Crowded Prisons, Escalating Costs Put Oklahoma's Corrections System In Crisis

Saturday, August 11th 2007, 2:17 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Tough-on-crime public safety policies are sending inmates to Oklahoma prisons faster than others are being released, leaving prisons filled to capacity and burdening the state with rising correctional expenses and inmate health care costs.

In Oklahoma's 100th year of statehood, its incarceration rate ranks fourth in the U.S. behind Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

A study by the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Resource Center found that almost 1 percent of the state's entire adult population age 18 and over was in prison at the end of August 2006.

Also, Oklahoma ranks first in the number of women it puts behind bars in a nation that is the world's leader in incarceration with 2.1 million people in prisons or jails across the country. Oklahoma incarcerated 120 women per 100,000 residents in 2005 compared to the U.S. average of 58.

``We incarcerate more people for more types of offenses for longer periods of time than any other country in the world,'' said Ryan King, a policy analyst for The Sentencing Project in Washington, a research group that advocates reform in sentencing law and practice and alternatives to incarceration.

``For a country that advertises itself internationally as a model of democracy and freedom...it's quite distressing,'' King said.

At midyear 1995, slightly more than 1 million inmates were housed in state prisons nationally and 17,605 were housed in Oklahoma state prisons, according to BJS figures. Eleven years later, more than 1.36 million inmates were housed in state prisons and 23,935 were in Oklahoma prisons.

Last month, there were 25,160 state inmates in public and private prisons and more than 98 percent of the state's prison cells were occupied, the Department of Corrections said. Criminal justice officials have warned that an additional 900 inmates are expected to enter the state's penal system in 2008.

``The attitude in the Legislature is get tough on crime,'' said former Republican state Sen. Ged Wright of Broken Arrow, a member of the Oklahoma Sentencing Commission that reviews criminal justice policy and makes recommendations to the Legislature.

Wright said state sentencing policies are forcing more inmates to serve longer sentences. The policies include the so-called ``deadly sins,'' a list of 19 violent offenses that require those convicted of them to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence. The offenses include murder, rape and some forms of robbery, burglary, arson and child molestation.

``Nobody wants to be perceived as being soft on crime. That goes into more felonies and longer sentences,'' Wright said.

Senate President co-Pro Tem Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, said population growth, and not harsh criminal justice policies, is responsible for the state's rising inmate population. Oklahoma ranks 28th nationally in population.

``The first priority of government is to keep people safe,'' Coffee said.

Rising prison populations are putting new pressure on already pinched state budgets. States spent nearly $35.6 billion on corrections in 2006 and budgeted $37.6 billion for 2007, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

``The budget pressures and overcrowding issues are the single biggest factor,'' King said.

The Oklahoma Legislature appropriated more than $477 million for state prisons this year, an increase of 4.7 percent from the previous year. Last year, the Legislature appropriated $435 million for state prisons, $45 million more than in 2005.

The state prison budget grew by 147 percent from 1990 to 2001, more than any other state agency, according to a report by the Tulsa-based Community Action Project.

Prison admissions in Oklahoma and nationally increased at a faster rate than releases in 2005, resulting in overall prison population growth. State and federal correctional authorities admitted 733,009 prisoners and released 698.459, according to BJS figures.

In Oklahoma, state prisons received 8,756 inmates in 2005 and released 8,338. The year before, 9,003 inmates entered the system and 8,432 were released.

But the state has not built a new prison in 12 years, relying instead on private prisons to house the state's growing number of inmates.

``I think the Legislature just puts their head in the sand,'' said Wright, who served between 1982 and 1998. ``I think it's a double standard. If we're going to do this we need to belly up to the bar and build the prisons. We need to build two prisons today.''

This year, prison officials sought funding for a 1,500-bed expansion at the maximum-security Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, opened in 1908, and a new 2,400-bed medium-security prison, but neither plan was considered. Both would have been paid for with a 25-year, $380 million bond issue.

``I don't think building a bunch of new prisons and the capital costs associated with that makes sense,'' Coffee said.

State lawmakers have hired a Florida-based company, MGT of America, to conduct a performance audit of the prison system to help them balance public safety concerns with the growing costs of state prisons.

``I hope like all Oklahomans that we find some efficiencies,'' Coffee said. He also said he hopes the audit pinpoints alternatives available to policymakers to avoid further growth of the prison population.

The NCSL said several states experienced double digit increases for state prisons over the past year including California, where corrections spending rose 24.6 percent.

California, the nation's largest state prison system, houses more than 170,000 inmates in quarters designed for fewer than 100,000. The prison system is under federal court supervision and its medical and mental health care have been ruled unconstitutional.

Oklahoma's prison system was under federal court supervision for 29 years after an inmate filed a federal court lawsuit in 1972 alleging a variety of civil right violations within the prison system, including substandard medical care. Wright said a federal supervision could resume unless lawmakers authorize more resources.

``When we have a federal judge telling us what to do, they're not going to like it,'' he said.

Overcrowding and underfunding create dangerous conditions for prison inmates as well as correctional officers and deprive inmates of the therapeutic and rehabilitative programs they need to turn their lives around, said Charlie Sullivan, executive director of the Washington-based Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, an international group that works to reduce crime by reforming the criminal justice system.

``It certainly increases their recidivism,'' Sullivan said. ``They will return to a life of crime because they are not given the things that they need.''

Prison officials say overcrowding and underfunding were primary causes of a 1973 riot at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, site of the state's death row, in which three people were killed. The prison had a capacity for about 1,100 inmates at the time and an inmate population of about 2,200.

In 2000, a correctional officer at the Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite, opened in 1910, was fatally stabbed while helping a fellow officer with a prisoner.

Underfunding results in low pay for correctional officers and chronic staff shortages, officials said. Pay for state correctional officers currently starts at about $24,000 a year.

Criminal justice researchers said nonviolent offenders, especially those convicted of alcohol and drug offenses, are primary reasons for the increase in Oklahoma's prison population.

``We don't spend enough on drug abuse but we'll put them in prison for four or five years. Very frustrating,'' Wright said.

In 2006, 79 percent of state prison receptions were defendants convicted of nonviolent offenses, primarily drug and alcohol offenses, and 21 percent were convicted of violent offenses, said Christopher Hill, OCJRC's director of research.

``For a significant portion of them, there are better ways to deal with them rather than incarceration,'' King said. He said specialized drug courts that offer treatment regimens to drug and alcohol offenders are more effective and less costly options for offenders.

``From a practical standpoint, it doesn't make sense,'' he said. ``The problem is getting over the political barriers. It takes courageous policymakers to step out and be willing to make those arguments.''