Yes, the county does own that property. It's a bit over 7 acres.

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/jail072122a.jpg

Looks like they could build in the current parking lot area something less than 6 stories tall; include some the related projects MAPS 4; then demolish the current structure.

Raleigh, NC Wake County Detention Center: https://www.wral.com/news/local/story/10996414/

Just playing some more comparison games.

The Dallas County jail is about twice or 3 times the size of the OK County jail for a population that's about 3 times the size of the OK County population. It's in the barren outskirts of downtown Dallas. If you've never been south of downtown Dallas, forget that never ending sprawl you see on the north side. You go south of downtown and you might as well be in a different state its so vastly different.

Tulsa County jail, on the other hand, is a sprawling low structure. Think more old-school type jail. So it takes up a LOT more land. It's hard to gauge the structure size, but it appears to me to be about the equivalent of maybe half the OK country structure.

I have no idea of what sort of services are housed in either of these structures, but we know that the OK Country structure is over populated and doesn't offer much in the way of ANY services to its occupants. So my question is, is it sized properly? Are we causing our own overcrowding with our laws? The reason for asking is that when it moves, we're going to have to have the funds to build it properly or we're going to be back in the same mess again. And at some point, someone has to decide if taller means less exterior costs or does low rise mean it's easier to manage? I don't know. And where it goes, is really going to have to make that call for us too. My major concern with this is that as everyone is so angry about the way the craptacular Sherriff's office managed the place, that they try to punish the department by giving them the cheap on the funding, which will only contribute to a crappy facility. We need the proper funding and we also need proper oversight managing the place, that's NOT part of the department. If it's a 3rd party, then it would arguably be more objective. So if it says "we need X" then it's (ideally) because they really need it. Not because Whetsell wanted to buy another new ex-military toy that sits and rusts.

removing duplicate

Looks like we could have some possible locations by the end of the summer: https://www.news9.com/story/6443531508bc3c7f68871ffe/bedlam-barbq-owners-hope-new-okc-jail-isnt-built-across-his-street-

Click the agenda link for the 25th. You can see exact locations on #7. I am representing one of the proposals

https://oklahomacounty.legistar.com/DepartmentDetail.aspx?ID=50070&GUID=E3FF157D-CA58-4D99-8918-D7200D3CE739&Search=

locations

150th between indian meridian and luther rd

Nw corner of I35 and Britton

Midwest blvd and Wilshire

1901 Grand Blvd this is the industrial area just north of trosper golf course

se 29th st and kickapoo turnpike harrah (this is possibly the worst location in a growing residential area )

ne 10th at I35 ( this challenges for the worst location )

5500 lincoln blvd .. north of 63rd east of broadway ext ... ( another poor location )

southwest corner of memorial and hefner parkway(portland) (simply NO)

newcastle road and sw 54th street north of the airport ( this is industrial/airport area and would be a great choice)

In June 2022 Oklahoma County residents voted to approve $260 million in bonds to build a new detention center.


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/jail042223d.jpg


The existing facility is located on the western edge of downtown Oklahoma City and since it opened in 1991 it has been plagued by plumbing and flooding issues, escapes, and multiple deaths.

Earlier this year, the county solicited proposals for a new site for the jail. The criteria included being located in Oklahoma County, consisting of 40 to 80 acres and no closer than 1,000 feet of any public or private elementary or secondary school.

Once a new location is selected and a new facility constructed, it is expected the existing jail would be demolished and the 7 acres redeveloped.

On the agenda for the April 25th meeting of the Citizens Bond Oversight Board and 9 locations that are being considered (the 1-10 numbering is directly from the published agenda):

1. 59 acres of land located at 17501 NE 150th Street and offered for sale by David and Toni Hennessey;

2. 69 acres of land located at the northwest corner of I-35 and Britton Road and offered for sale by Oakes Technology Park, LLC;

3. Between 80 and 132 acres of land located south of the intersection of Midwest Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard and offered for sale by the Ted Eckroat and Pat Eckroat Revocable Living Trust;

4. 71 acres of land located at 1901 E. Grand Boulevard and offered for sale by Willowbrook Investments LLC and Garrett & Company Resources LLC;

5. 63 acres of land located at SE 29th Street west of the Kickapoo Turnpike and offered for sale by Tsalagi Development LLC, Randy Goodman, Managing Member;

6. 89 acres of land located at NE 10th and I-35 and offered for sale by the Commissioners of the Land Office and the Oklahoma City Water Trust;

7. 133 acres of land located at 5500 Lincoln Boulevard and offered for sale by the Commissioners of the Land Office.”

