A “series of significant system failures” caused flooding and damage on several floors of the Oklahoma County jail recently, disrupting operations and underscoring “the critical need for a new, modern facility,” according to jail leadership.
Sump pumps, the fire suppression system and water supply lines all malfunctioned at the seemingly plagued, 33-year-old, 13-story jail, formally the Oklahoma County Detention Center, at 201 N Shartel Ave. downtown, officials said.
“The first issue was detected early Saturday morning when we discovered a broken discharge line had caused water to flood the electrical room, soaking vital equipment,” Mark Opgrande, director of communications, said in a news release Wednesday. “We took emergency measures, including the use of fans to dry the equipment, to prevent further damage.
“In addition, the fire suppression system suffered a critical failure when a main suppression line broke, flooding areas near an officer’s bathroom in receiving. Our staff worked tirelessly to control the flooding and return the system to fulloperation.”
Things turned worse on Sunday morning, when a broken hot water supply line caused further flooding on the 13th, 12th and 10th floors, and more disruption as staff worked to repair the break.
“It was just a perfect storm. Multiple things happened all at once,” jail CEO Brandi Garner told the Oklahoma County Budget Board at its meeting Thursday. “Our maintenance team worked really hard over the weekend to get everything repaired.”
The jail’s information technology system was shut down until Monday night, and hot water was off on the 13th, 12th and 10th floors until Wednesday, Garner said. She had no estimate of costs other than $4,000 for plumbers to fix the pipe break. She did not say whether any detainees had to be moved out of their cells or pods.
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Oklahoma County jail trust chair: ‘Constant repairs are not sustainable’
“These incidents are just the latest in a long series of system failures that highlight the urgent need for a new facility,” said Joe Allbaugh, chairman of the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority, commonly called the county jail trust. “Our current infrastructure is outdated, and the constant repairs are not sustainable. We cannot continue torely on patchwork fixes when our facility is failing at such a fundamental level.”
The 530,000-square-foot building is at the end of its functional life, said Myles Davidson, acting chairman of the Board of County Commissioners and a member of the jail trust.
“A new, properly designed jail would not only address these issues but also provide opportunities for rehabilitation and better support services,” Davidson said. “This will ultimately enhance overall public safety.”
The mechanical failures overshadow one recent bit of good news from the jail. The building is not sinking, as staff feared, although the aging structure is under stress, according to a “Limited Condition Assessment Report” by Oklahoma City’s ZFI Engineering.
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Oklahoma County jail is not sinking into the sand of the Oklahoma River
Jail staff reported seeing cracks in floors that seemed to be sagging under heavy loads, settling, concrete damage, corrosion and other structural concerns. Damage is not hard to find in parts of the building that have not been renovated.
People were afraid the building was slowly going down into the sand and sediment ― deposits from the Oklahoma River about a mile to the south ― underneath downtown Oklahoma City.
The deposits accumulated as the river meandered over time — geological time. Technically, downtown sits atop an “alluvial terrace” perched above the river channel and floodplain, said Kevin Blackwood, a research associate with the Oklahoma Geological Survey.
But no. It’s just the kind of wear and tear one can expect to see in a jail operating 24/7 and 365 days a year, the engineers reported.
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Structural fatigue is not hard to find in the Oklahoma County jail
“There were no significant findings. Most of the cracks are cosmetic in nature. It’s actually good news,” county engineer Stacey Trumbo told the Board of County Commissioners while presenting the report, by ZFI’s Michel D. Thompson and Dale Metzinger, at a recent meeting.
The firm reported finding the kind of structural fatigue that might make people think the building, or part of it, was sinking.
“Around several columns and along the beams parallel with the cells, the cracking gives the appearance or illusion that the floor may be settling relative to the rest of the building, specifically with respect to the core of the building,” ZFI reported.
However, “We did not observe any visual signs of significant structural problems in the floor systems throughout the pods,” ZFI found. “The cracking and deflections observed do not indicate significant rotation or movement associated with overstressed members or overall building settlement.”
As for cracks in the floors, ZFI reported, “There was no visual evidence of overloaded or distressed areas of the floors. … In our opinion, the systemic and repetitive nature of the cracking is consistent with stiffness and orientation changes in monolithic concrete floor systems. …
“Some of these cracks have been aggravated over time by repeated foot traffic and water exposure. … Regardless, the crack widths are not excessive, nor do the cracks indicate a structural strength deficiency.”
ZFI’s recommendations included periodic reviews of floor cracking, applying a crack-bridging, waterproof floor coating, standard concrete repair, and cleaning and repainting metal stairs.
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Staff Writer Richard Mize covers Oklahoma County government and the city of Edmond. He previously covered housing, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com, starting in 1999. Contact him at [email protected] can support Richard’s work, and that of his colleagues, by purchasing a digital subscription to The Oklahoman. Right now, you can get 6 months of subscriber-only access for $1.
