Tulsa County Officials Say Juvenile Justice Center Needs Repairs

Tulsa County Commissioners are asking for state help to retrofit and expand the Juvenile Justice Center that opened just two years ago. Staff at the facility say a change in federal policy, requiring them to hold anyone under 18 charged with even the most serious crimes, has left the staff vulnerable and the building damaged from the change in population. The Center was designed for non-violent children only, being held typically for misdemeanor property and drug crimes.

“So now we have youthful offenders sitting here now, their cases are moving slow, they're bored, they're frustrated, and that frustration is taken out on the staff, it's taken out on the facility" said Anthony Taylor, the Director of the Juvenile Justice Center.

County Commissioner Karen Keith said a ballpark estimate to add a “hardened” wing onto the building is $5 million. The County has spent more than $250,000 on repairs since it opened, according to Taylor. Children designated as Youthful Offenders have broken windows, torn out fire sprinklers and pulled beds out of the floor. “It wasn't built to handle what we're dealing with” said Taylor.

Elected leaders looked the building over Friday, to see temporary fixes like stainless steel panels put up on the walls. Officials want to build a new addition just for the more violent, and usually older, children who are causing the damage. “The only real solution is to add a wing, a hardened wing, which this building was not designed for that, but that's a $5 million ask and there's an ongoing cost because you've got to staff it” said Karen Keith, a Tulsa County Commissioner.

In the last five months, the staff at the Juvenile Justice Center has reported 29 fights, 25 attacks on staff, and 20 calls for an ambulance because of injuries. The facility was built for short stays by non-violent children, but now is housing the most violent children for stays that could potentially last more than a year. “We actually have some murder one suspects in our facility. Prior to October, the most we'd have is gun possession, which is a misdemeanor in the state of Oklahoma” said Cortez Tunley, the Detention Supervisor at the center.

The building has 63 beds, but only 40 are useable now because of the damage. There were 33 children in the facility Friday, according to the Director.