8. 51 acres of land located on the southwest corner of Portland Avenue and Memorial Road and offered for sale by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.

10. 192 acres of land located between South Newcastle Road and SW 54th Street and offered for sale by the Oklahoma City Airport Trust.



http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/jail042223c.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/jail042223e.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/jail042223b.jpg

of these options

4 and 10 clearly would be the best choices ..

i think the county owns enough land to not have to acquire land for this .. not sure why that is not an option

of these options

4 and 10 clearly would be the best choices ..

i think the county owns enough land to not have to acquire land for this .. not sure why that is not an option

4 would be the spot I bet on. Most industrial location seems very central with easy access but not in sight from a major highway. Probably less pushback.

8 is laughable at even making the list. One it’s far from core city services. I think only 1 bus goes up that way and the fight by residents that would take place would be intense.

#4 is the old public housing project that was demolished some time ago.

At this stage, they are merely listing all the sites that were submitted for consideration by the property owner. It does not mean they are all being seriously considered and I'm sure several will be immediately dismissed once they get into discussion on the 25th.

just my knee-jerk opinion on these...

4 makes a lot of sense to me... reasonably close and decent access to infrastructure. it's the former site of an apartment complex, so the land has already been improved. the area is mostly industrial, so the impact shouldn't be too bad. i think the biggest drawback is its proximity to trosper park.

1 and 5 seem like the distance alone would make the logistics challenging... that's around 30 minutes travel time each way.

3 is only about 10 minutes closer and has poor access to transportation infrastructure. those are just 2-lane country roads out there.

2, 7, and 8 are in corridors of current or potential economic growth, so i'd think that eliminates those. i think 8 would have high levels of resistance from the surrounding community,

6 has decent connectivity and distance, but a jail in that location would likely be avoided due to the risk of political fallout.

10 also has decent connectivity and distance, but a concentrated population that close to the airport approach could be seen as a safety risk.

of these options

4 and 10 clearly would be the best choices ..

i think the county owns enough land to not have to acquire land for this .. not sure why that is not an option
I agree. I really hope they don’t choose 7. I may or may not have went on a self guided tour and that property is absolutely beautiful. I’ve been thinking about buying and learning to fly a drone just so I can grab photos of this beautiful house/structure that has this Spanish revival vibe. I really wish this would be turned into a nature park similar to Martin Nature park.

10 seems the most logical choice to me. I wouldn’t be upset with 4.

I would say 4,6 and 10 in that order.

I realize we live in a digital age but I can't believe "distance from the courthouse" would not be more of a consideration. Also, centrally located for families and attorneys to visit, etc.

Some of those locations are so far on the fringe it's hard to imagine they would be seriously considered.

And number 8? I mean, talk about LOL, that area very nearly killed the John Marshall relocation, and that's a school. A jail in that area is laughable.

4 and 10 are the only ones that should be considered, and I lean towards 10. Site 10 feels like it doesn't impose on any neighborhoods, and it is conveniently located. Most of these locations make next to no sense because they are either ridiculously far away from the main population center and the courthouses.

The airport land needs to be used for economic development not a jail.

I assume with 10 you'd be vertically limited with the proximity to the airport, especially the eastern part of the parcel with the runway just to the south. But with 192 acres I guess they could sprawl it out.

The airport land needs to be used for economic development not a jail.

I agree, especially with everything going nuts to the west of the airport.

4 makes the most sense.

6 will get a lot of push back re the location to Douglass High School and the black community on the eastside. The city is trying to revitalize that area, so I don't see them putting the new jail there.

South okc needs revitalization. It has been neglected and under funded for too long. The last thing it needs is a jail.

I'm partial to number 3 myself :) Wide open land. Big enough for a campus and allow for expansion. Literally no neighbors to bother. Can put up a barrier of trees if needed. Roads do need some work. For what we are asking I'm pretty sure it's the most bank for your buck of all the proposal. From what I have been told by our ward representatives, distance to the county courthouse is not that big of a factor

I'm partial to number 3 myself :) Wide open land. Big enough for a campus and allow for expansion. Literally no neighbors to bother. Can put up a barrier of trees if needed. Roads do need some work. For what we are asking I'm pretty sure it's the most bank for your buck of all the proposal. From what I have been told by our ward representatives, distance to the county courthouse is not that big of a factor

Yeah, three is the best option. Away from everything else. For now at least. Once they select the site for the new jail, what is the time frame for construction to begin? I can't explain how anxious I am to see the old jail demolished. Hopefully they use explosives.

