A tough road, but worth the trouble

SOME of the challenges inherent in trying to reduce Oklahoma’s prison population can be seen in a coalition’s efforts to secure commutations for some inmates. It’s a tough slog.

Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform presented the state Pardon and Parole Board with the names of 46 inmates the group felt would be good candidates for commutation. They were culled from hundreds of cases. Most were locked up for crimes that, following a state question approved by voters in 2016 and action by the Legislature, no longer carry such long prison terms.

They included long sentences for drug possession, which was made a misdemeanor through State Question 780, and long stretches for possession with intent to distribute, which was affected by reforms passed during the 2018 legislative session.

The offenders also included females imprisoned for failure to protect a child. In their cases, the sentences they received were much longer than those given to the men who had abused the child.

Commutation isn’t meant to be a trigger for early release. Instead, it simply changes a sentence to one that’s less severe. In Oklahoma, any commutations granted by the parole board must be approved by the governor. And getting to that stage is uncommon — during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 477 commutation requests were considered and only 10 ended in favorable recommendations to the governor.

In August, the parole board reviewed the first 23 applicants and voted to send all 23 to the second stage of review. At its meeting this week, the board voted to send nine of the remaining 23 to stage two. It rejected the other 14.

Thus, commutation remains a possibility for 31 of the 46 original applicants (one of those reviewed in August was released via a judicial review process). That’s encouraging, although it’s hardly the end of the line. A majority of the five-member board must vote to recommend commutation, and as noted the governor would have the final say on any cases that reach her desk.

It would be encouraging if all, or most, of the 31 got their sentences reduced, because of the potential savings to the Department of Corrections and because the inmates would know their return to society is a little closer. Yet some parole board members have expressed concerns about post-release treatment opportunities and supervision — two longstanding issues in the debate over criminal justice reform. The advocacy group says it is lining up support networks for the commutation applicants.

Meantime, more than 27,000 men and women are locked up in Oklahoma’s prison system. No state has a higher incarceration rate, per capita something the group’s chief of staff, John Estus, says is due in part to excessive sentences.

The group disagreed with the decisions made this week, Estus said, “but we do look forward to respectfully engaging with the board going forward.” This is one of many conversations that must continue if real progress in this area is to be realized.