Parole Board Recommends Commutation for 22 of 23 Applicants

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended commutation yesterday for 22 of 23 applicants. Those cases, all of which involves sentences far longer than if the crimes were committed today, will be forwarded to Gov. Mary Fallin for a final decision.

“It’s thrilling to see the Pardon and Parole Board agree overwhelmingly with Oklahoma voters’ strong belief that lengthy prison sentences for low-level drug offenses are unnecessary and unjust,” said Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform (OCTR) Chief of Staff, John Estus.

“We urge Gov. Fallin to commute the sentences of the individuals approved today to time served and allow them to return home in time to be with their families for Thanksgiving.”

The applications recommended by the Pardon and Parole Board are part of a group of cases under review for excessive and unjust sentences.

Effective July 1, 2017, State Question 780 made nonviolent drug possession offenses and low-level property offenses misdemeanors instead of felonies. Today the maximum sentence for simple drug possession is one year in jail. However the cases considered yesterday involved sentences of between 10 and 40 years.

“Twenty-two of 23 of the people that we helped with applications were mothers in prison serving decades had they not gone through this process,” said Corbin Brewster, Tulsa County chief public defender, speaking to Tulsa World. “The impact beyond the incarceration on their families is just enormous.”

OCJR delivered extensive plans to the Pardon and Parole Board detailing the support each applicant would receive following release if their cases were successful. This would include a “heightened level” of wraparound support services, including for mental health and substance abuse issues. Housing has already been secured for many of the applicants.

“It would be a disservice to do one and not the other,” Estus said.

The recommendations now go to the governor for her approval.

“Gov. Fallin has been monitoring these cases closely and has taken an interest in trying to expedite the process of the governor’s approval, with the intent, as I understand it, to get these individuals home together with their families by the end of the year,” OCJR chairperson and Pardon and Parole Board member Kris Steele said.

Michael McNutt, a spokesperson for Governor Fallin, issued a statement on her behalf.

“[The Governor] has made criminal justice reform a priority of her administration; in the last two years she has supported and signed 17 measures into law, including nine during this year’s legislative session,” McNutt said. “One of those measures she signed this year establishes a more efficient and streamlined parole process.

“The governor believes we must start focusing on treatment and reintegrating nonviolent offenders, which research has shown will result in lower crime rates and lower rates of recidivism.”

Despite yesterday’s recommendations inequities in the system still exist.

“There are more than a thousand people in prison today for simple drug possession,” Estus added. “We need legislation to make recent reforms retroactive and give those Oklahomans an opportunity to return home to their families and become tax-paying citizens.”

Commutations modify sentences but don’t erase convictions. The Governor has 90 days in which to approve, modify or deny the recommendations. Next month the Pardon and Parole Board will have the opportunity to commute the sentences of an additional eight applicants.

(Image courtesy Ben Fenwick/Oklahoma Watch)