In my last blog post, I posed the following question: “Is it not better public policy to provide these (incarcerated) women with treatment and the tools to become better parents and productive citizens?”

Well, Women In Recovery (WIR) is the answer to that question. WIR is a pilot diversion program that Family & Children’s Services (F&CS) and the George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF) have built together that provides an alternative to incarceration for women in Tulsa county.

Oklahoma’s female incarceration rates have long been the worst in the country, yet little has been done to improve the situation for women in our state. GKFF has identified the problem as an area of top concern. Through “start up” funding provided by GKFF, Family and Children’s Services initiated a pilot program based on best practice and evidence-based models to offer a cost-effective, holistic approach to diverting female offenders from incarceration. WIR has established unprecedented collaboration with the local Office of the District Attorney, Office of Public Defenders, Tulsa County Court Services, Tulsa County Criminal District Judges, and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

This highly successful program is in the process of expanding its capacity to serve up to 100 women, and subsequently their hundreds of children.  These children’s lives have been directly affected by their mothers’ substance abuse and the attendant criminal activity. The demand for services continues to grow as evidenced by the many referrals from local judges, attorneys and Tulsa County Court Services.  To date there have been 63 admissions and the daily census has grown from 8 women in June 2009 to 49 in September 2010.

Initial outcomes of the program are quite promising:

• 100 percent of current participants have attained safe and stable housing; are working toward improving their health, well being and self sufficiency; and are working to achieve family reunification;
• 63 percent of current participants have become employed;
• 86 percent  of the total of 63 admissions have avoided incarceration to date and 100 percent have not committed a new offense.

After the program’s first year, six women have successfully completed WIR and have had successful reunification with their children.  A condition of graduation from the program is employment, to ensure self-sufficiency, and each of these women have begun to partake in an aftercare support program that aims to foster their long-term success by offering support with budgeting and finances, employment coaching, and continued recovery support groups   In addition, the program believes that it is important that each of these women gives back to WIR and help future generations of program participants.

The benefits of WIR do not stop with each individual woman and their immediate family. WIR saves Oklahoma ongoing annual costs related to incarceration; reduces the loss of taxpayer dollars due to unemployment; and reduces health care costs. Oklahoma’s habit of imprisoning women rather than treating them is expensive, ineffective and damaging to children, both short-term and long term.

In the 2010 legislative session, Oklahoma passed HB2998.  This bill directed the development of pilot programs to reduce the high rate of female incarceration through the adoption of evidence-based practices and proven strategies.  Both Tulsa and Oklahoma Counties have begun development of these programs at both ends of the spectrum, partnering with state and local service providers.  I am firmly confident that HB2998 was the beginning of a series of powerful pieces of legislation about this critical issue and am confident that more progress will be made during the 2011 legislative year.

I have directly witnessed the impact that Women in Recovery is having.  Mothers who faced charges that would land them in prison for decades of their lives have been successfully rehabilitated through substantial mental health, trauma informed services and substance abuse treatment. They have re-entered the workforce, become reunified with their families, and built a safe home.   I do not want to make this process sound easy, it is far from that.  These women work exceedingly hard to rebuild their lives.  I am touched each time I visit the program and see the changes that each of these women have made in their individual lives. I hope that this program will be replicated to serve even more women and also change Oklahoma’s status of incarcerating more women per capita than any other state or country.

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Currently, the State of Oklahoma incarcerates more women per capita than any other state in the nation, a rate of 134 per 100,000, compared to a national average of 69 per 100,000. Tulsa County incarcerates at an even higher rate, 169 women per 100,000.

This practice has a devastating impact on thousands of children around our state.  There are an estimated 4,500 minor children in Oklahoma with their mothers in prison.  These children are at greater risk of school failure, depression, drug and alcohol abuse. Without a successful intervention, they are likely to become the next generation of inmates at the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.  Incarcerating non-violent female offenders does not make economic sense, nor does it protect the public safety.  Is it not better public policy to provide these women with treatment and the tools to become better parents and productive citizens?

George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF) has made the issue of female incarceration a priority and has led efforts to make a systemic change to Oklahoma’s statistics.   GKFF has invested nearly two million dollars on diversion services, pre-release counseling and treatment, services to children of incarcerated parents and reentry services. In January, the Foundation helped sponsor the Summit on Incarcerated Women as part of the Complex Dialogues series at Oklahoma Christian University, which was an important step in raising public awareness of the need to promote alternatives to incarceration for non-violent female offenders.

GKFF’s principal funding has been in the investment of significant resources on model diversion services, as the Foundation believes that the true value is derived from rehabilitating these nonviolent offenders and reunifying families.  Recognizing the lack of viable alternatives to prison for women in Tulsa, GKFF, an organization committed to improving the lives of at risk young children, and Family & Children’s Services (F&CS), Tulsa’s premier family service and mental health provider, co-designed and implemented the Women in Recovery (WIR) pilot program in June 2009.

WIR, based on proven models, offers a cost-effective and holistic approach to diverting female offenders from incarceration in Tulsa County.  WIR has already served 33 nonviolent women offenders who together have 73 children. The Program is a true wraparound model, changing the way traditional services are delivered, allowing women the maximum potential to succeed by providing them the necessary tools to regain their independence financially and exit the judicial system.  Focusing primarily on substance abuse and mental health treatment, and providing safe housing and transportation from the beginning, each woman’s total needs are met.

In building on the success of Women in Recovery, HB2998 proposed this session by Rep. Kris Steele of Shawnee represents landmark legislation.  The bill would establish pilot programs, consisting of private donations and state funds, “to provide diversion programs to reduce the high rate of female incarceration and to provide reentry services that both employ evidence-based practices and techniques.”

George Kaiser Family Foundation proposes including a $500,000 cash match to the state funds.  Thus, $1 million will be appropriated to the implementation of a state pilot diversion program and a reentry program.  Half of these funds will supplement the work currently being undertaken by Women In Recovery to reduce female incarceration, while the other half will go to the implementation of a reentry programs that will provide support services, employment opportunities and other needed resources for female offenders and their children.

The need for change in Oklahoma’s criminal justice system is critical, and the total approach represented by this bill is impressive.  HB 2998 passed the full House in February by a unanimous bipartisan vote of 92-0. The bill would still need to pass the full Senate and be signed by the Governor to become law. However, these early successes provide real hopeful signs that the tide is beginning to turn and the issue of female incarceration is beginning to change.

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