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Oklahoma
State Senate
Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
For Immediate Release: February 9, 2012
Sen. Don Barrington
Inmates’ families to pay for cremations under Senate
legislation
Each year, the Department of Corrections struggles to keep up with
the increasing costs of housing inmates. Many inmates pass away
while incarcerated each year and the families of most of these individuals
bury their loved ones. There are situations, though, where an inmate
doesn’t have any living relatives or his or her designee declines
to accept the individual’s remains for burial. In this case,
DOC pays for the cost of cremation.
Sen. Don Barrington has filed Senate Bill 1069 to allow the agency
to deduct the cost of the cremation from any funds the inmate has
accumulated while incarcerated.
“Although DOC doesn’t currently spend a lot of money
on cremations, there’s still no reason that inmates or their
families or designees shouldn’t be responsible for the expense,”
said Barrington. “My bill would allow DOC to pay for the cremation
using any money the inmate had before transferring the individual’s
belongings to the designee.”
The measure was approved unanimously by the Senate Public Safety
Committee Thursday.
Within three days of entering the custody of DOC, inmates are required
to name a designee to receive whatever possessions and money they
have should they pass away while in jail. During incarceration,
inmates build up what is referred to as a “trust fund”
which consists of funds they earn through working in the prison
and money they receive from their families for toiletries and other
necessities. Upon an inmate’s death, if the designee declines
to pay for burial and DOC has to cremate the individual, the agency
will deduct the cost of that procedure from the balance due to the
designee.
According to the Department of Corrections, there were only ten
cremations performed in FY ’11 at a cost of roughly $350 each
or a total of $3,500. The agency expects that number to increase,
however, as the number of inmates age 50 and over has steadily increased
in recent decades. In 1980, there were only 85 inmates in that age
bracket making up less than five percent of the prison population
whereas last year there were over 3,800 making up 15 percent of
the population.
“Just as the aging Baby Boomers are affecting our state’s
economy, they’re also impacting our prisons,” explained
Barrington. “With an aging prison population, DOC officials
are concerned that the number of cremations will increase significantly
in the next decade. We need to make sure that the state isn’t
burdened with these growing expenses.”
SB 1069 will next be heard by the full Senate.
For more information contact:
Sen. Barrington: (405) 521-5563
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