The cost to house inmates at the Oklahoma County jail is steadily climbing. Here are the numbers

The costs to house people in Oklahoma County's jail keep climbing.

The daily, per-bed cost to house an inmate in the jail during Fiscal 2023 was $66.49, up nearly $5 over the previous year.

The data typically is used by the presiding Oklahoma County District Court Judge each January to set an annual daily rate of incarceration for the new calendar year.

This year, the data also has been provided to Oklahoma City officials tasked to work with county representatives toward an agreement on how much the city is willing to pay as its share of costs for the jail's operations during Fiscal 2024, which started July 1.

Oklahoma City police also bring individuals to the county jail for detainment.

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An agreement reached in June between the two contributed $500,000 from Oklahoma City toward the jail's operating costs for Fiscal 2023, just days before that year ended.

Like in past years, the latest study calculates an average daily cost of incarceration at the jail based upon Oklahoma County's costs to maintain the building and to provide its occupants with essential services.

But this year's study also calculates a first-day cost of incarceration — an eye-opening amount of $211.82.

What makes first-day Oklahoma County jail housing costs so high?

That first-day cost calculation takes into account expenses incurred during an inmate's initial intake, which include a pat down, an inventorying (and subsequent storage) of personal belongings, fingerprinting, a classification evaluation, a body scan and a medical exam.

It is the first year Oklahoma County has asked its consultant, Florida-based MGT Consulting, to calculate a first-day cost.

Brandi Garner, the authority's CEO, said she was surprised, despite instinctively knowing more hands touch a detainee inside the jail on that first day than any other.

"I did not expect it to be as expensive as it is. It clearly demonstrates our need to recover some of those costs," Garner said.

Building operating expenses, others factor into county jail's average daily incarceration cost, study shows

MGT's study takes the jail's annual operating costs during a fiscal year and allocates it on a per-bed basis to account for each of the services provided to detainees.

The per-bed cost to operate Oklahoma County's jail in Fiscal 2019 was $53.12. The cost climbed to $56.15 for Fiscal 2021 and $61.73 in Fiscal 2022.

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Here's how the $66.49 per-bed calculated daily cost (based upon 1,495 beds) for Fiscal 2024 is broken down:

• $22,034,115 to operate the facility, at a daily cost per bed of $40.37.

• $8,812,07 to provide medical services at the jail, at a daily cost per bed of $16.15.

• $2,219,039 to provide food at the jail, at a daily cost per bed of $4.07.

• $3,221,984 to provide staff to operate the jail, at a daily cost per bed of $5.90.

Why does the average daily cost of incarceration get reviewed by an Oklahoma County District Court judge?

A judge reviews and approves a daily incarceration cost for Oklahoma County's jail because the county is authorized by state law to bill jail detainees for their cost of incarceration after stays inside the facility are completed.

Every detainee receives a bill after he or she is released. But very few ever pay what's owed, county officials said Monday.

Oklahoma City, which data shows brings 63% of detainees into the facility, also sends criminal defendants arrested and taken to the jail by its police a "jail stay fee" of $117, said Oklahoma City spokeswoman Kristy Yager.

However, Yager said data on the percentage of defendants facing municipal complaints in Oklahoma City's courts who actually pay that fee was not available.

Garner stressed Oklahoma County isn't demanding that Oklahoma City pay the full first-day of incarceration cost for arrestees its police bring into the jail.

"Historically, we have just gone with an average daily cost of incarceration in our discussions with Oklahoma City," Garner said. "But we believed it would be helpful to calculate what that first-day expense is" to make city officials aware of the issue.

Yager, meanwhile, told The Oklahoman city officials have not yet had a chance to review MGT's study.

But Chris Sherman, the jail authority's chief financial officer, said city officials he met with promised it will be.

"We went through all the aspects of how we came to what was arrived at through the MGT study," plus covered how past jail support agreements between the county and city had been reached, Sherman said.

Hopes are an agreement for the current fiscal year can be reached before it is about to end, both Sherman and Garner said.

"It was purely a preliminary discussion," Sherman said. "Criminal Justice Authority and the city of Oklahoma City are partners in this. We wanted them to know we weren't just making up numbers ... out of thin air."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How much it costs to house inmates at Oklahoma County jail