South okc needs revitalization. It has been neglected and under funded for too long. The last thing it needs is a jail.

For this reason I like 2. It is rural and still pretty close to the city with food access to I-35.

Most County Jails are within close proximty to a local Police station and Courthouse for practical reasons as inmates need to be transported inbound from booking or for court dates. Can't see this being built too far out, certainly not at Memorial and Portland.

For this reason I like 2. It is rural and still pretty close to the city with food access to I-35.

2 would get a fight by the oakdale area for sure

This is going to be a very nice piece of property to redevelop and it should make the redevelopment of the City Jail building more feasible.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/jail042323aa.jpg

I really hope whatever replaces it is 20+ stories.

Hopefully they will have more security guards since inmates just keep escaping

I saw bedlam BBQ already have issues with possible jail across the street. Not sure why as they would get a lot of business from jail workers.

I realize we live in a digital age but I can't believe "distance from the courthouse" would not be more of a consideration. Also, centrally located for families and attorneys to visit, etc.


It's a huge consideration, or, speaking as one of those attorneys who has to go over there, it at least is for me. Private attorneys and public defenders need constant access to the jail. Having our offices and other cases nearby is a huge convenience.

It's also a security concern to have vans traveling several miles between the courthouse and the jail every day. There will be wrecks and that means there will be injuries and escapes. I would assume that having all of that unsecure ground between the jail and the courthouse would also pose a significant risk of escape for some inmates with the means to have a sheriff's van waylaid along the way.

It doesn't seem to be on the radar, but I really think it'd be a smart move to consolidate the sherriff's office, D.A.'s office and criminal courts under one roof in a facility connected directly to the jail. We really don't have criminal division judges hearing non-criminal cases, so this seems like it'd be the smart move.

I saw bedlam BBQ already have issues with possible jail across the street. Not sure why as they would get a lot of business from jail workers.

That is because there are risks like inmates escaping and going into the restaurant and robbing them or murdering them, I do not blame them for that so if I were them, I would honestly move to another location

It doesn't seem to be on the radar, but I really think it'd be a smart move to consolidate the sherriff's office, D.A.'s office and criminal courts under one roof in a facility connected directly to the jail. We really don't have criminal division judges hearing non-criminal cases, so this seems like it'd be the smart move.


In my opinion it would make more sense to have the PD offices under that roof than the office of the DA.
PD's interact with their clients far more than the DA.

In my opinion it would make more sense to have the PD offices under that roof than the office of the DA.
PD's interact with their clients far more than the DA.

The PD has a shiny new HQ, so first, that isn't happening.

Second, Oklahoma County has several PDs who aren't even wholly covering Oklahoma County. OKCPD, for example, covers three different counties with all of their divisions localized in different parts of the city. And Edmond, Valley Brook, etc., are all their own things and it would make zero sense to have them centrally located.

The Sheriff, on the other hand, patrols the entire County and doesn't really have the sort of division model and is more centrally located in its offices.

Now, that said, would I be mad if the central office had some sort of local PD liason or presence? Absolutely not, but in terms of centrally locating both the PDs and sheriffs under the same roof, huge cities like L.A. don't do it, so why would OKC?

^i was thinking jersey boss meant 'public defender' rather than 'police department'

I agree, especially with everything going nuts to the west of the airport.

Wouldn't that be weird having people fly into OKC and one of the first things they see is a giant jail.

^i was thinking jersey boss meant 'public defender' rather than 'police department'

I did in fact mean Public Defender.

The PD has a shiny new HQ, so first, that isn't happening.

Second, Oklahoma County has several PDs who aren't even wholly covering Oklahoma County. OKCPD, for example, covers three different counties with all of their divisions localized in different parts of the city. And Edmond, Valley Brook, etc., are all their own things and it would make zero sense to have them centrally located.

The Sheriff, on the other hand, patrols the entire County and doesn't really have the sort of division model and is more centrally located in its offices.

Now, that said, would I be mad if the central office had some sort of local PD liason or presence? Absolutely not, but in terms of centrally locating both the PDs and sheriffs under the same roof, huge cities like L.A. don't do it, so why would OKC?

Sorry as to not being clear. I was refrencing "Public Defender". With the DA having priorities outside criminal justice, Ravitz does not.

^i was thinking jersey boss meant 'public defender' rather than 'police department'

Sure. I'd imagine that both the DA and PD offices would be part of a criminal justice complex.

