We don’t need a new jail
You reported Wednesday that Tulsa’s sheriff said counties rely on jails to provide mental health care (”Study,” Sept. 22). He also lamented in that study that Tulsa County had overbuilt the jail’s mental health ward, reinforcing the problem. Tulsa funded its annex through a quarter-cent sales tax.
In Oklahoma County we need to slow down the conversation about building a new, bigger jail with $148 million of federal relief funding that should go to helping people overcome rather than locking them into a pattern of recidivism. Hundreds are awaiting trial for nonviolent crimes like failing to pay court debt on time or were charged with technical parole violations that aren’t even crimes, like missing curfew or appointments. Hundreds more are there because they owe fines, fees and other legal financial punishments. How many of these charges go back before marijuana reform?
Those at the state and county level campaigning for a new, bigger jail need to bring the population below capacity as many other jails have done during COVID, before requesting funds that can finally help deal with the root causes of crime: poverty, mental health and unaffordable housing.
— Jackson Foote, Norman