Okla. Stat. tit. 74, § 74-192

detention facilities.

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

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 74. State Government Page 354

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
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

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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.