Wouldn't that be weird having people fly into OKC and one of the first things they see is a giant jail.

You mean like the one right on the West side of the airport that's been there for years? ;)

Sorry as to not being clear. I was refrencing "Public Defender". With the DA having priorities outside criminal justice, Ravitz does not.

The civil division of the D.A.'s office has their own separate space already where the old jury assembly room used to be.

Hopefully they will have more security guards since inmates just keep escaping

I think a much bigger concern is inmates dying in custody. 3 in the last week alone.

You mean like the one right on the West side of the airport that's been there for years? ;)

Was going to say this LOL. Obviously not too big of deal if the OP hasn’t ever noticed the massive jail and transfer facility on the west side of the runways.

I think a much bigger concern is inmates dying in custody. 3 in the last week alone.

Are the causes of death public?

I think a much bigger concern is inmates dying in custody. 3 in the last week alone.

Correction: 4th this year.

10 also has decent connectivity and distance, but a concentrated population that close to the airport approach could be seen as a safety risk.

The Federal Transfer Center has over 1,000 federal inmates and is directly connected to the airport property, so it would not be the first correctional facility there. Right now the Marshall Service is paying Grady County to house a lot of their inmates that need to be transported back and forth to the airport every day, I would not be surprised if they had a stake in this to try and convince Oklahoma County to build something closer to their JPATS operation with the promise of paying for contract beds.

The problem isn't the jail's location, it is the brutalist architecture that most jails use. Just make the building attractive and you could put it anywhere.

The problem isn't the jail's location, it is the brutalist architecture that most jails use. Just make the building attractive and you could put it anywhere.

no

The Federal Transfer Center has over 1,000 federal inmates and is directly connected to the airport property, so it would not be the first correctional facility there. Right now the Marshall Service is paying Grady County to house a lot of their inmates that need to be transported back and forth to the airport every day, I would not be surprised if they had a stake in this to try and convince Oklahoma County to build something closer to their JPATS operation with the promise of paying for contract beds.

interesting... i did not realize that the population of the transfer center was that high.

Can't wait for this property to be redeveloped:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/jail042323b.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/jail042323c.jpg

Can't wait for this property to be redeveloped:

And the buildings immediately surrounding it. I didn't realize OKCPD had their fleet services department directly south of that. I would guess that isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Do you think this makes the redevelopment of the old jail more likely when the move is announced?

The problem isn't the jail's location, it is the brutalist architecture that most jails use. Just make the building attractive and you could put it anywhere.

Jail or office building?
https://images.app.goo.gl/cYbWHMAtEH197tC39

17997

Video from yesterdays meeting. This clip starts at the public comments. Overwhelmingly people oppose the 50th and Lincoln site. Followed by a handful of people for the NE sites. No decisions were made at this meeting

https://youtu.be/O5FC2uXPKvk?t=1049

Jail or office building?
https://images.app.goo.gl/cYbWHMAtEH197tC39

17997
I like. Brutalist architecture if it’s done right. I wouldn’t want to see it everywhere though.

You can't do brutalism right - hince the name. Btw, that is a picture of a maximum security prison in Sweden.

Video from yesterdays meeting. This clip starts at the public comments. Overwhelmingly people oppose the 50th and Lincoln site. Followed by a handful of people for the NE sites. No decisions were made at this meeting

https://youtu.be/O5FC2uXPKvk?t=1049

People who oppose could move if they do not like it

People who oppose could move if they do not like it

They could or they could get a bunch of neighbors and customers together to oppose it. That location is a waste of new potential economic development. Thats also an area that had to fight hard just to get a grocery store so it looks bad to stick a jail in that neighborhood.

I don't live anywhere near any of the proposed locations, but I wouldn't want a jail near my house. Fact of the matter is, wherever it's built there will be unhappy people.

I don't live anywhere near any of the proposed locations, but I wouldn't want a jail near my house. Fact of the matter is, wherever it's built there will be unhappy people.

I lived a half mile from the current jail for almost 3 years and never had a single jail related issue. Sunset bar was bigger threat to my safety than the jail ever was.

Video from yesterdays meeting. This clip starts at the public comments. Overwhelmingly people oppose the 50th and Lincoln site. Followed by a handful of people for the NE sites. No decisions were made at this meeting

https://youtu.be/O5FC2uXPKvk?t=1049

Thanks for sharing this video. It's obvious nobody wants this facility in their neighborhood. This may have already been addressed, can this facility be built on or near the same site, without having to exceed five to six stories--half the height of he current building?