state report →

Source: Stephens County — official source · checked August 21, 2026

Transparency rating

3/10Closed

✓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
✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Stephens County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked August 21, 2026. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

Year builtNot found
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
BedsNot found

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Rick Lang

NoteAPPOINTED THEN ELECTED.

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: Stephens 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 5

Hon. G. Brent Russell — District Judge, 5th Judicial District (chambers: Stephens County Courthouse, 101 South 11th Street, Rm. 314, (580) 470-2025). The Judicial Directory prints the name as 'G.
Hon. Scott Meaders — District Judge, 5th Judicial District (chambers: Comanche County Courthouse, Lawton, (580) 581-4598)
Hon. Grant Sheperd — District Judge, 5th Judicial District (chambers: Comanche County Courthouse, Lawton)
Hon. Jay Walker — District Judge, 5th Judicial District (chambers: Comanche County Courthouse, Lawton, (580) 581-4580)
Hon. Lawrence Wheeler — Associate District Judge, Stephens County (Room 309, (580) 470-2015)
Hon. Carrie Hixon — Special Judge, Stephens County ((580) 470-2020)

Stephens County Courthouse, 101 S. 11th St., Duncan, OK 73533 — Court Clerk Melody Harper, (580) 470-2000

Still needed

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

Notes on the record

NO GENERAL COUNTY WEBSITE. Stephens County government has no county-wide site.
Dead and parked official domains: stephenscountyok.gov is registered to Stephens County (Duncan, OK) in the federal .gov registry but does not resolve; stephenscountyok.org is a parked domain serving only a 114-byte redirect to a '/lander' page.
APPOINTED SHERIFF: Rick Lang took office by appointment on July 1, 2024 when Sheriff Wayne McKinney retired mid-term, having already won the June 18, 2024 primary unopposed; his first elected term began January 2, 2025.
The county and the state use different names: the Sheriff's Office says 'Stephens County Jail' on its roster and 'Detention Center' on its division page; the Oklahoma State Department of Health inspection report is headed 'STEPHENS COUNTY DETENTION FACILITY'.
The facility was found NOT in substantial compliance at its February 23, 2026 state inspection, and was holding 173 people against a Fire Marshal rated capacity of 175.
The jail shares its address with the county courthouse at 101 S. 11th Street, Duncan.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Stephens 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.

The sheriff is on your ballot

The county election board runs the polling place in Stephens 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