Short on Cash and Tough on Crime in Oklahoma

by Matt Kelley · 2010-05-16 06:51:00 UTC
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Oklahoma lawmakers are trying to expand criminal penalties with one hand while cutting prison costs with the other. And the results won’t be pretty.

Bills to create 26 new crimes have been proposed in the state legislature this year, and meanwhile lawmakers are hoping to expand sentencing on 19 more offenses. Meanwhile, those same state leaders have proposed...cutting corrections costs by 7.5%. You might wonder: what can Oklahoma possibly be thinking?

OK's impossible dual goal is getting pushed by shallow tough-on-crime politics, which have already thrown the state's system into disarray. Prisons director Justin Jones says he currently has prisoners sleeping in classrooms and three to a cell. “If there’s a recipe for disaster, we’ve got all the ingredients cooking right now,” Jones told the AP.

No kidding. But that's not exactly something lawmakers want to hear. “The key in Oklahoma is that we don’t pay for a lot of preventive services that will save you on prison costs later on,” Jones went on. Bingo. (Wait, was that the sound of a prison director losing his job?)

Oklahoma’s prison population has grown 10% in 10 years, and budget cuts have prisons operating with 71% staff. More than half of state prisoners are there for non-violent crimes. But many representatives in the state legislature are up for reelection this year, and alternatives to incarceration don’t get you reelected in Oklahoma.

Among the tougher penalties sought by Oklahoma legislators this year is a five-year increase of sentences for sex offenders who violate registration restrictions. As readers of this blog know, sex offender registries often place unnecessarily strict and counterproductive requirements on released prisoners. Even the lowest level sex offender in Oklahoma is required to register for 15 years — and if they miss an address change, they could go to prison for 20 years.

Oklahoma will eventually have to choose between packed prisons and a trimmed budget. The state’s best bet would be to give second chances to non-violent offenders, offering job training and incentives to stay out of prison. Unfortunately, the state is pursuing a set of conflicted policies that are leading the system onto an ugly collision course.

Via Real Cost of Prisons

Photo Credit: Aoife City Womanchile

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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