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Oklahoma Justice Reform Task Force Final Report

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Oklahoma Justice Reform Task Force Final Report Oklahoma Justice Reform Task Force Final Report February 2017 Final Report, February 2017 Acknowledgements The Oklahoma Justice Reform Task Force would like to thank the following agencies, associations, and individuals for their assistance throughout the Task Force’s work Office of the Governor Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Oklahoma Policy Institute Jeffrey Cartmell Office Ryan Gentzler Kyle Coulter Tommy Terhune Michael McNutt Oklahoma State Bureau of Audrey Rockwell Oklahoma Court Services Investigations Jana Staples Julia Curry Tom Reynolds Oklahoma Department of Corrections Oklahoma State Legislature CEO Works Tulsa Clint Castleberry Senator AJ Griffin Kelly Doyle Ashlee Clemmons Senator Mike Schulz Will Heaton Marilyn Davidson Tonia Dickerson Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office Cleveland County District Court Kim Hardcastle John Brasher The Honorable Lori Walkley Emily Hysmith Kathryn King Tulsa County Public Defenders The Crime and Justice Institute Becky Lawmaster Rob Nigh Colby Dawley John Lipsey Spencer Gurley-Green Floyd Long Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office Len Engel Teresa McCoin Michelle Robinette Lisa Margulies Lesia Miser Felicity Rose Candice Moore Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce Leah Samuel Dr. Janna Morgan Zack Stoycoff Connie Utada Dr. Laura Pitman Abby Walsh Dr. Mohsen Pourett Vera Institute of Justice Deborah Romine Nancy Fishman Drug Courts Anthony Rowell Kaitlin Kall Dedra Hansbro, Canadian County Darlene Staples Ken Thiessen, Washita-Custer County Kristin Tims Victim / Survivor / Advocate Tammy Westcott, Tulsa Drug Court Terri Watkins Roundtables Greg Williams Diane Barker-Harold George Kaiser Family Foundation Jeff Woody The Cherokee Nation Amy Santee The Seminole Nation Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Travis White Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City Commerce Russ Cochran Jermaine Simpson Clay Bennett Michelle Henry Oklahoma Department of Mental Health US Department of Justice, Bureau of and Substance Abuse Services Justice Assistance Mental Health Association Oklahoma Nisha Wilson Director Denise O’Donnell Melissa Baldwin Dr. David Wright Juliene James Heather Tubman-Carbone Oklahoma Administrative Office of the The District Attorneys Council Courts Suzanne McClain Atwood Women’s Defense Team Debra Charles Trent Bagget Stephanie Horton Amber Luttrell Oklahoma Indigent Defense System Women in Recovery Oklahoma City YWCA Tim Laughlin Rachel Delcour Mimi Tarrasch Oklahoma Chapter, American Civil Oklahoma Pardons and Parole Board Liberties Union Melissa Blanton Workforce Tulsa Ryan Kiesel Delynn Fudge Shelley Cadamy Allie Shinn Vanessa Price Melinda Romero 1 | P a g e Final Report, February 2017 Members of the Oklahoma Justice Reform Task Force Director Joe M. Allbaugh Oklahoma Department of Corrections Administrative Director Jari Askins Oklahoma Administrative Office of the Courts Jennifer Chance Office of the Governor, General Counsel The Honorable Doug Drummond Tulsa County District Court District Attorney Mike Fields District 4 (Blaine, Canadian, Garfield, Grant, and Kingfisher Counties) Secretary Mike Hunter Oklahoma Secretary of State Adam Luck E Foundation, Policy Director, and Board of Corrections Mike Neal Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce, President and CEO The Honorable Irma Newburn Comanche County District Court and Board of Corrections Jan Peery YWCA Oklahoma City, CEO Representative Terry O’Donnell Oklahoma State House of Representatives District Attorney David Prater District 7 (Oklahoma County) Chief Public Defender Bob Ravitz Oklahoma County Office of the Public Defender Cara Rodriguez Office of the Attorney General, First Assistant Attorney General Director John Scully Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Speaker Kris Steele The Education and Employment Ministry (TEEM), Director Layne Subera, D.O. Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Commission, Chairman Commissioner Michael Thompson Oklahoma Department of Public Safety Senator Greg Treat Oklahoma State Senate Commissioner Terri White Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Roy Williams Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, President and CEO 2 | P a g e Final Report, February 2017 Executive Summary Since 2010, 31 states across the country have decreased imprisonment rates while reducing crime rates. Yet Oklahoma’s prison population has grown by nine percent in the last five years, reaching 28,580 inmates as of June 2016. As a result of the large and growing inmate population, Oklahoma has the second highest imprisonment rate in the country, 78 percent