Note: The following are the remarks of Andrea Baker delivered at the signing ceremony for HB 2131, the corrections reform bill authored by House Speaker Kris Steele and Sen. Patrick Anderson. For more on the Women in Recovery program, read this guest blog post by Amy Santee.

Good afternoon, my name is Andrea Baker. I am 39 years old and I am in recovery from 23 years of addiction to methamphetamine and alcohol,  among other things.

While in addiction I lost everything. I never thought I was worth anything more than the addict life I was living. Filled with despair, crippled by fear I had no hope for my future. Feeling trapped and not equipped to handle what was happening in my life, I thought I would always be an addict. I accepted that’s just who I was. As a result, I neglected my family and my responsibilities.

My parents raised my daughter from the time she was 3 years old. I missed her 1^st day of kindergarten, her graduation from high school and everything in between. On April 8, 2009 I went to jail facing two charges of endeavoring to manufacture methamphetamine. Being told I was looking at 15 years in prison, I thought it was the end of my life but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It opened the door for me to enter the Women In Recovery program. Read the rest of this entry »

From time to time, we use the OK Policy blog to post submissions we receive from Oklahomans who have interesting perspectives on important policy issues for the state. This entry is from Amy Santee, Senior Program Officer with George Kaiser Family Foundation in Tulsa. The opinions stated below are not necessarily the opinions of OK Policy, its staff, or its board. This blog is a venue to help promote the discussion of ideas from various points of view and we invite your comments and contributions. To see our guidelines for blog submissions, click here.

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? Read the rest of this entry »