Jul 29, 2026
Less than one week after Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols announced the closure of the Tulsa Municipal Jail, Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler has called on the OSBI to investigate the deaths of seven inmates over the pa st three years at the facility.The reports were given to Kunzweiler's office, which showed that TPD's homicide division was called following each death to document. Previous coverage>>> Mayor Nichols announces closure of Tulsa Municipal JailNone of the investigations show that a request for prosecution was made or warranted, the statement said. None of the death reports were previously forwarded to Kunzweiler's office.However, Kunzweiler believes that the number of deaths over three years warrants an outside investigation from another agency.Because of the OSBI referral, the Tulsa County DA's office said it will not comment on any specific details. Later on July 29, City of Tulsa responded to 2 News' request for comment on the district attorney's office request for OSBI investigations: All cases were investigated by the proper authority, and all standard procedures have been followed. While we are confident in those investigations, we welcome any additional eyes and reviews to increase transparency. Due to current litigation, we dont have further comment, but we wanted to share the following background in case its helpful: The City of Tulsa has long known that its municipal court and lockup facilities would need to relocate as we prepare to vacate the Municipal Court/Police Headquarters building downtown to make way for the new convention center hotel and transition operations to the new Public Safety Center. From the beginning, the courts and lockup were never intended to move into the Public Safety Center, so identifying a new location has always been part of this process. For much of the past year, the City has been in discussions with Tulsa County about what a transition back to the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center could look like. Those conversations were always part of our planning. We needed multiple options available, and because preparing a facility to serve as a lockup takes significant time and coordination, returning to the County, even on an interim basis, was always a possibility. Negotiations with Tulsa County on a longer-term agreement have been underway for several months and continue today. In fact, last week's decision allowed us to move forward more quickly based on our ongoing conversations with the County so we could focus on the transition process ahead. In the meantime, we are finalizing an amendment to our existing overflow agreement to support the immediate transition. We can say that this move progressed rapidly - we had approximately 60 individuals in the municipal lockup last Friday and now the lockup is empty. Right now, our focus is on finalizing the amendment to the overflow agreement and continuing negotiations on a longer-term agreement with Tulsa County. We do not have finalized cost estimates to share at this time, but we will provide those details as they become available."Tulsa Police Department did not return 2 News' request for comment by late July 29.Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere -- 2 News Oklahoma on your schedule | Download on your TV, watch for free. How to watch on your streaming device Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices. Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram Watch LIVE 24/7 on YouTube ...read more read less
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