'Fish or cut bait': Clock ticking on OK County commissioners to select site for new jail

The clock is ticking on Oklahoma County Commissioners as they continue to search for a location for the new county jail.

An end-of-2024 deadline to commit $50 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars set aside to build a mental health facility as part of the project means they realistically need to have a jail location (or at least one for the mental health center) locked down by the end of February, Chairman Brian Maughan believes.

Less pressing, perhaps, is a deadline to use $260 million in bond money approved by voters in 2022 to build the new jail. So far, only $45 million in bonds voters approved have been sold (that happened in March), but ballot language requires the county to have allocated 85% of funds from bond sales within three years of the transaction.

The February date for the ARPA funds to be committed is critical.

"When you have every architect, engineer and contractor telling you that there's just no way they could complete the project by the end of 2026 if you go past that point, that's what we face, and we will have to decide at some point to fish or cut bait," Maughan said.

As time passes, commissioners are pondering where and how to build a new jail that will have generational impacts, both for future jail detainees and county commissioners.

Oklahoma County already carries a bruised and battered reputation attached to the current jail, widely considered to be one of the deadliest in America.

Outside influences emerging after voters approved a $260 million bond issue to build a new jail impacted the county's options, Maughan believes.

Informal surveys conducted before the election showed plenty of potential locations Oklahoma County could pursue that might serve as a jail location.

But a subsequent real-estate boom took some of those options off the table, Maughan said.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 caused economic disruptions involving labor and materials that influenced needed services to actually design and build the new building, tightening the length of time Oklahoma County had to find a location that works, Maughan said.

"These were circumstances beyond our control — issues way bigger than us — that changed the dynamics dramatically," he said.

In mid-2023, a Citizens Bond Oversight Advisory Board formed by commissioners was given a list of properties submitted by the city of Oklahoma City and landowners to consider as potential locations for a new jail. That list later was trimmed by the board after evaluating proposed sale prices, typographical, environmental and functional concerns.

More: Broken Trust: How the Oklahoma County jail leadership failed those it sought to protect

Ultimately, both the board and county commissioners settled on land owned by the City of Oklahoma City near Will Rogers World Airport as the new jail's best location.

The selected site mattered, because one ideally sized would allow Oklahoma County to build a one- or two-story building that would be less expensive to operate and maintain, plus provide detainees better access to natural light, open air and a suite of services related to mental health and addiction issues the current jail doesn't provide.

The county offered Oklahoma City $2.5 million for the land, but the city rejected the county's officer after being told by the Federal Aviation Administration that using that land for a jail could jeopardize federal funds that could be used to support the airport's future growth.

Commissioners also encountered pushback from elected local and state leaders and from property owners near several other proposed locations, prompting them to remove those locations from its list.

Only two properties officially are being considered by Oklahoma County today: One at SE 29 and the Kickapoo Turnpike just west of Choctaw, and unspecified properties within an unincorporated area inside Oklahoma County near where the Oklahoma National Stockyards is located.

Steve Mason, who agreed to lead the citizens oversight advisory board when it was formed after the election, said he knew voters' support for the bond issue might wane once specific sites were being discussed.

"I knew that building a county jail would be one of the most important projects within this community for decades to come," Mason said.

"What we learned in this site selection process that started last January, though, is that 90% of the people in this county don't want a new jail near them, and that is what created the dilemma that puts us where we are today," Mason said.

While expecting pushback, "I sure didn't expect we would have the negative pushback we have received on every site," Mason said.

Jail choices today challenged by perception, commissioners say

Both Maughan and Commissioner Carrie Blumert said they recognized whatever choice they ultimately make likely will upset neighbors, regardless of where they choose to build. No one wants a jail near where they live or near their children's schools, they understand.

But both, along with Commissioner Myles Davidson, also stress residents need to understand the jail the county wants to build is not the same as what it has today.

The commissioners expect the new jail will be much more aesthetically pleasing than the current jail, safer for both detainees and the surrounding public, and believe some of the ongoing pushback the county is getting is based upon perceptions the public has about the current building.

