Parole Rates Continue To Drop

Monday, October 1st 2007, 9:10 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Parole rates of Oklahoma prisoners are at their lowest point in nearly a decade. Inmates today face a longer wait for a parole application and their chances of succeeding are the slimmest since 1999, when about 16 percent of all applicants got approved.

Statistics show thousands of inmates withdrew their names from the parole process last year, and hundreds more were simply released from prison because their sentence had expired while they were still awaiting parole.

During the first two years of Governor Brad Henry's first term, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board approved more than half the parole actions that came before it.

Since then two board members stepped down, and the current board has approved about 30% of parole actions in 2005 and 2006.

Also, fewer inmates have been applying for parole compared to previous years.