County Commissioners Will Review 4 Locations For New Detention Center

The list of possible locations for a new Oklahoma County Jail continues shrinking. Despite a shorter list, there are still people not happy about these locations.

All are more than 10 minutes from the courthouse except for the existing location. Dr. Rick Cobb with Mid-Del Public Schools has about 13,000 students.

“The southeast part of our district is the one area where we still have housing development and business development happening on a larger scale,” Cobb said.

Superintendent Cobb was concerned about these three proposed sites:

 71 acres of land located at 1901 E. Grand Boulevard 

53 Acres of land located at 6945 S. Post Road

8. 45 acres of land located on the south side of I-40 ¼ mile east of Douglas Boulevard 

He believes it could negatively impact growth and safety.

“It's not that far from Barnes elementary as well but you also have several base entrances on Douglas Blvd,” Cobb said.

Others in Tuesday’s meeting echoed some of the same concerns. They said it's too close to kids and the Post Road location is too close to Tinker Airforce Base.

“It sends the wrong message to the department of defense, the air force and any future BRAC commissions,” a concerned citizen said.

Board members narrowed the list down to these 4. They kept one near Mid-Del Public School District and two near the airport.

Here’s the list that will be going to the county commissioners for a vote:

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

9: Up to 160 acres of land located at 5201 South Meridian Avenue and offered for sale by the Oklahoma City Airport Trust. 

10: Up to 192 Acres of land located between south Newcastle Road and SW 54th Street and offered for sale by the Oklahoma City Airport Trust. 

12: Existing jail site located at 201 N Shartel Avenue, Oklahoma City, OK. 73102

“Right now, it is difficult for the jail to transport the inmates from three blocks down the street and get them hear by 9 o'clock. Sometimes they don't even bring over inmates until 1:30,” Robin McPhail Bruno said.

Bruno is a Defense attorney. She said this is just one challenge she's dealing with

“If we add traffic to the equation, it's just going to blow up in our face,” Bruno said.

She said these locations will only bring on more problems.

“I know that several rental car places leave keys in the vehicle so that's just basically inviting crime,” Bruno said.

Another thing to keep in mind is that ARPA funding set aside for the jail has to be used by the end of this year. The architecture firm designing the new jail says they're making plans to make sure that money doesn't go to waste.