Oklahoma's Own In Focus: New Jail Transportation Plan

After recent weeks of public opposition and concern over the potential sites of Oklahoma County's new jail, the Criminal Justice Advisory Council announced a plan for where people will be released from the future jail site.

"One of the specific concerns that has been raised is people walking out of the jail and going into schools, or neighborhoods, or other places," said Tim Tardibono during Thursday's meeting. "Interestingly enough, that's not happening right now. The jail is literally in the heart of one of the most developed areas in west downtown and there's not stories of people walking into John Rex Charter School, or to bars or restaurants or other things."

Currently, a shuttle runs from the jail to the diversion hub at various times. Tardibono expects that those routes would be expanded at the new location, running from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. "Obviously, when they're released off the shuttle they can't be forced to go into the diversion hub but they would be right there," he said.

He also said the rides to the diversion hub during the day would definitively eliminate the concern of people being released walking to nearby schools.

The advisory council is still crafting exact language for its proposal and plans to have a solidified plan to offer to the jail trust, county commissioners, and other leaders. If successful, Tardibono also wants to build new partnerships for continuing rides to the diversion hub or another processing location for release from 5 p.m. to midnight, and midnight to 7 a.m.

But even if leaders don't find a partner, Tardibono said there's a backup option in place. "The design would have a releasing center where they would be able to stay overnight until the shuttle arrives at 7 a.m.," he said.