OKPOLICY.ORG
Sen. Mark Mann, D-Oklahoma City, has requested an interim study entitled “Does Oklahoma have the Resources Necessary to Implement Criminal Pretrial Supervision Requirement?” The Senate, unlike the House, does not publish the specifics of interim study requests. However, from the title, it appears Sen. Mann wants to examine the potential costs of providing an alternative to pretrial incarceration where appropriate.
This information will be important for the Legislature as Oklahoma attempts to address its pretrial crisis. In the MODERN Justice Task Force’s final report, published in December 2023, the Task Force — chaired by Secretary of Public Safety Tricia Everest — reported that 75 percent of people detained in Oklahoma jails had not yet been convicted.
As of 2019, Oklahoma’s pretrial detention rate was 10 percentage points higher than the national average, and there is no reason to believe it has improved since then. There are plenty of good reasons to devise a better system for pretrial supervision.
Jails are expensive. In 2026-2027, Oklahoma County’s budget allocated $42.47 million to the Criminal Justice Authority (which operates the jail) and $17.48 million in reserves. The average daily cost of incarceration per inmate was $66.49 per day in 2024.
Multiple Oklahoma counties are facing the payment of multimillion-dollar settlements from lawsuits, in many cases due to overcrowding and poor conditions in both rural and urban counties alike. County taxpayers bear the costs. Last year, Comanche County’s insurance carrier dropped the jail’s liability coverage for anything that occurs inside the jail. Other counties are at risk of losing coverage or having coverage limited.
Unnecessary pretrial detention can result in lost income, missed rent and bill payments, and bail or detention costs that push families into debt or bankruptcy. It can also disrupt work, education, and family relationships, often forcing relatives to assume caregiving or financial responsibilities.
Detention can have health impacts, especially in poorly maintained facilities that may lead to respiratory, skin, and gastrointestinal illnesses. Lack of adequate mental health services can worsen existing conditions.
Detention can also limit access to diversion programs and dismissal opportunities, lead to unwise plea bargaining, and increase the likelihood of conviction and harsher sentences. Research shows detention does not reliably improve court appearance or deter crime and may even increase the risk of new arrests. Even short stays in jail can increase the likelihood of future arrests and reoffending.
Evidence supports alternatives such as early assignment of counsel to assess risk and set fair conditions of release, assessment of ability to pay bail to prevent detention due to poverty, and use of non-monetary conditions (e.g., electronic monitoring, curfews) to ensure compliance without incarceration.
Hopefully, Sen. Mann’s study will provide the information the Legislature needs to solve a longstanding problem.
