There will be two separate issues on the ballot. It appears that the juvenile justice center is favored by most of the few posters. What are your thoughts on the jail expansion?
More backup in Today's Tulsa World...
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/government/jail-will-still-need-funding-even-as-mental-health-issues/article_46616b11-d940-50e2-9396-d1a83a37d93a.htmlJail will still need funding even as mental health issues are addressed, officials sayCounty officials pushing a sales tax proposal said Friday that needed funding for dedicated mental health facilities does not take away from the Tulsa Jail's needs. Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz said the entire state needs to look at more support for the mentally ill, but even with more facilities, people with mental-health issues will continue to filter through the jail.
"What we would like to find is a support system to deal with these people we come into contact with," Glanz said.
The question about where tax dollars should go came as Glanz and Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith spoke to the current Leadership Tulsa class at the Tulsa Country Club on Friday.
County officials are urging approval of funding for a new juvenile justice center and additional pods at the Tulsa Jail as part of an April 1 vote.
The four new pods proposed would increase the capacity at the Tulsa Jail, including one pod dedicated to inmates with mental illness an effort not only to provide better treatment for those inmates, but also to separate them from the general population.
The separate ballot resolutions ask voters to consider a 15-year, 0.041 percent sales tax to fund the projects."The main problem we have (at the jail) is with the mentally ill," Glanz said. About 400 Tulsa Jail inmates are currently on medication for mental illnesses administered by jail staff, he said.
"If you're arrested for a violent crime and lot of these people are it takes them about six months before ... they go for evaluation and then they come back for six months awaiting trial," Glanz said. "We're really out of beds. We simply don't have the beds in Tulsa to deal with all those people."
Another question asked of county officials is why jail population is up while crime is down. Glanz said part of it is just an increase in Tulsa County population. "As our population increases, the population of the jail increases," he said. Tulsa County Undersheriff Tim Albin said an increase in female inmates has also led to overpopulation in the jail. "Our female population has doubled over the last three years," Albin said. "Drugs and alcohol abuse are an equal opportunity destroyer."
The county officials also addressed questions about the proposed juvenile justice center to replace the Tulsa County Juvenile Bureau facility at 315 S. Gilcrease Museum Road. County officials have yet to determine where the new facility would be constructed.
Built in the late 1960s and renovated in 1995, the Juvenile Bureau comprises two structures totaling about 46,000 square feet, including a 55-bed detention center.
Keith said the facility is run down and doesn't provide enough space for the staff and judges to do their jobs.
Keith said about 41 percent of the court docket are cases involving abused and neglected children, and the space available in court can't keep victims separate from the accused perpetrators. "You just don't let that happen in this day and age," Keith said.
Tulsa County criminal justice tax proposalWhat: Tulsa County has called a countywide election on two 15-year sales-tax initiatives. One resolution asks voters to approve a 0.041 percent sales tax to fund construction of a new juvenile justice center; the other resolution asks voters to approve a 0.026 percent sales tax to fund construction and operation of four new pods at the Tulsa Jail.
When: April 1
Effective date: July 1
Tax impact: If both taxes are approved, the sales-tax rate in the city of Tulsa would remain the same because an equivalent city sales tax is expiring. The sales-tax rate in other parts of the county would increase by 0.067 percent. If only one of the taxes is approved, the sales-tax rate would drop in the city of Tulsa and increase by the amount of the approved tax elsewhere in the county.