Jail overcrowding leads county to refuse any more municipal misdemeanor prisoners

The Tulsa County Jail will no longer accept misdemeanor municipal prisoners, effective this morning, until further notice.

Sheriff's Major Shannon Clark confirmed to KRMG that the jail is so overcrowded, they have no choice but to bar the nonviolent offenders who've broken city ordinances from going to jail.

Tulsa police have released the following statement in reaction to the move:

The Tulsa Police Department has been advised the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center has reached its capacity and will not be accepting any prisoners on municipal charges. The only exception to this municipal restriction is when a prisoner is being booked on state charges; municipal charges may be added on.

The Tulsa Police Department will continue to ensure the safety of the citizens of Tulsa is not jeopardized. In any circumstance where an arrestee poses a continuing threat to the public if released they will be arrested and booked on the appropriate state charges.

Maj. Clark tells KRMG they're talking about charges like jaywalking or dog at large.

"There was one I saw earlier this morning he was being held on operating a vehicle with an obstructed windshield," he said.

He added that the jail has a nominal capacity of 1714 inmates, but because of gender issues and the capacity of laundry, food service, and other requirements, the de facto capacity is about 1,650.

He added that they're mystified as to why the jail population has grown so rapidly, but they're meeting with other law enforcement agencies, the courts, bondsman, and other experts to determine the reason for the boom, and to come up with strategies to fix the problem.

TCSO has also notified the Oklahoma Department of Corrections that it will have to move some of its inmates to other jails.