A. This act shall be known and may be cited as the “Oklahoma Jail Standards Act”. The State Commissioner of Health shall promulgate rules to implement the provisions of the Oklahoma Jail Standards Act.

B. Except as provided in this section, all detention facilities and lockup facilities shall operate in compliance with the provisions of the Oklahoma Jail Standards Act.

C. The State Department of Health shall inspect at least once each year all detention facilities to ensure compliance with the standards set forth in the Oklahoma Jail Standards Act. Inspections shall be limited to the specific requirements set forth in the Oklahoma Jail Standards Act or rules promulgated pursuant thereto.

D. In the event such inspection shall reveal to the Department the commission of a crime or crimes incidental to the operations of a detention facility, it shall be the duty of the Department to initiate a complaint with the appropriate district attorney and to cooperate in the prosecution of the alleged offender in the event an information is filed pursuant to such complaint.

E. The provisions of the Oklahoma Jail Standards Act shall be subject to the following exceptions and limitations:

1. Any county, city, or town may operate a holding facility for the incarceration of persons under arrest who are to be charged with a crime, which holding facility shall not be required to meet the standards established in the Oklahoma Jail Standards Act, as long as no person is held therein for a period longer than twelve (12) hours and as long as an employee of the county, city, or town is available to render aid to or to release any person so confined in the event aid or release is required because of a health or life-endangering emergency;

2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law or rule, any county or municipality that operates a detention facility which houses forty or fewer prisoners at all times which:

a.         provides twenty-four-hour supervision of prisoner activity that is conducted either by direct observation or electronically by video surveillance, and

b.         provides an intercommunication system that terminates in a location that is staffed twenty-four (24) hours a day and is capable of providing an emergency response,

shall not be required to have more than one detention officer  on-site to provide for the security, custody, and supervision of prisoners. Staff shall be available to perform sensitive functions and procedures as necessary to accommodate inmate gender as required by law;

3. Any county or municipality that operates a detention facility which houses more than forty and less than seventy-five prisoners at all times which:

a.         provides twenty-four-hour supervision of prisoner activity that is conducted either by direct observation or electronically by video surveillance, and

b.         provides an intercommunication system that terminates in a location that is staffed twenty-four (24) hours a day and is capable of providing an emergency response,

shall be required to have more than one detention officer or one detention officer and at least one other basic CLEET-certified person on the same premises as the detention facility to provide for the security, custody, and supervision of prisoners. Staff shall be available to perform sensitive functions and procedures as necessary to accommodate inmate gender as required by law;

4. A county, municipality, or public trust that operates a detention facility may request a waiver, including a waiver for a temporary emergency resulting from a natural or man-made disaster, from provisions of the Oklahoma Jail Standards Act or rules promulgated pursuant thereto upon a showing that application of such provision would impose undue hardship upon the county, municipality, or public trust, or upon the inmates held at such facility. All requests shall be filed with the Department and shall include justification demonstrating the undue hardship. The waiver application shall also include a plan for the housing and care of detention facility inmates for the duration of the waiver and identification of all specific provisions of the Oklahoma Jail Standards Act requested to be waived. The Department may grant the waiver request in whole or in part and may, as a condition of granting the waiver, require the county, municipality, or public trust to submit a plan and timetable for compliance with the standards. The Commissioner shall promulgate rules to implement the waiver process established by this paragraph; and

5. Any detention facility that is constructed or substantially remodeled shall be required to be in compliance with the requirements and standards in effect at the time of such construction or remodeling. Plans for the construction of a new detention facility or the substantial remodeling of an existing detention facility shall be submitted to the Department for review and approval.

F. The Department shall employ inspectors and other personnel as necessary and specifically authorized by the Legislature in order to carry out the provisions of the Oklahoma Jail Standards Act and may rent or purchase premises or equipment in order to assist inspectors in the performance of their functions.

Historical Data

Laws 1977, HB 1397, c. 137, § 1, eff. October 1, 1977; Amended by Laws 1978, HB 1478, c. 244, § 38, eff. July 1, 1978; Amended by Laws 1983, HB 1321, c. 116, § 1, operative July 1, 1983; Amended by Laws 1985, HB 1064, c. 62, § 1, eff. November 1, 1985; Amended by Laws 1986, SB 492, c. 77, § 1, emerg. eff. April 2, 1986; Amended by Laws 1994, HB 2782, c. 367, § 8, emerg. eff. June 9, 1994; Amended by Laws 1994, SB 627, c. 368, § 2, emerg. eff. June 9, 1994 (repealed by Laws 1995, HB 1012, c. 1, § 40, emerg. eff. March 2, 1995); Amended by Laws 1995, HB 1012, c. 1, § 32, emerg. eff. March 2, 1995; Amended by Laws 2004, HB 2139, c. 154, § 1, eff. November 1, 2004 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 2005, SB 725, c. 180, § 1, emerg. eff. July 1, 2005 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 2007, SB 437, c. 51, § 2, eff. November 1, 2007 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 2014, SB 1737, c. 322, § 1, eff. November 1, 2014 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 2018, HB 1461, c. 71, § 1, eff. November 1, 2018 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 2023, SB 247, c. 35, § 2, eff. November 1, 2023 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 2025, SB 595, c. 11, § 1, emerg. eff. April 28, 2025 (superseded document available).