A look inside Tulsa’s new municipal jail

TULSA — As of 12:01 Thursday morning, Tulsa’s new municipal jail officially opened for business.It ends years of feuding between the city and the county about how much the David L. Moss Correctional Center should receive for housing municipal prisoners.

Mayor G.T. Bynum told KRMG Wednesday that voters wanted that fight to end, and he and the city council have done just that. “No jobs have been created by that fight, no Tulsan’s life has been improved by that fight, and no economic growth has occurred because of that fight,” the mayor said. “This city council and I felt like we were given a mandate by the voters when we were elected to end that fight, and I think we’re doing our duty to end it by establishing this facility.”

Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan strongly supported the plan, and told KRMG the impact on police operations will be significant.

“This (the jail) combined with our Sobering Center’s going to be a huge game changer for us,” he said. “Obviously, we've got staffing issues, we don’t have enough men and women in our police department to do the job we want to do. Getting them in and out of the jail facility quicker when they have to put somebody in jail, or taking somebody to a Sobering Center rather than taking them to jail - just the time savings alone is going to be huge for our department.”

Tulsa was the only city of any size in the county that didn’t operate its own jail.

The jail will only hold municipal prisoners, those with city charges - which are misdemeanors - rather than more serious felonies, which are prosecuted under state laws.

Here are some photos of the new facility from the tour given by city and police officials Wednesday: