Again or still, depending on how you look at it! What IS the purpose of a Pardon and Parole Board? I'm not sure anymore. Let's explore, shall we?
State Question 309 was adopted at election on July 11, 1944 which amended the Oklahoma Constitution and created the five-member Pardon and Parole Board. According to the Oklahoma Constitution, Article 6, Section 10, " … It shall be the duty of the Board to make an impartial investigation and study of applicants for commutations, pardons or paroles, and by a majority vote make its recommendations to the Governor of all persons deemed worthy of clemency. … "
I was not around at that time, so I can't comment on the political atmosphere surrounding the debate. I have, however, been around and involved in the criminal injustice system for many, many years since a violent juvenile tragically decided to assault and end my mother's life. My family had no choice but to be thrown into a flawed system, and so we decided to try and make it better. In fact, I have proudly served as a Probation and Parole Officer, was a voting member of the Pardon and Parole Board, retired as the victims advocate at the Department of Corrections, attended numerous homicide survivor support group meetings, heard countless officials addressing crime victim concerns, and addressed thousands of people about those same concerns.
All these years, I truly believed and repeated that the duty of the PPB was to recommend clemency to those deemed worthy. Period. In fact, former Attorney General Susan Loving, while serving as a member of the PPB, once spoke to the Homicide Survivors Support Group in which I was attending. She said something to the effect that the PPB was the "touchy-feely" part of the system and that their purpose was not to decrease bed-space. Their purpose was to show mercy and recommend clemency. It's apparent to me that worthiness and mercy are not the reasons anymore. It's bedspace and money.
Governor Stitt has just released the "Stitt Administration Annual Accomplishments Report 2019." Page 30 addresses the Pardon and Parole Board. The page outlines the "efforts underway to reduce inmate incarceration levels". That means "create bedspace." Am I wrong? Here is the first paragraph.
"The Pardon and Parole Board has been at the forefront of implementing criminal justice reforms for our state. In 2019, the agency docketed 6,940 cases – a 118% increase in volume compared to the 3,183 cases docketed in 2018. … Because of these changes and the public’s desire to see Oklahoma reduce its high level of incarceration, favorable recommendation by the board were up 255%, including 763 additional parole recommendations and 788 additional commutation recommendations to the governor. These actions by the board are the primary reasons why the inmate population at Oklahoma Department of Corrections has fallen by 7.6%, or over 2,000 inmates, in the past year."
Okay, I read that the PPB, with the Governors blessing and encouragement has decreased bedspace by 2,000 in the past year and saved the taxpayers almost 12 million dollars. So, is that the new duty not found in the Constitution? Other than a new on-line form for victim protests, I found nothing reported that the Governor did in his first year for crime victims. Did I just miss it, or has nothing been done? What's up with that?
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