This week, an Oklahoma judge set a new cost of incarceration rate for inmates housed in the Oklahoma County Detention Center. Judge Natalie Mai set that rate at $66.49 per day, which covers food, clothing and other operating expenses.
The Oklahoma Department of Corrections currently reimburses county jails $27 per day per inmate to house ODOC inmates who are awaiting transfer to state prisons as set by state statute. Once we receive a valid judgment and sentence document, inmates are considered part of ODOC’s population. Out of the 136 people sentenced to prison, only seven people in OCDC have a valid J&S and are ready for reception.
ODOC internally reviews all per diem increase requests from county jails for housing ODOC-ready inmates awaiting reception into state custody. A recent ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court confirmed the agency’s longstanding position that ODOC is only responsible for reimbursing county jails for the actual daily costs incurred when housing ODOC-ready inmates. Specifically, ODOC is only required to pay for the expenses “directly attributable to … a DOC inmate, including consumable costs and … operating expenses that would not otherwise have been incurred but for the presence of a DOC inmate.”
Previously, the agency has found that requests for per diem increases in the amount cited by counties often include fixed costs, such as utilities and maintenance, and other items that the Oklahoma Supreme Court determined cannot be passed along to the ODOC.
Although we have not yet received a request for a per diem increase from Oklahoma County, we will require documentation ensuring that any amount paid by the State of Oklahoma does not exceed actual costs attributable to housing our inmates. ODOC will continue to be good stewards of taxpayers’ dollars.
