Town hall meetings to address jail, juvenile justice center

Calling the situations at the Tulsa County jail and juvenile justice center "embarrassing," county leaders today announced a series of town hall meetings to get feedback -- and, they hope, support -- from the public for a county tax to fix them.

The Tulsa County Juvenile Justice and Detention Center, 315 S. Gilcrease Museum Road, is overcrowded and crumbling.

KRMG toured the facility, and saw desks and filing cabinets set up in hallways, closets converted to offices, and signs of flooding and plumbing problems.

Attorneys have nowhere they can speak with clients privately.

Families of defendants and suspects have to crowd together into tiny courtrooms.

Air conditioning and heating doesn't work in parts of the building.

A "temporary" building set up outside to house files and some offices still stands, years later, its doors rusted and crumbling.

One employee noted that the temporary building doesn't even have smoke detectors.

The jail, Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz and others noted, is badly overcrowded.

Additionally, the facilities for the care, treatment, and housing of mentally ill inmates is completely inadequate, they said.

They hope to pass a .067-cent tax to help pay to fix all those problems.

The town hall meetings are scheduled as follows:

[All meetings take place from 6:00-8:00 p.m.]

• Monday, Jan. 13 - LaFortune Park Community Center, 5202 S. Hudson, Tulsa
• Tuesday, Jan. 14 - Hardesty Library, 8316 E. 93rd St., Tulsa
• Thursday, Jan. 16 - Rudisill Library, 1520 N. Hartford, Tulsa
• Thursday, Jan. 16 - Meeting Hall at Central on Main, 210 N. Main, Broken Arrow
• Tuesday Jan. 21 - TCC West Campus Auditorium, 7505 W. 41st St., Tulsa
• Wednesday, Jan. 22 - South County Community Center, 13800 S. Peoria Ave., Bixby
• Thursday, Jan. 23 - Owasso Community Center, 301 S. Cedar St., Owasso