OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Oklahoma's prison system has grown by more than 1,000 inmates since April, topping 63,000 people in the system and setting another record.
State prison officials reported Thursday that there are more than 26,700 inmates currently incarcerated, with another 1,500 in county jails awaiting transfer to a state prison. Nearly 35,000 are under some form of supervision, like probation, parole or satellite monitoring.
The director of Oklahoma's prison system, Joe Allbaugh, has been warning lawmakers for more than a year that the system is dangerously overcrowded and incapable of adding more inmates.
Allbaugh has said the rapid and continuing growth of the state's prison system will require the construction of two new prisons for men and another for women at a cost of $1.2 billion.
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