higher than the national average in 2015. More concerning, since 1991, Oklahoma has had the highest female imprisonment rate in the country. These trends have burdened state taxpayers with extraordinary costs, with Oklahoma spending over half a billion dollars on corrections in FY2015. At this rate, Oklahoma’s prison population is projected to grow 25 percent or 7,218 inmates by 2026. One-quarter of this overall growth will be driven by increases in the female prison population, which is projected to grow by 60 percent over the next ten years. The projected prison population growth is estimated to cost the state at least $1.2 billion in capital expenditures to build or lease three new prisons and an additional $700 million in operating costs over ten years. Seeking a better public safety return on corrections spending, state leaders from all three branches of government joined together in May of 2016 to request technical assistance through the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew), to be provided by the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI). Governor Fallin issued Executive Order 2016-24 in July of 2016, establishing the bi-partisan, inter-branch Oklahoma Justice Reform Task Force (Task Force) and charging it with “develop[ing] comprehensive criminal justice and corrections reform policy recommendations designed to alleviate prison overcrowding and reduce Oklahoma’s incarceration rate while improving public safety.” Over a six-month period, the Task Force analyzed the state’s sentencing, corrections, and community supervision data and reviewed the latest research on reducing recidivism and improving public safety. The Task Force found that: Seventy-five percent of people admitted to prison were sentenced for nonviolent crimes; over half of individuals sentenced to prison for nonviolent offenses have one or no prior felony convictions, and 80 percent have no history of violent crimes. Research demonstrates that incarceration is no more effective at reducing recidivism than alternatives to prison and can actually increase the recidivism rates of lower-level individuals. Despite the risk of increasing recidivism for lower-level, non-violent offences, Oklahoma uses prison over alternatives more often than other states and has focused many of its prison beds on those sentenced for nonviolent crimes with limited criminal history. Sentences for nonviolent offenders in Oklahoma are longer compared to other states, and release options are underutilized and/or delayed. Despite research demonstrating that longer prison terms do not reduce recidivism more than shorter prison terms, less than 10 percent of the individuals released from prison are paroled, and drug and property offenders are released on average nine months past their parole eligibility date. Based on this analysis and the directive from Governor Fallin, the Task Force developed a comprehensive, data-driven, evidence-based package of 27 policy recommendations, supported by a substantial majority of Task Force members, and specifically aimed at improving public safety by holding offenders accountable and reducing recidivism. These policies, if signed into law, would avert all of the projected prison population growth, and ultimately reduce the current prison population by seven percent, saving $1.9 billion in prison costs over the next ten years. 3 | P a g e Final Report, February 2017 Oklahoma’s Justice Reform Process Governor Mary Fallin initiated criminal justice reform during the 2016 legislative session. Four bills supported by the governor and the legislative leadership passed with overwhelming majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate, successfully making changes to drug and property offenses and generating the momentum for greater reform efforts. In July of 2016, Governor Fallin issued Executive Order 2016-24, establishing the bi-partisan, inter- branch Oklahoma Justice Reform Task Force. The Task Force was charged with: 1. Developing comprehensive criminal justice and corrections reform policy; 2. Identifying more cost-effective, evidence-based sentencing and supervision practices aimed at holding offenders more accountable and reducing recidivism; 3. Estimating any resulting savings from the policy recommendations; and 4. Identifying opportunities to reinvest the resulting savings into policies shown to increase public safety, reduce recidivism, and improve offender reentry outcomes. The Task Force, comprised of 21 stakeholders and their designees, including legislators, judges, district attorneys, law enforcement officials, the Director of the Department of Corrections, Board of Corrections members, the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, a victims’ advocate, Oklahoma County’s Chief Public Defender, medical professionals, and business leaders conducted a comprehensive
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