Editor's note: This article was updated on Sept. 28 at 11:05 a.m. to reflect that there's a connection between high incarceration rates and the rate of children being put into custody of the Department of Human Services, not the Department of Homeland Security.
A team of 11 people tasked with reviewing data from Oklahoma’s justice system is considering justice system reforms and will report its findings by Dec. 29.
MODERN Justice Task Force was created in July in an executive order signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt. The team will review data gathered and presented by the Crime and Justice Institute.
Tricia Everest, chair of the task force and state secretary of public safety, said the task force is still in the process of gathering to overview the Crime and Justice Institute’s current data.
“There’s so much substantial data that they've directly received from seven jails in each quadrant, and then they scrubbed jail data on most of the others,” Everest said.
Everest said she is hopeful for the results of the task force considering a third party is gathering the data for them to review and because the task force is a bipartisan effort.
“It’s very key that an outside group is providing our data, so (it's) what’s actually happening in Oklahoma and not as it compares to nationwide (data),” Everest said.
As outlined in the executive order, Everest appointed someone knowledgeable on rural diversion programs to sit on the task force. Everest chose Rhonda Bear, a formerly incarcerated woman and current board member on the Department of Corrections’ Board of Directors.
Bear founded She Brews Coffee House, an organization built to establish a safe place for women to gain work experience after incarceration or other difficult life circumstances.
Bear said she was hopeful that the task force would come up with bipartisan recommendations for the state’s justice system.
“I think at our table with the MODERN task force, we have people that are on both sides,” Bear said. “If there was a way that we could meet in the middle and work together, I think that would be a huge win for the state of Oklahoma.”
The hope for the task force is that they remain objective when considering justice system reforms, according to state Sen. Mary Boren (D-Norman).
“My hope for this task force would be to respond with discernment around what the data show and to suspend bias or attitudes about harsh punishment reforming people,” Boren said.
According to a state calculation report, the average yearly cost to house an inmate in 2021 fiscal year was a little over $6,000.
Oklahoma has the third highest incarceration rate in the U.S. with a rate of 993 per 100,000 people and over 34,000 people currently incarcerated. In states with similar populations to Oklahoma, Connecticut has an incarceration rate of 394 per 100,000 people and Oregon has an incarceration rate of 555 per 100,000 people.
Bear said one of the primary ways to reduce incarceration rates and lighten the financial burden of housing inmates is to reduce excessive sentencing for small crimes.
“Incarceration is corrections, but it’s a punishing corrections,” Bear said. “If we can keep the person in the community, I think it’s a better win for the children, the family members, the parents and then, of course, for taxpayers.”
Everest said diversionary programs are vital to keeping people out of jail and keeping families together. Oklahoma’s most common diversion programs include drug court and DUI court, both voluntary programs for non-violent defendants with drug or alcohol problems. According to the Oklahoma City Police Department, drug courts reduce crime by up to 45% more than other sentencing options.
“Anytime we remove someone from the ability to earn money and be a caregiver, or be a part of the community, then we are setting them so far back into a system that’s harder to climb out of, by putting them in jail for even one night,” Everest said.
Boren also supports diversionary programs because of the financial and social benefits. She said these programs would result in fewer incarcerations, less taxpayer money spent on housing inmates and increased productivity in society.
“The rest of society is having to work a whole lot just to keep people locked up,” Boren said. “Instead of using our taxes for things like healthcare or schools or roads, we’re ending up spending a disproportionately large number of dollars on locking up people who could have been reformed through diversionary programs.”
Everest said there’s a connection between high incarceration rates and the rate of children being put into Department of Human Services custody. She said diversionary programs can relieve the severity of both issues in Oklahoma.
“Diverting people keeps children out of DHS custody; it keeps people more gainfully employed and able to participate in their own recovery,” Everest said.
One of the points outlined in the executive order that established the MODERN Justice Task Force is expanding the use of technology in the state’s justice system. Everest said a possibility for consolidating information in the justice system included a system for the Department of Corrections that has vital information for newly incarcerated individuals.
“If someone is convicted and found guilty and needs to go to the Department of Corrections, there’s no system that shows the Department of Corrections health history, mental health history, crimes. You just have (a) piece of paper,” Everest said.
Boren said it will be a battle to lower incarceration rates when there are institutions and people who are incentivized by high incarceration rates, such as private prisons. She said those who advocate for diversionary programs have to go up against profit motives and private prisons may not seriously consider data that conflicts with their interests.
“When you’re battling those who are profiting off of higher incarceration, they’re less likely to give full credence to those numbers because those data numbers are undermining their profit margins,” Boren said.
Boren said some of the main factors in Oklahoma’s incarceration rate for women include economic insecurity and domestic violence. Diversionary programs for domestic violence could work in Oklahoma to keep families together and prevent extreme situations from happening, she said.
“That would really help bring out a better version of a parent and not have a whole parent lost when diversionary (programs) could have helped them take a different path,” Boren said.
With Bear’s history of working with formerly incarcerated women, she said she knows many women who were in prison for defending themselves in domestic violence situations. She said she hopes to see a bill inspired by April Wilkens’ story signed into law next legislative session.
Wilkens was sentenced to life in prison in 1998 for first-degree murder of her husband after being a victim of domestic violence for years with no help from law enforcement. A bill inspired by her story was seen last legislative session but was not signed into law.
Boren said she thinks the task force will circulate new ideas of change for Oklahoma’s judicial system through the bills it proposes, but it will only cause incremental change.
“(These bills) will only be towards those things that don’t undermine the overall business model of private prisons, and they won’t require funding,” Boren said. “I don’t see the governor wanting to cut a billion dollars out of our budget through tax credit as the same kind of governor that’s going to want to invest in counselors and resources for diversionary courts.”
This story was edited by Alexia Aston, Taylor Jones and Peggy Dodd. Cooper Marshall and Grace Rhodes copy edited this story.
