Two new additions are coming to downtown Tulsa’s David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center, Jail Administrator Stacie Holloway said during the Dec. 17 Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority meeting.
The first establishes a garden that will be tended by female inmates under the supervision of staff. Located on the south side of the building between the jail and Tulsa soup kitchen Iron Gate, the food will be used for inmate meals.
The second project will repurpose one of the facility’s outdoor atrium areas into a child-friendly play space to support family visitation.
Coordinated by New York University’s Family-Based Justice Center, they will work with architects from outside of Oklahoma who have experience implementing similar concepts in jails and prisons in other states. NYU opened an academic center in Tulsa last spring.
The new play area will have a pergola with seating areas, shade, a mural and outdoor toys like Nerf footballs and hula hoops. There will also be an area where kids can use sidewalk chalk.
“To my knowledge, we would be the first jail in Oklahoma to do something like this,” Holloway said about the outdoor space.
The Tulsa Community Foundation is funding both projects.
This was informed by Khadijat A. Oluwatoyin’s Documenter notes from the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority meeting on Dec. 17. If you’re interested in becoming a Documenter, visit us at documenters.org.
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