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In The Know is a daily synopsis of Oklahoma policy-related news and blogs. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail.
Pushing to reduce prison overcrowding, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections has quietly changed its policies to give early releases to greater numbers of violent and sex offenders. Oklahoma Watch shared a timeline of documents they uncovered showing the policy change. Corrections reforms and an examination of some tax credits are front and center on the agenda when the Oklahoma Legislature reconvenes in February, and House Speaker Jeff Hickman said the federal government could take over Oklahoma’s corrections system if the state doesn’t address overcrowding and understaffing in prisons. Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs President Michael Carnuccio wrote that Oklahoma needs to ask hard questions about who we are putting in prison and whether there are better ways to do justice.
When Oklahoma investigators issued a report on what went wrong with the April execution of Clayton Lockett, they downplayed and omitted disturbing details from witnesses and officials, records filed in federal court show. Dozens of Oklahomans protested at the state Capitol over the death of Luis Rodriguez while he was being restrained by Moore police. Lawmakers would be able to carry weapons anywhere in the state, including on college campuses and into the state Capitol, under legislation filed by Sen. Mark Allen, a Republican from Spiro. Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman named the members Friday who will serve as chair and vice chair of Senate committees and subcommittees during the next Legislature.
The latest OK PolicyCast shares excerpts from a presentation by Duke University researcher Nick Carnes on what’s keeping working-class Americans out of public office. Today marks the last day to purchase insurance plans through the federally operated health marketplace set up under the Affordable Care Act for those who want benefits to begin with the new year. Americans can still purchase plans through February 15, but plans purchased after today will not go into effect until after the New Year. The Oklahoman shared tips for how to sign up for health insurance through healthcare.gov.
Teacher attrition is on the rise in Oklahoma, with Tulsa Public Schools seeing an annual teacher turnover rate of 15 percent. With Kansas facing an already large and growing budget shortfall, lawmakers have begun to consider rolling back Governor Brownback’s tax cuts. A new study in the journal Health Affairs says one in three Oklahoma children experience at least two traumatic events in their lives. The Tulsa World discussed how unfunded repairs could threaten Oklahoma’s Port of Catoosa. Due to understaffing, forensic pathologists in Oklahoma’s Medical Examiner’s Officer perform almost double the recommended number of autopsies per year. Vice magazine shared photos of the Satanic monument being built for the Oklahoma State Capitol grounds.
The Number of the Day is the percentage of all arrests made in Oklahoma in 2014 that were related to drugs or alcohol. In today’s Policy Note, the Los Angeles Times reports on how Arizona’s shifts in Medicaid coverage provide strong evidence that expanding the program reduces illness and saves lives.
In The News
Corrections Officials Revise Policies to Release More Violent, Sex Offenders
Pushing to reduce prison overcrowding, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections has quietly changed its policies to give early releases to greater numbers of violent and sex offenders, according to agency documents obtained by Oklahoma Watch. The department is doing so by relaxing policies that determine which types of inmates can receive early-release credits, when those credits can be given, and how many credits offenders can receive, corrections department records show.
Read more from Oklahoma Watch.
See also: Early Inmate Releases: A Timeline and Documents from Oklahoma Watch.
Corrections and tax reform top Oklahoma legislative agenda
Corrections reforms and an examination of some tax credits are front and center on the agenda when the Oklahoma Legislature reconvenes in February. In recent interviews, House Speaker Jeff Hickman and fellow Republican Rep. Earl Sears, R-Bartlesville, talked about the two issues and their impact on drawing up an increasingly tight budget.
See also: Oklahoma’s prisons stuffed: House speaker: State at risk of losing control to feds from the Stillwater News Press
Locked-up state of mind
In Oklahoma, we put a lot of people in prison. Only Louisiana and Mississippi have more of their populations locked up than we do. Of course, there are good reasons to put certain people in prison, sometimes for a long time. Understanding those reasons, however, is key to shaping criminal justice policies. Two main reasons for locking people up is to punish them for the harm they have done and to protect the rest of us from further harm.
Read more from The Journal Record.
Botched execution described as ‘a bloody mess,’ court filing shows
When Oklahoma investigators issued a report on what went wrong with the April execution of Clayton Lockett, they downplayed and omitted disturbing details from witnesses and officials, records filed in federal court show. During interviews with state investigators, the warden at Oklahoma State Penitentiary recalled the scene inside the execution chamber on April 29 as “a bloody mess,” according to a motion filed Friday by attorneys for death-row inmates.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: Grisly Execution in Oklahoma Detailed in Court Brief from the New York Times
Dozens Protest At State Capitol With Rodriguez Family
In light of protests happening around the nation against police brutality, the family of Luis Rodriguez joined in. Dec. 14 marks ten months since Rodriguez died outside the Warren Theater in Moore while in police custody. The family said their fight for justice is far from over.
Bill would let lawmakers carry weapons anywhere in the state
Lawmakers would be able to carry weapons anywhere in the state, including on college campuses and into the state Capitol, under legislation filed by Sen. Mark Allen, R-Spiro. “Any Oklahoma State Legislator may carry a firearm on his or her person anywhere in the State of Oklahoma if the person has successfully completed a handgun qualification course equivalent to the handgun qualification course for court officials as developed by the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training,” according to Senate Bill 26.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Bingman Sets Up The Senate
Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman named the members Friday who will serve as chair and vice chair of Senate committees and subcommittees during the 55th Legislature. Unlike the House where House Speaker Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview, altered the committee structure from the prior legislative session, Bingman’s appointments reflect no changes in the structure.
