For the third year in a row, Oklahoma’s prison population rose. The increase is largely due to tougher sentencing laws passed by the state legislature to crack down on violent crime.
From 2024 to 2025, the state’s prison population rose 1.7%, bringing the total to more than 23,000 inmates.
Michael Olson with Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform said both property crime and violent crime are down, and according to the FBI, the number of arrests remains mostly the same.
“We have individuals that have very long sentences, and we’re not releasing individuals at the same rate,” said Olson.
State lawmakers have cracked down on violent crime over the last few years, adding to the list of crimes where 85% of the sentence must be served.
“Fiscally for example, it’s definitely a bad thing where we are spending a lot more money on prisons,” said Olson.
A new Senate Bill works to help cut some of that cost. The goal of the bill is to show that some inmates have been rehabilitated and are no longer a public safety risk.
“This isn’t like a get out of jail free card or like we still are very cognizant of public safety,” said Olson. “Obviously, that’s the goal of every criminal justice system.”
The Sentencing Modernization Act will take effect this month and provides uniformity in sentencing for low-level crimes statewide.
The DOC gets around 550 million state dollars for operations annually, and the state spends between $40 to $90 per inmate each day.
The overall prison population is still about 5,000 inmates less than it was a decade ago, when prisons were overpopulated, and Oklahoma had the top incarceration rate nationwide.
