Quotes of the Day

“We’re doing it in a public forum, and we’re allowing people to participate. We’re working with the (district attorneys), and I think the will of the people is clear: Get out the low-level, non-violent offenders. We don’t need to be incarcerating them. And that is what we’re working toward.”

– Steven Bickley, executive director of the Pardon and Parole Board, on how the Board is moving forward with the first group of incarcerated Oklahomans eligible for an expedited commutation process [The Oklahoman]

“Kits are going to be tested and we’ve taken steps to ensure that this backlog, this really regrettable backlog that was allowed to occur, won’t happen again.”

– Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter on a $2.4 million federal grant to support initiatives to process untested rape kits and hiring a victim advocate. A recent audit found more than 7,200 untested rape kits statewide [The Oklahoman]

“One in five women will be sexually assaulted in college. We know that harm is happening on campuses. Hopefully, students and survivors using these systems and filing these reports means they felt safe and comfortable [enough to report].”

– Morgan Dewey, communications director for advocacy organization End Rape on Campus, on large increases in reports of rape at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University [Tulsa World]

“What would be helpful is to provide treatment as an option, as a carrot. I think people think you always need the stick, and that’s just not true. Even though we do need prisons and people will always go to them, people just don’t need that long to be punished, to be sorry and to change.”

– Kelly Doyle, a member of the Pardon and Parole Board and the Governor’s RESTORE Task Force on criminal justice reform, arguing for shorter prison sentences for people convicted of nonviolent drug crimes at the Task Force’s first public meeting [The Oklahoman]

“When people are healthier, they tend to commit less crime. When people are healthier, it tends to improve the quality of life. The reality is this: Collectively we are a rural state. Health care in rural Oklahoma is in crisis. If there’s a way to bring some of our tax dollars back home to benefit the people who live in our state, I don’t know why we wouldn’t do that.”

– Kris Steele, a Republican former Speaker of the House and current Executive Director of The Education and Employment Ministry, explaining his reasons for supporting Medicaid expansion in Oklahoma [The Oklahoman]

“The governor’s very excited about what will be brought forward from this task force and ways that we can continue to move the needle. He thinks that the task force has done great work to date, and he also believes that that next step is having (them) meet publicly and letting the public attend and begin to provide their input as well to the final product.”

– Donelle Harder, senior adviser in the governor’s office. Governor Kevin Stitt’s criminal justice task force holds its first public meeting on Wednesday [The Oklahoman]

“We can look at this data and see disparate outcomes for populations of color and wonder: Is the school failing? But really, there are systemic inequities that compound, that are impacting student achievement even outside of the four walls of a classroom.”

– Carlisha Bradley, the only African American member of the state Board of Education, on new state data showing that children of color have lower test scores than their white peers, even when the only apparent differentiating factor was the color of their skin or their ethnicity [The Oklahoman]

“That new revenue into our health systems [through Medicaid expansion] … would allow us to continue to expand our access to services, bring more of those specialty services in-house and to add additional health care services.”

– Chickasaw Nation Division of Health Senior Advisor Melissa Gower, explaining the benefits of Medicaid expansion for tribal health services [Public Radio Tulsa]

“[I]t is disappointing to see some naysayers spread misleading and false information in an attempt to undermine the success that has been realized in our attempt to reform the criminal justice system in this state. Oklahoma cannot afford to return to its punitive ways — we urge those who were wise enough to support reforms to ignore false cries in the night.”

– The Muskogee Phoenix Editorial Board, writing to debunk claims about recent justice reforms and citing OK Policy data showing no rise in petty theft following changes that reduced punishments for low-level property crimes [Muskogee Phoenix]

“We know that children who live in concentrated poverty have less access to high-quality schools, and they have less access to fresh fruits and vegetables and to the medical care they need. . . . It doesn’t have to be this way. We know that there are solutions and tools that can address these problems.”

– OK Policy Education Policy Analyst Rebecca Fine, commenting on a new Annie E. Casey Foundation report and calling for changes that support children in concentrated poverty [Tulsa World]