Last Updated on February 15, 2024, 10:49 AM | Published: February 14, 2024
OKLAHOMA CITY — Two state legislators from the OKC metro announced their opposition to a bill making its way through the Oklahoma House that would have the effect of prohibiting Oklahoma County from building its new jail on the current jail site.
The general impression to some is that it is an attempt to rescue Oklahoma County Commissioners, who are undergoing increasing criticism for stubbornly refusing so far to consider the current jail site as one for the new jail.
The news conference was called by Rep. Jason Lowe, HD-97, Oklahoma City, with Rep. Andy Fugate, HD-94, Del City, Councilwoman Claudia Browne, and community organizer Jess Eddy contributing comments.
The current Oklahoma County Jail site is at 201 N. Shartel in Oklahoma City and sits across the street from the new Oklahoma City Police Headquarters and the new Oklahoma City Municipal Courts building.
A struggle is underway between Oklahoma County Commissioners and various community groups including the City of Del City over a string of controversial sites commissioners have proposed over the last ten months that would place the new jail near neighborhoods instead of downtown where it is now.
“No one in the state of Oklahoma, no one in Oklahoma County, would have voted for this [jail] bond, if they knew there was a possibility that a jail would be built in their backyard. No one,” said Lowe about the bond that Oklahoma County voters passed for the new jail.
Now, State Representative Josh Cantrell, HD-47, Kingston, has proposed changes to an existing law intended to guard children from correctional facilities and half-way houses from being built too close to schools.
The current law prohibits such facilities from being within 1,000 feet. The new language would modify that language to 2,000 feet, which would put the current Oklahoma County Jail site from being used for a new jail.
Two schools are not within the current boundary, but would be within the 2,000-foot radius: Emmerson Alternative School (OKCPS) and John Rex Charter School, effectively making the current site ineligible as a location for the new jail.
Speakers Wednesday pointed out that Emerson Alternative was already in their location when the current jail was built on what was, in 1991, a new site. The old county jail was on the top two floors of the Oklahoma County Courthouse.
And, they also pointed out that John Rex Charter School was established much later after the current jail was built.
Speakers said that there have been no complaints to date from either school’s administrators or “anyone.”
“This bill is frankly an effort to remove the current downtown location from consideration and pave the way for commercial development of that property,” said Rep. Lowe. “This isn’t about protecting schools or about children. This is about commercial development. I believe that the current site near or the current site is the best location as far as where the new Oklahoma County Jail needs to be built.”
With that statement Lowe expressed what has been said both in a town hall on the issue and then in a City Council for Del City meeting later. Among those who live within the potential new jail sites, it seems to be a common belief that the reason commissioners are working so hard to avoid even considering the current site is to satisfy big real estate interests in downtown OKC.
Eddy and Lowe presented a slide presentation showing the possibility of building on the current site if neighboring land were taken into consideration for acquisition. See more info below on that info as it was presented at a town hall at the end of January.
Del City Councilmember Browne repeated concerns she has expressed before that Del City residents are extremely upset about the possibility of the new jail being established only a block away from a thriving neighborhood just inside the Del City limits to the east of the site being considered at 1901 E. Grand.
“So, while we may be expanding the radius to 2,000 square feet and looking at schools, the rationale for doing that is what it is to protect children,” said Rep. Fugate. “And what we’re really talking about is putting a jail, that is literally one block across the street, from an entire neighborhood filled with kids who will be walking to that school.”
Fugate continued, “And so, if representative Cantrell, — and I’m going to trust that he’s trying to do the right thing — is really trying to protect children, he should be expanding it beyond a place where kids are generally safe, which is on school grounds and look at the other places where kids will congregate like the parks, the other places in the neighborhood.”
Fugate argued that with Trosper Park just across the road south and an entire neighborhood with a number of kids just a block to the east, the concern should be about where the kids normally are, not just where they go to school.
Are you catching up on this issue? Here is key background:
Opposition from Eastside
Commissioners have not had an easy time relocating the jail location from its current spot in downtown, across the street from the Oklahoma City Municipal Courthouse and the Oklahoma City Police Headquarters.
After multiple attempts to float ideas about locating the new jail in different parts of eastern Oklahoma City where residents have been fighting further industrialization, a panel discussion and community meeting was held at MetroTech to rally opposition.
Leaders in the community as well as residents from the upper Eastside and the historic lower Eastside, plus residents of Del City, filled the auditorium on January 29th out of concerns rising from persistent new ideas that seemed to some to always end up in the same part of the metro.
The speakers on the panel and other speakers who were invited to speak were
- Uniformly against the commissioners locating the jail in the Eastside that had been ravaged over the years by expressways and industrial intrusion; and
- Questioned why commissioners were so convinced in spite of all discussion that the jail will not be put where it currently is.
Stockyards location nixed
At one point, the western half of the land owned by the Oklahoma City Stockyards company was being considered by commissioners because of its proximity to the Oklahoma County Courthouse downtown.
But, a concerted effort on the part of the Stockyards and the commission companies that operate out of the Stockyards successfully diverted commissioners away from further consideration.
The argument was that the presence of the jail would have a detrimental economic impact on the value of that land if they should ever want to develop it in the future.
The situation was a unique one in that people who own the livestock commission companies joined with pastors and leaders from the Eastside to oppose moving the jail from its current location.
Airport land? Feds say no
At one point land just north of the airport and adjacent to the FAA training facility looked so promising to commissioners that they made an offer to the City of OKC for the parcel that has nothing on it and no nearby residences.
But, after the purchase offer went through review by the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, they threatened to cut off any eligibility for future grants to expand and improve the airport.
The threat was heavy enough that commissioners dropped the airport land as an idea.
Del City ready to fight back
The old oilfield land at 1901 E. Grand Blvd, just to the southeast of downtown OKC, has been attractive to commissioners who seem to be homing it on it as a possible place to put the jail.
It’s the former site of Hamilton Courts, the worst public housing failure in Oklahoma City history. In fact, it was so bad that within a decade of its opening, it was closed and razed.
From accounts of the troubled project at the time, one big factor of its failure was its remote location away from any services, especially bus service that would make it possible for the poor who were housed there to find work and access other services.
Now, residents of Del City are deeply concerned about detainees being released in the middle of the night and having no bus service and not even a convenience store nearby where they could call someone to come and pick them up.
There is a Del City neighborhood that starts only a block away from what would be the front gate, with a neighborhood elementary school embedded.
City leaders and residents are fearful about their safety and the safety of their children when detainees are released.
Those leaders and residents are so concerned about the negative possibilities that the City of Del City is preparing to sue Oklahoma County to stop the placement of the jail at the site.
Crooked Oak Schools to be affected
One sign of the commissioners’ zeal to move the jail out of downtown has been evident in the extent to which they are willing to go to trade land with the Crooked Oak Public School District to allow the district to relocate its sports facility to another site.
The current site would be next door and the land they have purchased next to it to expand their sports complex, which would put it within a state law establishing an exclusion distance from any facility that houses sex offenders.
Free Press will continue to follow this process and report. Watch this space.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
