Tulsa Officials Say State Underpays For Inmate Housing In County Jails, Burdens Taxpayers

The state Supreme Court recently ruled the state needs to pay $27 a day to house state prisoners inside county jails.

Tulsa County Commissioners say that's not enough and puts taxpayers on the hook.

County Commissioners say it costs $63 a day to house an inmate, and the difference is picked up by taxpayers, which takes away from the county’s budget.

Tulsa County Commissioners say the decision is “unconstitutional” and says it allows the State to use county taxpayer funds to support its prison system.

“It's expensive to run a jail,” Commissioner Kelly Dunkerley said.

He says the county filed a petition contesting the decision, saying the Oklahoma Constitution says it's the state's job to house convicted felons, not counties.

County jails house state prisoners for various reasons, like if they're waiting on a trial or have been convicted and are going to be transferred to prison.

But that could take several months, and jails are paying to house them.

“This has been going on since 2011, so these charges, this disagreement for fair payment, has been going on for well over a decade,” Dunkerley said.

Since 2011, he says the state owes the county more than $15 million and refuses to pay the daily rate of $63 per inmate, a figure determined by the State Auditor.

State Supreme Court Judge Dana Kuehn says the State Auditor does not have the authority to define "actual daily costs," and the language of the law is too ambiguous.

We reached out to Oklahoma's Department of Corrections, but they say they can't comment on litigation.

ODOC’s sent News On 6 this statement:

We cannot comment on pending litigation. However, we accept inmates from Tulsa County every week and have 20 scheduled for intake tomorrow, with another 20 planned for reception next week. Currently, we only have 50 valid judgment and sentence forms. Per Tulsa County’s website, their capacity is 2020, meaning ODOC’s inmates comprise less than 3% of their total capacity.

“We are all for fairness. It takes a team to run the state and for all levels of government to work together, but we have to have fairness, and we have to have numbers that we agree on per professionals. In this case, the State Auditor,” Dunkerley said.