They also would prefer a location big enough to support the construction of a single- or two-story jail, a design currently preferred by the U.S. Justice Department and jurisdictions across the country.

"I don't want to have to go back to a high rise or towers. I will fight that as hard as I can, because I think so many of the issues we are dealing with today are tied to the current jail, which frankly, we just can't fix," Maughan said.

Beyond the proposed mental health treatment center, the site also needs to be big enough to provide detainees with ample opportunities to exercise outside, plus provide room for detainee interactions with families and attorneys.

Establishing the new jail in a location where it could partner with a new crisis center being built by Oklahoma City through MAPS 4, a new restoration center for addiction treatment services, a relocated/expanded Diversion Hub and the Donahue Center being built by Oklahoma's Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services all could help Oklahoma County decrease its number of detainees, Blumert said.

"Ninety-nine percent of people I speak with are aware of the current jail and its situation, its poor design. They agree we need a new facility," Blumert said. "What I try to emphasize is that new facility will look completely different.

"This is a huge opportunity for us, one I do not take lightly at all."

Beyond that, land with minimal environmental issues and access to water, sewer, natural gas, telecommunication services and good roads and a nearby highway are important, Maughan said.

Then, there are political hurdles that must be overcome, beginning with two commissioners agreeing on what location to pursue or to drop from consideration.

"Then we have to ask if the city will zone it — are there five votes on the City Council to approve that? If they can't see it, then it doesn't matter how good the site looks to the county," Maughan said.

A state law forbidding a jail from being located within 1,000 feet of a school is a barrier, as is an opinion from Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna that states Oklahoma County can't undertake an eminent domain action against another governmental entity to secure a jail location.

"At this stage, I would be surprised to see any location that's been eliminated come back," Maughan said.

Commissioners hope new jail can serve county for decades

Oklahoma County has endured criticism about its current jail practically since it opened in 1991, when design flaws permitting escapes became apparent and later issues involving overcrowding and safety led to high numbers of detainee deaths over the years.

While elected county leaders make a number of decisions weekly that impact their constituents' lives, the importance of jail-related decisions seem to transcend most in importance.

Maughan said he has been told county officials in the 1980s hoped to they could build a new jail to replace Oklahoma County's courthouse facility for the next 25 years.

The current jail has operated for longer than that, with problems for its detainees exacerbated over time by overcrowding and deferred maintenance needs.

What commissioners build next has to last longer, Maughan said.

"It has to be a functional site. The current jail's site was not functional from the get-go, and that's why we have the problems we have with it today," he said.

"I honestly felt like after the first round of submissions were made and reviewed by our Citizens Bond Oversight Advisory Board, that we would select a site, buy it and would be done," Blumert said, saying the site the county offered to buy near the airport turned out "too good to be true."

Blumert said she shouldn't have been surprised it would take the county this long, given commissioners hope to build something today that will serve the community for the next 40-plus years.

Previously, Davidson has stressed the jail's design is key to keep associated problems from just being kicked down the road.

Blumert agrees with Maughan that time is growing short, but stopped short of saying a site must be in hand before the end of February.

Commissioners meet again Wednesday morning.

"We need to move as quickly as possible, as soon as we can. Thankfully, we meet every week, and I am fully prepared to call a special meeting, if one is needed," Blumert said. "We are trying to do it the right way, best we can, so that people who come after me 20 years from now are not sitting here trying to correct mistakes we might have made."

Mason agreed the project needs to be done right, remembering a speech that President John F. Kennedy gave at Rice University in 1962 about sending astronauts to the moon.

"Sometimes, we do things that are hard, but we do them because they are necessary," he recalled Kennedy saying.

Mason described efforts exerted by his committee colleagues, county officials, HOK (selected to design the jail) and the city of Oklahoma City to find a suitable location as herculean.

"We are all working as a team to get this done, and we need everyone encouraging and supporting us with the knowledge that it needs to occur ... has to happen," Mason said.

"This isn't going to the moon, but this is an important, critical project."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OK County commissioners on the clock to select jail site or risk losing money