Fallin commutes sentences for 21 Oklahoma prisoners
Kayla Jeffries traded her orange prison uniform for freedom and the new beginning she’d been hoping for Wednesday after Gov. Mary Fallin commuted her 20-year sentence.
The 26-year-old mother of two was one of 21 Oklahoma inmates who had
their sentences commuted to time served. All of them had been serving 10 years or longer for drug possession and other nonviolent offenses that now carry lesser punishments following recent reforms approved by voters and legislators, such as State Question 780.
“It’s surreal,” Jeffries said after being discharged from Kate Barnard Correctional Center in Oklahoma City. “I’m praising God, I’m thanking God every step I take outside of this facility. I just want to do good. I want to do right. I’m so thankful for everything.”
She and the other inmates were assisted through a commutation campaign spearheaded by Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform, which worked with the Tulsa County Public Defender’s Office, University of Tulsa law students and other community partners.
During an emotional ceremony Wednesday, Fallin signed the commutations one by one for the first group of applicants to make it to her desk after a two-stage review by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.
“They will be out today,” Fallin told family members, friends, attorneys and others who packed a conference room inside the state Capitol. The crowd responded with cheers, high-fives and tears.
Collectively, the applicants had been sentenced to 349 years. The governor’s action commuted 306 of those years.
“As we prepare for the Christmas holiday season, let’s not forget there is a God of second chances,” an emotional Fallin said.
Legislation to make law retroactive
State Question 780, which voters passed in 2016, reclassified certain drug and property crimes as misdemeanors rather than felonies but didn’t apply retroactively.
Rep. Jason Dunnington, D-Oklahoma City, said he and House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, are planning tofile a bill during the upcoming legislative session that would make State Questions 780 and 781 retroactive.
“Criminal justice reform isn’t a Democratic issue or a Republican issue, it’s an Oklahoma issue,” Dunnington said. “And Oklahoma has spoken very clearly that they would like us at the Legislature to find remedies that make sense and that aren’t just punitive to be punitive.”
Those involved with the commutation campaign reviewed more than 500 cases and conducted more than 100 interviews to identify potential candidates. They helped 46 individuals submit applications to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.
Some applicants were eliminated along the way. Last month, the Pardon and Parole Board voted to recommend commutation for 22 of the applicants. However, one of those individualswas cited for misconduct, so her case was not forwarded to the governor.
Eight other remaining candidates will have their second-stage hearing with the pardon and parole board next week.
A commutation modifies a sentence to one that is less severe. It’s intended to correct an unjust or excessive sentence.
Happy friends and relatives
After the governor’s news conference, family members and friends who attended took turns calling their loved ones before heading to correctional facilities to await their release.
Destiny Pinon of Ada sat in a conference room at the state Capitol with three of her younger siblings by her side. Together, they called their mom, Juanita Peralta, who was serving time at Eddie Warrior Correctional Center, to deliver the good news.
“You’re coming home!” said Pinon, 21, before passing the phone to one of her sisters.
“We’re gonna get you a burger!” said Lexcee Delgado, 15 — something they’d been planning.
Pinon has been raising her siblings during the two years their mom has been incarcerated. Hearing their mom’s sentence was commuted was “like an early Christmas present,” she said.
“It feels unreal, but amazing,” she said. “… We had to pinch ourselves to make sure that this was real.”
Jeffries was all smiles Wednesday as she exited Kate Barnard Correctional Center and walked through a gate lined with barbed wire, surrounded by a small contingent of family and supporters, clutching her certificate of release.
She had been incarcerated for about three years. While in prison, she earned her GED and a cosmetology license. She planned to start work Thursday at a salon in northeast Oklahoma.
Jeffries was looking forward to being reunited with her two daughters, the younger of whom was born while Jeffries was incarcerated.
“This (Christmas) is the first holiday I ever get to spend with her, and I know my 6-year-old is more than ready for me to be home, so I think this is the best Christmas present to them and to me that we could have ever asked for,”she said.