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Oklahoma has an incarceration rate of 1,079 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than many wealthy democracies do. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in Oklahoma and why.

43,000 people from Oklahoma are behind bars

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these Oklahoma graphs:

• total numbers rather than rates.
• Women’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population
• Men’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population

Today, Oklahoma’s incarceration rates stand out internationally

In the U.S., incarceration extends beyond prisons and local jails to include other systems of confinement. The U.S. and state incarceration rates in this graph include people held by these other parts of the justice system, so they may be slightly higher than the commonly reported incarceration rates that only include prisons and jails. Details on the data are available in States of Incarceration: The Global Context. We also have a version of this graph focusing on the incarceration of women.

People of color are overrepresented in prisons and jails

See also our detailed graphs about Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks in Oklahoma prisons and jails.

Oklahoma's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails

Our other articles about Oklahoma

• How much do incarcerated people in Oklahoma earn for their work in prison?
• Oklahoma prisons charge a $4 copay to incarcerated people, putting health at risk
• New data: Low incomes - but high fees - for people on probation in Oklahoma
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - Oklahoma gets an F
• Who's helping the 25,177 women released from Oklahoma correctional facilities each year?
• Oklahoma has some of the highest prison and jail phone rates in the country
• Indiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas undermine their own criminal justice reform agenda with challenge of FCC regulation of prison phone industry

Prison-based gerrymandering in Oklahoma

• Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Oklahoma
• Prison gerrymandering finally solved in McAlester, Okla.
• Accidental prison gerrymandering almost solved in McAlester, Okla.

Other resources

• Research on Oklahoma in our Research Library