§ 57-37v1 — Facilities reaching maximum capacity.

A. If all correctional facilities reach maximum capacity and the Department of Corrections is required to contract for bed space to house state inmates: 1. The Pardon and Parole Board shall consider all nonviolent offenders for parole who are within six (6) months of their scheduled release from a penal facility; and 2. Prior to contracting with a private prison operator to provide housing for state inmates, the Department shall send notification to all county jails in this state that bed space is required to house the overflow population of state inmates. Upon receiving notification, the sheriff or jail trust administrator of a county jail is authorized to enter into agreements with the Department to provide housing for the inmates. Reimbursement for the cost of housing the inmates shall be a negotiated per diem rate for each inmate as contracted but shall in no event be less than the per diem rate provided for in Section 38 of this title. B. No inmate may be received by a penal facility from a county jail without first scheduling a transfer with the Department. Within five (5) business days after the court orders the judgment and sentence, the court clerk shall transmit to the Department by facsimile, electronic mail, or actual delivery a certified copy of the judgment and sentence. C. The receipt of the certified copy of the judgment and sentence shall be certification that the sentencing court has entered a judgment and sentence and all other necessary commitment documents. The Department of Corrections is authorized to determine the appropriate method of delivery from each county based on electronic or other capabilities, and establish a method for issuing receipts certifying that the Department has received the judgment and sentence document. The Department shall establish a dedicated electronic address location for receipt of all electronically submitted judgment and sentence documents. The electronic address location shall provide written receipt verification of each received judgment and sentence document. Once an appropriate judgment and sentence document is received by the Department of Corrections, the Department shall contact the sheriff or jail trust administrator when bed space is available to schedule the transfer and reception of the inmate into the Department. D. If the Department receives a judgment and sentence document from a county that includes inaccurate information from the sentencing court, the Department shall notify the county within a timely manner. E. When a county jail has reached its capacity of inmates as provided in the standards set forth in the Oklahoma Jail Standards Act, then the county sheriff or jail trust administrator shall notify the Director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, or the Director’s designated representative, by facsimile, electronic mail, or actual delivery, that the county jail has reached or exceeded its capacity to hold inmates. The notification shall include copies of any judgment and sentences not previously delivered as required by subsection B of this section. Within seventy-two (72) hours following such notification, the county sheriff or jail trust administrator shall transport the designated excess inmate or inmates to a penal facility designated by the Department. The sheriff or jail trust administrator shall notify the Department of the transport of the inmate prior to the reception of the inmate. The Department shall schedule the reception date and receive the inmate within seventy-two (72) hours of notification that the county jail is at capacity, unless other arrangements can be made with the sheriff or jail trust administrator. F. The Department shall be responsible for the cost of housing the inmate in the county jail including costs of medical care provided from the date the judgment and sentence was ordered by the court until the date of transfer of the inmate from the county jail. The Department shall implement a policy for determination of scheduled dates on which an inmate or multiple inmates are to be transferred from county jails. The policy shall allow for no less than three alternative dates from which the sheriff or jail trust administrator of a county jail may select and shall provide for weather-related occurrences or other emergencies that may prevent or delay transfers on the scheduled date. The policy shall be available for review upon request by any sheriff or jail trust administrator of a county jail. The cost of housing shall be the per diem rate specified in Section 38 of this title. In the event the inmate has one or more criminal charges pending in the same Oklahoma jurisdiction and the county jail refuses to transfer the inmate to the Department because of the pending charges, the Department shall not be responsible for the housing costs of the inmate while the inmate remains in the county jail with pending charges. Once the inmate no longer has pending charges in the jurisdiction, the Department shall be responsible for the housing costs of the inmate for the period beginning on the date the judgment and sentence or final order was ordered by the Court. In the event the inmate has other criminal charges pending in another Oklahoma jurisdiction, the Department shall be responsible for the housing costs while the inmate remains in the county jail awaiting transfer to another jurisdiction or until the date the inmate is scheduled to be transferred to the Department, whichever is earlier. Once the inmate is transferred to another jurisdiction, the Department is not responsible for the housing cost of the inmate until such time that another judgment and sentence is received by the Department from another Oklahoma jurisdiction. The sheriff or jail trust administrator may submit invoices for the cost of housing the inmate on a monthly basis. Final payment for housing an offender will be made only after the official judgment and sentence is received by the Department of Corrections.

Legislative History

Added by Laws 1981, S.J.R. No. 14, p. 1291, § 2, emerg. eff. April 13, 1981. Amended by Laws 2001, c. 204, § 1, eff. July 1, 2001; Laws 2004, c. 239, § 3, eff. July 1, 2004; Laws 2008, c. 366, § 7, eff. July 1, 2009; Laws 2015, c. 307, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2015; Laws 2017, c. 260, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2017; Laws 2019, c. 247, § 1; Laws 2021, c. 351, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2021; Laws 2025, c. 11, § 11, emerg. eff. April 28, 2025.