Lawmakers looking to
cut prison population, costs
(3/10/03)
By Tim Talley
Associated Press Writer
Oklahoma CITY-
From resurrecting the prison cap law to making marijuana possession
punishable by the equivalent of a traffic ticket, Oklahoma
lawmakers are looking for ways to cut the state's prison population
and its skyrocketing costs.
Faced with a
$677 million budget shortfall next year, the 2003 Legislature is
considering sentencing reforms and other proposals to reduce the
state’s incarceration rate, one of the nation's highest, without
jeopardizing public safety.
"It's trying to
balance the need to reduce our corrections costs, which have just
exploded over the last two decades," said James Drummond, a member
of the Oklahoma Sentencing Commission and chief of the non-capital
trial division of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System.
The state Senate
is considering a plan to resurrect the prison cap law. It would
allow the early release of eligible, nonviolent inmates when prisons
become too crowded, provided they have 60 days or fewer to serve on
their sentences.
The cap law was
repealed in 2001, five years after an inmate released under the law
shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and her parents and wounded his
21/2-year-old before he was killed by police.
Last week, the
Sentencing Commission handed down a list of proposed sentencing
reforms, including elimination of mandatory minimum sentences for
certain drug offenses and allowing more offenders to receive
suspended sentences and participate in community sentencing
programs.
The commission
said the number of felony offenders projected for state prisons in
the next few years will outstrip the number of prison beds the
Department of Corrections can afford.
Recommendations
include making possession of one ounce or less of marijuana a
misdemeanor subject to a citation not unlike a traffic ticket.
Offenders could still receive some jail time and be ordered to
participate in mandatory treatment programs.
Statistics
compiled by the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Resource Center found that
drug and alcohol offenses are the leading causes of prison
sentences in the state, accounting for 44 percent of all receptions
in 2001.
The center found
marijuana possession accounted for 12 percent of all felony drug
possessors convicted in 2001.
Another
recommendation would give judges, not prosecutors, the authority to
decide who is eligible for community sentencing programs. The
commission turned down a similar proposal to make judges the
gatekeepers for defendants assigned to drug courts.
A constitutional
amendment would be required to authorize another of the commission’s
proposals; not requiring, the governor’s approval for parole release
unless the district attorney or victim has protested the inmate’s
parole with the Pardon and parole Board.
A study released
last month by the Oklahoma Alliance for Public Policy Research said
Oklahoma's incarceration rate is 56 percent higher than the national
average.
Reducing
Oklahoma’s incarceration rate to the national average would purge
state prisons of more than 8,000 inmates at a savings of more than
$138 million a year, the study found.
Prison spending
in Oklahoma has doubled to almost $400 million in the past 10
years, and the inmate population has grown from 14,400 to more than
23,000.
The state ranks
fourth in the nation behind Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas in the
number of people_ it sends to prison per capita.
The state Board
of Corrections has resurrected a plan to place the state's more
than 4,800 corrections workers on unpaid furlough to help offset a
cut in the agency's budget due to the revenue shortfall
High cost
By World's
Editorial Writers 3/4/2003
State's corrections policies not working
Reforming the way Oklahoma handles criminals would
go a long way toward solving the state's fiscal problems.
Julie DelCour, World editorial writer, made that
clear in a synopsis of a study of corrections by a group of experts
headed by Tulsa's Barry Kinsey, a retired sociology professor.
For example:
If Oklahoma reduced its incarceration rate to the
national average, about $138 million could be saved annually. What's
the shortage in schools? About $158 million.
In other words, if the state spent less on
boarding miscreants, it could spend more on education and the
consensus is that spending more on education would mean fewer
criminals.
The study was commissioned by the state Senate
with help from former governor and senator, Henry Bellmon.
DelCour ticked off a laundry list taken from the
report of areas in which Oklahoma's corrections policies are not
only archaic but cost far too much.
One might argue that the expenditures on
imprisonment are worth it because the policies keep crime down.
But that's not the case.
The study showed that Oklahoma is sending twice as
many people to prison as in 1983 without affecting the crime rate.
The state's corrections policies obviously are not working.
The study documents this in detail. But the broad
fact is that far too many nonviolent offenders wind up in prison
when they should be given treatment, routed into half-way houses,
other work programs and better ways of probation.
DelCour suggested the study is a "road map" for
the Legislature. It is. A "lock 'em up and throw away the key"
governor cowed the lawmakers for eight long years and we see the
result: A Corrections Department that imprisons more than 150
percent more people than other states without making a dent in the
crime rate.
It's time the whole corrections approach is
changed. The good news is that millions of dollars can be saved at
the same time thousands of Oklahomans are given a much better chance
of becoming productive citizens.
