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| Okla. Lawmakers Looking to Cut Prison Population, Costs |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/17/2003 |
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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 The cap law was repealed in 2001, five years after an inmate released under the law shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and her parents and wounded his 2 1/2-year-old son before he was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. 'The idea is to expand the base of convicts who are sentenced to community sentencing to alternatives to incarceration,' Drummond said. 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. 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. |
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