Carl's Capitol Comments

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections recently sent state legislators notice of a plan the department has drafted to responsibly bring its costs in line with current fiscal year appropriations.

The Department of Corrections did not make any cuts to the James Crabtree Correction Center in Helena, the “Bill” Johnson Correctional Center in Alva or the William S. Key Correctional Center in Fort Supply.

These centers employ a great many people from our House District, and these employees and correctional officers do a great job of helping ensure those who are incarcerated are taken care of and trained and educated to re-enter society once their prison sentences are completed.

I think this news is a testament to those who attended town hall meetings and wrote letters and sent emails to ODOC and to the governor expressing their desire to keep these centers operational. Your efforts paid off and will benefit our communities. I personally want to thank all who made their voices heard. You made a difference.

I also want to thank the governor and ODOC Director Scott Crow for their hard work on this issue and their taking into consideration the needs of Northwest Oklahoma.

Now I am asking that we let the governor and Scott Crow how much we appreciate their considerations. It is not often that these leaders get thank you letters from their constituents. I really believe this could be helpful in the future when possible cuts or changes are called for in the Department of Corrections. It also places our citizens in good favor in other considerations too.

You can contact Gov. Kevin Stitt by mail at 2300 N Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105; by phone at 405-521-2342; or email him through his online form at https://www.governor.ok.gov/contact/general-info.

ODOC Director Scott Crow can be reached by mail at 3400 Martin Luther King Ave., Oklahoma City, OK 73111-4298; by phone at 405-425-2500; or by email at corrections@doc.ok.gov.

Just so you are aware of some of the changes made by the department of corrections. They have closed one state facility and closed one of the private prisons. They also are repurposing two other facilities to better serve the needs of a changing correctional population. I commend Director Crow for making the necessary changes.

Below are a few excerpts from the ODOC email we received. I think you will see the reasons the necessary changes we made.

Since May, the agency says it has exhaustively researched ways to cut costs and increase services, resulting in a plan to decrease the agency’s footprint while expanding meaningful, researched-based programs for inmates.

The plan calls for the agency, during the next several weeks, to begin taking the necessary steps to close a state prison, to repurpose two others, to vacate a private prison, and end contracts with several privately-operated halfway houses. These changes will cover the $24.4 million budget deficit for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021.

In recent years, the state experienced several changes to its criminal justice system. First, citizens voted into law State Question 780, decreasing several drug and property crimes from a felony to a misdemeanor. A year later, lawmakers passed House Bill 1269, streamlining the commutation process for those incarcerated for SQ 780 crimes. Building on that momentum, Gov. Kevin Stitt commuted the prison sentences for hundreds of affected inmates. As a result, the average number of inmates per year in state custody decreased 6.5% from FY 2018 to FY 2020.

Right-sizing corrections increases public safety while decreasing costs, a mandatory step as ODOC navigates our state’s changing criminal justice landscape. The agency commits to remain a good steward of taxpayer money and provide inmates the opportunities to redefine their futures.

Remember, PLEASE tell Director Crow and Gov. Stitt thank you!

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. You may reach me by email at carl.newton@okhouse.gov, or phone me at 405-557-7339. May God Bless you and the State of Oklahoma.