According to the latest numbers for incarceration rates across the U.S., Oklahoma held the second highest per capita incarceration rate among all states.
As KFOR reports, in 2016 Oklahoma incarcerated 673 people per 100,000 residents. That lands the state second behind only Louisiana, which imprisons a staggering 760 per 100,000. By comparison, Texas imprisons 563 per 100,000 and Colorado imprisons only 356. The national average is around 400 per hundred thousand.
Oklahoma Corrections Director Joe Allbaugh said the new numbers come as no surprise. Allbaugh added that he expected that eventually, Oklahoma incarceration rates would be highest in the nation, due to a lack of criminal justice reform in the state. Louisiana, meanwhile, has passed recent reform efforts that are expected to result in lower incarceration numbers soon.
