Oklahoma County may reopen refocused location search for a new county jail

Oklahoma County may trim its list of potential locations for a future county jail.

At the same time, however, it may be willing to consider additional spots that failed to make an initial cut because of time constraints the county had placed on landowners interested in offering up their properties for a jail's use.

Both matters will be taken up by Oklahoma County's Board of County Commissioners during a special meeting Chairman Brian Maughan called for Tuesday.

The meeting comes less than a week after commissioners approved a formal agreement with HOK to work with the county to design a new facility.

The county is under pressure to replace its existing jail after decades of issues involving its existing building, which it opened in 1991.

A year-long investigation by The Oklahoman involving document reviews and dozens of interviews showed Oklahoma County's jail trust failed to take steps needed to stem the tide of inmate deaths during the three years since it assumed control of the facility. The building's condition, short staffing, guard misconduct, relatively poor medical care and lax mental health services, plus a thriving drug economy all played roles in conditions at the jail.

Through the end of April, 43 detainees held by the jail since the trust assumed control of its operations died while in the county's custody. Recently, the jail's staff had to initiate life-saving efforts to rescue two female detainees found unresponsive after apparent drug overdoses.

Why are some Oklahoma County jail locations being eliminated?

Maughan said the item before commissioners proposing to trim four locations from the list was requested by Steve Mason, chairman of the Oklahoma County Citizens Bond Oversight Advisory Board.

While not familiar with specific reasons behind removing each of those locations from consideration, Maughan said it likely had to do with topographical issues, distances from the Oklahoma County Courthouse, what services were available at each site, or how much compensation each owner was seeking.

Each location is being evaluated by the bond oversight board's members, the county's engineer and representatives of HOK.

Locations county commissioners are being asked to eliminate are:

• 69 acres of land at Interstate 35 and Britton Road owned by Oaks Technology Park LLC, which offered that land to the county for $37,788,300.

• 89 acres of land at NE 10 and I-35 owned by the city of Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office offered to the county at an undisclosed price.

• 133 acres of land located at 5500 Lincoln Blvd. owned by the Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office. That agency auctioned off that land this week. The Kirkpatrick Family Fund submitted a winning bid of $11,085,000, the minimum asking price.

• 51 acres of land located on the southwest corner of Portland Avenue and Memorial Road owned by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation offered to the county at an undisclosed price.

As for giving additional time for the oversight board to consider other potential locations, Maughan said he is asking for approval of that as a way to reassure the county's residents that appointed and elected officials are thoroughly evaluating where a new jail should be built.

Oklahoma County already has put the site of its existing jail at 201 N Shartel Ave. on the list of potential locations to be considered.

"There were some sites that came in that were interesting, but couldn't be entertained because they did not come in before the deadline. We may have handcuffed the board," Maughan said.

Maughan said he hasn't reviewed any of the late-arriving proposals. But, he said county officials kept contact information for each of those, in case the commissioners decided to reopen the proposal submission period.

"I just think that with each of the sites having potential downsides, there is just not a utopian place out of any of those. Maybe this will give us some alternatives, or maybe not. They might not be any more attractive than others that previously were offered," Maughan said.

Owners encouraged to submit new offers quickly

As for how long additional offers will be entertained, that probably won't be any longer than a couple of additional weeks, Maughan said Friday.

"I just want to make sure we have done every due diligence we can for our taxpayers to make sure we have not left any stone unturned and know with great confidence we have chosen a site from the best options we had available," he said.

Commissioners will convene at 11:25 a.m. on Aug. 1 in their meeting chambers (Room 204) at 320 Robert S. Kerr Ave.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma County may consider more options for new jail