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Commissioners select site in southeast Oklahoma City for new county jail

Dylan Goforth
/
The Frontier

Oklahoma County commissioners voted Wednesday to locate the new county jail in southeast Oklahoma City.

Commissioners selected the site at 1901 East Grand Blvd, a location that's drawn push back from residents and elected officials from that area.

Commissioners selected this site located at 1901 East Grand Boulevard.
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Commissioners selected this site located at 1901 East Grand Boulevard.

Del City leaders say they plan to fight back against the commissioners' decision to locate the jail near their city. The city is seeking legal advice from outside attorneys.

Nine potential locations were under discussion at yesterday's meeting, including a site on Oklahoma City's northeast side.

That site at NE 23rd and Coltrane was removed from consideration, following an early morning march by state and local elected officials and concerned citizens.

Rapper and community organizer Jabee Williams was among the marchers.

"It was important for a bunch of reasons. The main reason to show how serious we are about not having a jail on the east side," Williams said. "Also to show how long it takes for people to get from - if a jail’s over there - all the services that are down here. You know what I’m saying? It’s a two and a half hour walk."

The next step in the process is that OKC City Council has to rezone the East Grand property.

Commissioners have been discussing potential jail sites for several months, and faced a deadline in order to use federal funds to build the new jail.

The current jail in downtown Oklahoma city opened in 1992, and has been cited for numerous health and safety violations by state and federal authorities.

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Logan Layden is a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma. Logan spent six years as a reporter with StateImpact from 2011 to 2017.
Deborah is local host/reporter for NPR’s All Things Considered afternoon news program on KGOU, joining the station in March 2023. Deborah has worked in news at both public and commercial radio and television stations in Kansas, Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia. She has experience in a variety of roles such as news reporter, news anchor, TV segment producer, news writer and newsroom managing editor. She also taught broadcast news classes at a Texas college.
Nyk has worked in radio since 2011 serving as a board operator, on-air announcer and production director for commercial radio stations in Iowa. Originally from the Quad Cities area, Nyk joined KGOU in 2018 as a practicum student studying Creative Media Production at OU. Upon graduating the following year, he became part of KGOU’s staff and is now the local Morning Edition host. When not on the air, Nyk likes to read, listen to music and follow news about the radio industry.
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