qotd 2/16

“Many fees are imposed on people convicted even of minor offenses. The myriad fees imposed by every actor in the local justice system (jail bed fees, court fines, court costs, drug and mental health courts, district attorney probation, community supervision, etc.) keep people mired in a cycle of debt and poverty.”

-Vera Institute of Justice report on overcrowding at the Oklahoma County jail, which opened in 1991 with an inmate capacity of 1,200 but housed 2,651 people in November 2015 (Source)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ryan Gentzler worked at OK Policy from January 2016 until November 2022. He last served as the organization's Reserach Director and oversaw Open Justice Oklahoma. He began at OK Policy as an analyst focusing on criminal justice issues, including sentencing, incarceration, court fines and fees, and pretrial detention. Open Justice Oklahoma grew out of Ryan’s groundbreaking analysis of court records, which was used to inform critical policy debates. A native Nebraskan, he holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Oklahoma and a BA in Institutions and Policy from William Jewell College. He served as an OK Policy Research Fellow in 2014-2015.

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