Ottawa County Inmates Moved To Rogers County Jail

More than four dozen Ottawa County inmates are moving from Tulsa to the Rogers County Jail tonight, following a fire.

The Ottawa County Sheriff says he was hoping to have the jail back open before Thanksgiving but that is not going to happen now. This is a move he is hoping will save some money, while the jail repairs continue.

Van by van, Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton says more than 40 Ottawa County inmates are being moved to the Rogers County Jail.

"The only answer that we should give them is yes we will help and remember because we will be knocking on your door someday soon," says Walton.

An electrical fire a month ago caused the Ottawa County Jail to temporarily shut down. The 111 inmates were moved to surrounding jails. Some went to Craig County others came to Tulsa. Delaware County stepped in as well.

"It has just been overwhelming. At the time of the fire, every Sheriff’s Department probably in the state reached out to me and offered their resources they did have available. I'm very blessed to have that," said Ottawa County Sheriff Jeremy Floyd.

Floyd says more than 90 inmates went to Tulsa County after the fire. Some inmates have gone to prison, others to drug court, community corrections or have been released. He says there are more than 40 inmates left in Tulsa County.

"Right now we are paying 69 dollars a day per inmate at Tulsa and hopefully we will save a substantial amount of money moving them to Rogers. We are gonna work out a price but we are also going to utilize our staff at that facility as well so we can try to get that price even lower to help the county out, especially in a time of need," said Floyd.

"Right now our jail numbers will provide us the ability to do that," said Walton, "They are providing more than enough food for those inmates which we will probably benefit from and staff even in excess of what we would have to take care of 40 inmates."