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| Piggy bank blues |
| By Sarah Etter, News Reporter |
| Published: 11/20/2006 |
When an offender is released, many DOCs and community jails send them on their way with lessons learned and a little bit of money to get them back on their feet. Oklahoma is no exception, as it typically issues a $50 check.
But OKDOC officials say that's not enough dough to start a new life and help ex-offenders avoid returning to a life of crime. So, it turned to state legislators and the Oklahoma Senate to create a law that would deposit 20 percent of an inmate's canteen fund into a savings account, which would then be given to them upon release.“The intent was to provide inmates with more funds upon release. We're finding that we are discharging inmates without money in their pockets,” says OKDOC spokesman Jerry Massie. “We're looking at long range planning for their release.” While state legislators supported the idea, offender families are still protesting the accounts, causing the dollar debate to extend well into next year. “The biggest flaw with this legislation, as far as the families are concerned, is that this is the families' money,” says Lynn Powell, president of Oklahoma's Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, a Tulsa support group for inmate families. “Everyone acts like this is inmate money we're dealing with, and it's not. This just means the families pay more for everything. If an inmate needs new shoes, they will have to send 20 percent more.” Relatives have written both CURE and the DOC saying the legislation unfairly taxes their funds. “The bill, originally, was killed once it was introduced,” Powell says. “In the final few days of the last legislative session, senators put the wording into a sex offender bill that got passed in the last two days of session. Families didn't have enough time to protest, and with November elections coming up, the senators didn't want to veto a sex offender bill, so it was passed.” State Representative Kenneth Corn (D), who wrote the legislation after the DOC asked for his help, says it is a common sense proposition. “I'm a little confused at the objections of some of the families,” he says. “I tend to think it's a good idea because one of the major issues of reintegrating someone into society is that they have money, food and housing. Setting up this account could give inmates a better foot to start off on.” Families are also concerned that lifers and death row inmates will never see the reserved money. Corn says that when the Oklahoma Legislature reconvenes for their 2007 session in January, they will see the legislation back on the table with a few amendments, one of which will address that concern. Additionally, some of the 20 percent would go into a victim compensation fund, which Powell says makes families pay for crimes they didn't commit. “We need to get the kinks worked out, but I think it is good public policy. We do realize that for those with life or death sentences, this doesn't make any sense. We will most likely amend that part of the legislation,” Corn predicts. “But the bottom line is that most people don't save. Many people have never learned how to save money. An offender can learn a very good lesson from these savings accounts.” Powell says that is just rhetoric. “An inmate isn't learning anything from this program,” she says. “This is taking money from an inmate who has a support group on the outside, and they will most likely have that support upon release. The people that have nobody on the outside sending them money while they are incarcerated have nobody when they get out and they still have no money. This just isn't addressing the real problem.” Both Massie and Corn expect the accounts to open in 2008. One possible change includes reducing the 20 percent portion to 10 or 15 percent to appease irate family members. But Powell doesn't think it will be enough of a rate reduction to quell them. “[The DOC and Senate] will keep postponing the start of this project because of the outcry of the family members,” predicts Powell. “If this legislation goes through, they are all planning to deposit large sums of money into inmate accounts before it takes affect. They won't pay this 20 percent. The families I've spoken with are not relenting.” |
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