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The Opportunity Cost of Mass Incarceration

Every dollar spent on a prison cell is a dollar not spent on schools, hospitals, or communities.

$643.2M

ODOC Total Budget FY2024

91% taxpayer funded

Source: Oklahoma Senate Budget Review

$24,648

Annual Cost Per Prisoner

$67.53 per day

Source: ODOC FY2024

15.2x

Prison vs Community Cost

$24,648 vs $1,621 per year

Source: Oklahoma Department of Corrections

The Math

Prison

$24,648

$68/day

15.2x

more expensive

Community Sentencing

$1,621

$4/day

Reform Budget Calculator

Slide to explore how shifting prisoners to community sentencing could redirect funds to Oklahoma K-12 education.

Prisoners moved to community sentencing5,875 (25.0%)
011,749 (50%)

Prison cost saved

$144,807,000

5,875 prisoners x $24,648/yr

Community sentencing cost

$9,523,375

5,875 x $1,621/yr

Net annual savings

$135,283,625

K-12 Education Reinvestment

Per-student increase

+$193

New per-student spend

$11,504

Spending improvement

+1.7%

Current per-student ($11,311)$11,311
Reformed per-student ($11,504)$11,504

Cost Per Person: Prison vs Community

Prison$24,648/yr
Community sentencing$1,621/yr

Prison is 15.2x more expensive

What Could $200M Buy?

The optimistic reform scenario frees up $200M annually. Here is what that investment could mean for Oklahoma.

20,000

teacher salary increases of $10,000 each

40,000

full college scholarships at $5,000/yr

100

new school buildings at $2M each

2 years

of Medicaid expansion gap coverage

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