In "Smaller population a bright spot for jail" (Our Views, Jan. 3), The Oklahoman editorial board praised the Oklahoma County jail as a “less crowded building than the one that prompted federal oversight in 2009.” However, this marginal improvement is a far cry from adequate.

According to a June 2017 assessment by Right On Crime, with Louisiana's package of criminal justice reform bills already in effect, Oklahoma is moving into the spot of No. 1 incarcerator in the world, with Oklahoma County leading the way.

In 2017, the Oklahoma County jail saw 12 inmate deaths — an unconscionable number, and far from a “bright spot” in the way we treat people we lock behind bars. Almost 70 percent of the people we lock in county jails are there pre-trial. Yet in Oklahoma County, those folks are still forced to deal with overcrowding, low staffing and inadequate or nonexistent medical treatment inside of a dangerous, mold-infested building.

Lengthy pretrial confinement in jails is a major contributor to over-incarceration, and money bail bond schedules like the one used in Oklahoma County exacerbate this problem by making freedom contingent on what's in a person's wallet rather than whether someone is a flight risk or danger to the community. After unnecessary confinement for months, or even years, defendants who could not afford to pay large sums to a bondsman are incentivized to accept a deal that will move them out of the jail, regardless of their guilt or other consequences.