Oklahoma’s prison population reached its highest point ever Thursday, following months of failed attempts by the state Congress and Republican Gov. Mary Fallin to address the state’s increasingly overcrowded prisons.
Oklahoma has an inmate population of more than 63,000, having grown by more than 2,000 in the last nine months, despite attempts to slash the burgeoning population, Tulsa World reported Thursday. Corrections officials have said they may resort to drastic measures to address overcrowding now that Fallin failed to push her justice reform package in June.
“What are we to do?,” DOC Director Joe Allbaugh asked reporters. “Something is going to pop.”
Allbaugh claims the state will have to build three new prisons if laws don’t change, costing the state $2.8 billion. Other prison officials proposed a program in July that would simply “open the back door” for some inmates.
“What we have not done in recent history is open the backdoor to any great degree,” Director of Population Laura Pittman told The Oklahoman. “What we’re looking at is opening the backdoor with highly selected inmates.”
Pittman estimated that up to 1,000 Oklahoma inmates would be eligible for the proposed program, which requires candidates to be within 18 months of release and excludes any inmate convicted of a violent or sexual crime. She clarified that the program is in no way a permanent fix, however, and another legislative push from Gov. Fallin is still required. (RELATED: Oklahoma Gov’s Latest Justice Reform Crusade: Women’s Incarceration)
“Criminal justice reform remains at the top of my agenda,” Fallin told reporters Thursday. “Many states have shown that it’s possible to reduce imprisonment while also reducing crime. By ensuring expensive prison beds are used for serious, violent offenders and reinvesting savings into programs that cut crime and recidivism, these states are getting a better public safety return on their corrections spending.”
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