New Jail in Oklahoma Is Costing More than Triple the Amount Voters Approved
In 2022, voters in Oklahoma County, which contains most of Oklahoma City, approved a $260 million bond issue to construct a new jail. That price tag was expected to cover planning, land acquisition, site preparation, and early construction. At that point, there was no finalized site plan or design. Now that the jail’s construction has moved further along, the estimated cost has ballooned to up to $835 million, more than three times the original bond.
The new facility is meant to replace the current 34-year-old Oklahoma County jail, which is chronically understaffed, has failed health inspections, and seen a spike in detainee deaths. With only 360 staff members, including 134 guards, the jail falls well below the roughly 500 workers it would need to be fully operational, The Frontier reported; a surprise inspection by the Oklahoma State Department of Health in 2024 found rodent infestation and other sanitation concerns; and in June 2025, the jail was on track to break its own record for detainee deaths, with seven deaths halfway through the year.
Commissioners have justified the expanded cost of the jail’s replacement as a cheaper alternative than federal intervention. If the U.S. Department of Justice steps in, county commissioner Myles Davidson told reporters, it could lead to a potential $1 to $1.5 billion in fines as a result of the current jail’s many infractions. To make up for the funding gap, Davidson has proposed a permanent public safety sales tax, the first of its kind for the county.
Construction on a $45 million behavioral health center that will be connected to the new jail has made significant progress; the center will likely be complete by December 2026, as it was funded by the American Rescue Plan Act and projects supported by the act incur a fee of $1,000 per day if deadlines are missed.
Sources: The Frontier, Nondoc, KWTV, KOCO 5
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