The jail is an example of Layton's early Oklahoma work, and features unusual Italian Renaissance characteristics for a utilitarian building like a county incarceration facility.

The exterior walls have alternating horizontal bands of rustic faces and smooth wide surfaces.

The banded walls appear to rest on a base of smooth stone that terminates about 4 feet (1.2 m) above grade with a water table.

A structure added during the 1970s connected the jail with an existing building described as a carriage house (sic).

[b] The additional structure was removed in 1991, and the door that connected it to the jail was filled with concrete blocks.

The Oklahoma State Health Department ordered Canadian County officials to close the upper floor jail cells in October, 1982, because the building did not have a fire escape.