Some Tulsa County jail inmates freed due to virus outbreak

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Dozens of people locked up on lower-level offenses have been released from the Tulsa County jail after an emergency court docket because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Tulsa World reports that Associate District Judge Cliff Smith on Thursday presided over the criminal docket in which inmates appeared by video. Top Public Defender Corbin Brewster says that 37 people were released after being jailed for nonviolent felonies and another 30 who were in custody for misdemeanors.

This took place after a 55-year-old Tulsa County man died on Wednesday after testing positive for the coronavirus, marking Oklahoma’s first death linked to the pandemic.