OK PolicyCast Episode 16: Who’s keeping working-class Americans out of office?
Each week the OK PolicyCast brings you the most important news about Oklahoma and what it means. In this episode, we share some clips from the keynote speaker at OK Policy’s annual Summer Policy Institute. Nick Carnes, a professor at Duke University and graduate of the University of Tulsa, spoke about his research on what’s keeping working class Americans out of public office.
Key deadline for Oklahoma health coverage signups
A key deadline has arrived for thousands of uninsured Oklahomans who are seeking coverage under the federal health care law. Monday marks the last day to purchase insurance plans through the federally operated health marketplace set up under the Affordable Care Act for those who want benefits to begin with the new year.
See also: Q&A: Tips on signing up for health insurance through the federal marketplace from NewsOK.
Some Oklahoma teachers leaving the state, profession
Jamie Christian is where she belongs — in the classroom. Christian was hired at Broken Arrow’s Oliver Middle School last month as a long-term substitute, until she gets her certification from the state. She officially graduates from Northeastern State University this month.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Brownback’s Tax Cuts Not Set in Stone as Kansas Faces Budget Shortfall
As Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas campaigned for a second term this year, he was forced to fend off repeated criticism that his deep income tax cuts — the hallmark of his tenure — had put the state in a fiscal nose-dive. He assured Kansans that he would balance the budget and preserve services by making the government more efficient and nipping expenditures to make up for lost revenue. Those who predicted budgetary Armageddon were pandering and misleading, he insisted.
Read more from The New York Times.
Study Says 1 In 3 Oklahoma Kids Experience Traumatic Events
A new study from the journal Health Affairs says one in three Oklahoma children experience at least two traumatic events in their lives. The report says kids who are exposed to seeing a parent die, severe poverty and are a witness to neighborhood violence or other traumas can be sent into a downward development spiral. They are two and a half times more likely to repeat a grade or fall behind in schoolwork.
View the report’s abstract here.
Port of Catoosa best kept secret
It’s a cliché to say that the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System is northeast Oklahoma’s best kept secret. Cliches, however, are clichés because they are true or because they are apt descriptions. But those who understand the system’s importance know how valuable it and its ports are to all of Oklahoma as well as surrounding states.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma state pathologists perform nearly twice the number of autopsies recommended
Working with the dead can be stressful, especially when the dead so far outnumber the living. Despite recent gains in the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s office, including the doubling the number of autopsy staff, forensic pathologists in the state still perform almost double the recommended number of autopsies per year.
The Satanic Statue Being Made for Oklahoma’s Statehouse Is Coming Along Nicely
Two weeks ago I found myself in the backwoods of rural Florida standing in front of a bronzed bust of the pagan idol Baphomet. A few days later it would be attached to its eight-and-a-half-foot cloven-hoofed body and put to rest on a throne flanked on either side by a small metallic child.
Quote of the Day
“We’re not a wealthy enough state to lock everybody we’re mad at, and still have the money to lock up the people we’re afraid of. And that’s what we’re down to now. We’re having to decide how we’re going to operate this because we’re running out of beds to put people that we’re afraid of.”
– House Speaker Jeff Hickman, who said the federal government could take over Oklahoma’s corrections system if the state doesn’t address dire overcrowding and understaffing in prisons (Source: http://bit.ly/136l6SK)
Number of the Day
42 percent
Percentage of all arrests made in Oklahoma in 2014 that were related to drugs or alcohol.
Source: Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
In Arizona, swings in Medicaid access show program’s impact
Bad timing turned Karen Slone’s medical problem into a crisis. Slone, 53, a former administrative assistant with diabetes, followed doctors’ advice for years, getting regular checkups. Then, last year, she lost her job and her insurance, and stopped going to the doctor. When she spotted a sore on her foot, a common complication of diabetes, Slone tried Neosporin and Band-Aids. By the time she went to an emergency room weeks later, she had a raging infection. Surgeons had to remove bones in two toes. “It was awful,” Slone recalled. “If I’d have been covered, I would have gone to the doctor sooner.”
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OK doesn’t need to look at who it’s putting in prison. It needs to look at who is putting them there. The state’s DAs and judges have achieved higher than national average incarceration rates and higher than national average crime rates, particularly violent crime. Even with the crime rate declines across almost every state including OK the last decade or two, OK is still years behind the progress made by other states. IOW, OK has had far more crime and victimization than other states that followed far different packages of criminal justice policy. Who’s made “protecting public safety and stopping crime” their weapon to whack anyone suggesting following the paths of the safer, more successful states? Who are the only ones to boast about and see OK’s crime and victimization rates as proof of their superior wisdom and know-how on criminal justice policy? You can look at who’s going into prison in OK all you want, but, as long as you do nothing about who peoples up the DA offices and who puts on the robes, you will not do more than marginal change that will be reversed the first new “scare” that comes along and empowers those voices even more once again.