The Frontier is suing the City of Tulsa and the private security contractor that ran the now-closed municipal jail for access to records related to deaths at the facility.
The city and the security contractor Allied Universal have denied The Frontier access to records including death investigation reports, surveillance video, intake forms, medical screening questionnaires, incident reports, logs documenting welfare checks and correspondence between the jail personnel, the Tulsa Police Department and other city officials. The lawsuit seeks a court order declaring that the records are public under the Oklahoma Open Records Act and that Allied Universal, as the city-contracted operator of the jail, is subject to the law.
A Frontier investigation in March found at least seven people had died from preventable causes at the city lockup since 2023.
Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols announced the city would close the jail in July, one day after The Frontier published a story and video showing the final hours of Justin Benner, who died at the facility after detention officers left him in a full-body restraint device alone in a cell.
Along with announcing the jail’s closure, Nichols said the city would expedite all outstanding records requests related to the facility. The city has since released some documents to The Frontier, but continues to deny access to other records.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in Tulsa County District Court. Leslie Briggs, a lawyer from the nonprofit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is representing The Frontier and Staff Writer Garrett Yalch in the case.
The Frontier launched in 2015 as Oklahoma’s premier investigative outlet.
Reach Frontier staff by email at info@readfrontier.com