Oklahoma's Incarceration Rate Third In Nation

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A federal study finds that Oklahoma has one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation. The study by the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics found

Friday, June 29th 2007, 6:32 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A federal study finds that Oklahoma has one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation. The study by the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics found that Oklahoma incarcerates 658 of every 100,000 residents, making it third behind Louisiana and Texas.

The lowest rate of imprisonment was 141 of every 100,000 in Maine.

The study found prison growth is being fueled by a larger number of people being sent to prison while fewer are being released.

Prison admissions increased by 17% between 2000 and 2005, while releases dropped to around 15%.

Oklahoma trailed only Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico and Arizona in the percentage of inmates who are in private prisons. Nearly a quarter of Oklahoma's inmates are behind bars at private lockups.