Okla. County Commissioners Discuss Hiring Firm To Help Buy Land For Jail

Oklahoma County Commissioners will meet today to discuss hiring a firm to help buy land for a new detention center.

There have been several possible locations thrown out, but so far, commissioners have not been able to secure property for the jail.

Oklahoma County began accepting bids for a new jail site one year ago.

This push for a new jail in Oklahoma County comes on the heels of a scathing report from a multi-county grand jury about the current detention center.

The report, released in March, cited problems such as inmate deaths, drugs in the jail, and unsafe facilities at the 13-story building.

Commissioners have had several meetings to discuss locations such as Southeast 22nd and Grand, near Will Rogers World Airport, the OKC Stockyards, and several others.

All of these locations have been met with resistance from their communities.

The new jail will include a mental health and diversion center, paid for with ARPA money. That money has to be allocated by the end of this year, and the mental health center has to be finished by December 2026.

The jail itself is not linked to those federal deadlines; voters approved a bond in 2022 to fund it.

In September 2023, county officials went to Wichita Falls to get ideas from the city's two-year-old jail.

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