Tulsa's New City Jail Saving Time For Police And Offenders

Tulsa’s new city jail has been open for 12 days now.

Its biggest goal is to get officers in and out quickly during the booking process.

Even in this short time, there has been a noticeable difference inside the jail and on the streets.

"It could take anywhere from 6 to 8 hours to get somebody released from the time we turned the paperwork in.  Here, it's 20 to 30 minutes,” said Court Administrator Kelly Brader.  "We can get people back on the street faster to do what we need them to do to help stop crime."

That's the biggest change, but certainly not the only one.  Location is also key.  Because the jail is so close to the courtrooms, that process is also quicker - in some cases even by as much as 24 hours.

3/1/2018 Related Story:  Tulsa's City Jail Now Open

Brader says, "tomorrow we have a huge docket from the court so, what we're doing today is we’re bringing people down early to see if we can get them released early.  So the judge is seeing them now."

Booking in faster, processing quicker, and getting folks through the court system in a timely fashion isn't just great for workers, officers, and offenders, but in time will actually save money.

"I take pride because I know we worked hard to do what we needed to do to save taxpayers money,” said Brader.

In addition to the new jail helping get Tulsa police officers back on the street faster, Mayor G.T. Bynum has committed to increase staffing for Tulsa police.  Vision Tulsa is paying for 40 new officers and the general fund is paying for 50.