Oklahoma’s county jail backlog has increased 74% since 2021, contributing to an uptick in some jail populations and a heightened workload for county officials.
As of July 28, 1,355 sentenced inmates were awaiting transfer to state custody, up from 777 on July 26, 2021. About 880 of those inmates have the necessary paperwork to be moved, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections’ scheduled receptions dashboard.
Oklahoma and Tulsa Counties, which make up about 37% of the state’s population and 60% of prison admissions, have both scaled back prisoner transports in recent months. The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office has reduced male transfer trips to once per week instead of twice. Tulsa County officials are making the drive bi-weekly instead of weekly.
The drop in transports correlates with a population uptick in both counties. The Oklahoma County Detention Center reported an average daily population of 1,757 on July 6, up from 1,305 on Jan. 1.
On July 29, the Tulsa County jail had a population of 1,701 with 281 awaiting transport to the Department of Corrections, spokesperson Casey Roebuck said. That’s a 22.3% increase from December 2023, when the jail had an average daily population of 1,390.
Melissa Watson is the executive director of the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Advisory Council, which studies and recommends policies and practices aimed at reducing the jail population.
Watson said the higher population makes for a more dangerous environment for both staff and detainees. Eight detainees have died at the jail thus far in 2025, with the last death being reported on July 4. Three detainees died during the first eight months of 2024.
“When you have more people, it makes it harder for staff that are already stressed,” she said. “The detention officers have to do more sight checks and the medical staff has to dispense more medicine. Those operations are strained.”
Sheriffs and jail administrators in several rural counties said they’ve been asked to transfer fewer sentenced prisoners at a time. Woodward County Jail administrator Jared Garrett said jail staff have been transferring five prisoners at a time in 2025, down from 10 per trip in previous years.
Craig County Sheriff Heath Winfrey said the Department of Corrections has been dragging their feet, accepting only four or five inmates at a time from the county when they used to take up to 12. He said Craig County typically transports sentenced inmates to the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center four or five times per year.
While the Craig County Jail is not over capacity, Winfrey said there are a few inmates who have been waiting more than a year to be transferred to state custody.
“It does put pressure on us in several ways, whether that’s behavioral issues or medical issues,” Winfrey said. “Fewer transfers means more inmates and more inmates makes our scale of labor larger.”
Kay Thompson, the chief of public relations for the Department of Corrections, said there has not been an agency mandate to counties to reduce the number of transports or bring fewer sentenced inmates per trip. She said the agency tries to ensure no more than 20% of a county jail’s operating capacity is made up of sentenced prisoners.
About 120 to 140 male prisoners per week are processed through the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center, which has a capacity of just over 500. A much smaller number of female prisoners are processed at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud.
Thompson said the planning required to take on prisoners from 77 counties sometimes means sheriffs can’t transport everyone they want to, but on the flipside, sometimes counties don’t bring as many prisoners as the agency can accept due to their own staffing shortages or other constraints.
“It’s logistically on them,” Thompson said.
Oklahoma County Detention Center spokesman Mark Opgrande said jail staff are hopeful they’ll be able to chip away at the backlog in the coming month.
“Starting in August, there’ll be a period where they’re going to take more individuals,” Opgrande said. “So the DOC will give us more names, we’ll bring more people there, so that’ll alleviate the pressure off of us to get some more individuals out of here.”
The Department of Corrections reimburses counties for the actual daily cost of housing prisoners, which includes food, clothing and medical care, but not fixed costs such as building maintenance. The $27 per day, per prisoner rate will increase to $32 on Nov. 1 thanks to Senate Bill 85.
Jail administrators contend it costs much more to house sentenced prisoners, arguing that those in their custody contribute to the overall wear and tear on a facility. Oklahoma County estimates the cost at $66.49 per detainee, per day. Tulsa County officials estimate it at $75 per day, per detainee.
Tulsa County sued the Department of Corrections in 2017 over the issue. In October 2023, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that counties could request a higher reimbursement rate from prison officials, but they would have to prove hard costs directly attributable to holding state prisoners.
Thompson said a handful of counties have requested the higher reimbursement rate, but most continue to receive the statutory $27-per-day rate.
State Auditor Cindy Byrd, who is a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, criticized the decision as burdensome on county governments.
“Sadly, the DOC is taking advantage of counties by housing inmates at their jails at a rate of $27 per day when the actual cost, according to the DOC’s own numbers, ranges from $57 to $108 per day,” Byrd said in a written statement following the ruling. “Because the counties are now forced to incur these costs, the citizens will receive fewer core services from their counties, such as road repairs and law enforcement.”
The Department of Corrections has chipped away at an even larger county jail backlog before. At the beginning of 2014, the agency had more than 2,000 prisoners in county jails waiting to be transported. It reduced that number to just 175 by mid-August, but the large prisoner influx caused many prisons to exceed capacity.
A similar issue could arise if the state were to expedite transfers. While Oklahoma’s prison population has dropped by nearly 20% over the past five years, the state has also closed or vacated multiple prisons. As of July 28, the Department of Corrections was operating at 95% capacity with 834 vacant beds.
Watson said she hopes the Department of Corrections and counties will work together to reduce the backlog. The issue not only affects county officials, she said, but inmates who want to complete programs and reduce their sentences.
“There are points and levels that they earn when they go to DOC, and they can only earn a certain level when they’re in a county jail,” she said. “When we’re talking about a fairer and safer system and rehabilitating someone, it really hinders all of that.”
Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.
