Prison data should drive added reforms

OKLAHOMA lawmakers and the public have shown a willingness in recent years to support criminal justice reforms. A slight decline in the state’s inmate population should serve to continue these efforts.

The inmate count — the tally of those held in state and private prisons or awaiting transfer from county jails — fell below 28,000 recently, for the first time since early 2015. This is welcome news, given that the Department of Corrections has been watching its census eclipse record levels almost monthly.

This summer, a report issued by the nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative placed Oklahoma’s incarceration rate as the highest in the nation, surpassing Louisiana, which had long held the top spot in PPI’s tracking. For many years, Oklahoma has ranked No. 1 in the number of women incarcerated, per capita.

Several pieces of reform legislation were approved in 2018 that are intended to slow the rate of growth of the inmate population. The bills do such things as end mandatory minimum sentences for some nonviolent drug-related and burglary offenses, and ease sentencing mandates on repeat drug offenders.

Voters have backed reform as well. In 2016, they approved a state question reclassifying simple drug possession and some minor property crimes as misdemeanors instead of felonies. According to a report from a reform group called Open Justice Oklahoma, the number of felony cases filed in fiscal year 2018 fell by 28 percent.

That would indicate the state question is having an effect, although DOC Director Joe Allbaugh says it’s too early to say prison overcrowding will soon be a thing of the past.

The smaller inmate count seen recently is more likely due, Allbaugh says, to an increased use of time credits. And prison officials say the number of inmates locked up in prison has increased this year, if you remove from consideration those who are backed up in county jails.

The Legislature this year approved a much-needed bond issue for prison repairs and maintenance. However, Allbaugh notes that 2,065 “temporary” beds are still being used inside prison walls, and they’re in spaces that are meant for programs to help inmates.

Allbaugh hopes to one day make temporary beds a thing of the past. One way to do that is to build more prisons to replace aging structures, something Allbaugh has proposed in his budget requests the past two years. Another way is to reduce the inmate population by locking up fewer men and women.

That would require additional reform, something Gov.-elect Kevin Stitt has said he supports. During the campaign, Stitt said he would back a review of the state’s “85 percent” crimes, upstream help for nonviolent drug offenders, and additional funding for mental health and substance abuse services.

Attorney General Mike Hunter, elected to a new four-year term in November, has criminal justice reform on his to-do list as well.

“It’s unacceptable for us to have this level of incarceration,” Hunter said recently. “It’s just not a good data point for the state and we’ve got to be aggressive about it.”

He’s right. More reform, not less, should be in order in 2019 and beyond.