Criminal Justice Reform to keep an Eye On in Oklahoma
The criminal justice system within Oklahoma has some serious concerns. They range from execution method, non-standard criminal sentencing, inadequate detention center space, delayed access to competency treatment, and understaffed prison staff, to name a few.
Every state has its own criminal justice system. Welcoming reformation will improve the current system, assist in resolving specific challenges, and put an end to harsh policies. Reforming the criminal justice system is always the best option for addressing criminal justice challenges. Oklahoma’s Criminal Justice Reform will go a long way toward establishing a unanimous execution method, a fair sentencing statute, improving the detention center environment, and giving prison employees a reason to come to work by enhancing their welfare.
The Criminal Justice Reformations to Watch Out For
In Oklahoma, specific criminal justice challenges need addressing. Here are some issues that legislators are working on:
1. Execution Methods
Oklahoma’s statutes are the only ones that allow for more than two execution methods, with lethal injection as the principal, followed by nitrogen hypoxia, electrocution, and firing squad, in that order, if all other techniques are unavailable or deemed to be unlawful. The Oklahoma Legislature approved the nitrogen option in 2015, but judicial execution has never utilized it. Since statehood, Oklahoma has never employed fire squads to execute inmates; current state law allows for their use if alternative procedures, such as lethal injection, are found to be unconstitutional or unavailable.
Oklahoma’s lethal-injection protocol, on the other hand, has recently been the subject of criticism. Richard Glossip, a death row inmate, filed the complaint in federal court in June 2014. This complaint came weeks after Clayton Lockett died of a heart attack 40 minutes after state officials administered the execution drugs. Over two dozen Oklahoma death row convicts have also joined the federal complaint filing challenging the state’s lethal injection methods, claiming that the three-drug execution method risks causing unlawful agony and suffering.
The three-drug has the following mixture combination: the sedative midazolam, the paralytic vecuronium bromide, and potassium chloride, a heart-stopping chemical. In addition, United States District Judge Stephen Friot decided that the case could go to trial. The state constitution allows executions by nitrogen gas and firing squad if it finds the lethal injection method unconstitutional.
2. Prison Understaffing Solutions
Oklahoma is experiencing a severe shortage of corrections officers, leading to widespread burnout among current employees and putting the lives of people within the state prison in danger. The Department of Corrections is having difficulty hiring and retaining prison staff. While businesses around the country have reported hiring challenges, understaffing is more severe in correctional facilities, where a shortage of labor can raise the probability of violence or result in convicts living in substandard conditions.
The agency has struggled to retain frontline personnel due to low starting salaries and demanding working conditions. A correctional officer’s beginning hourly compensation is $15.74. As a result, there is a plan to introduce legislation to increase the agency’s beginning wage from $15.74 to $20 per hour.
According to the Department of Corrections, younger workers could reduce staffing shortages in correctional facilities. The Board of Corrections has affected a legislative request to reduce the minimum hiring age for the agency from 20 to 18. However, the legislators have not yet taken up the bill.
3. Construction of a New Detention Center
Over the decades, the existing Oklahoma detention center has been experiencing severe overcrowding and understaffing. There have been reports of violence, detainee abuse, and medical negligence in the center. As a result, plans are ongoing to construct a new detention center.
However, the Oklahoma Detention Center Trust recently voted overwhelmingly to approve the construction of a new 1,800-bed detention center, with 400 beds set aside for detainees with mental health or medical problems. The Oklahoma County Commissioners will review the recommendation.
The projected detention center would cost $300 million to build, and operations are projected to start in 2025 or 2026. A mix of citizen-approved general obligation bonds and funds from the American Rescue Plan will most likely pay for the facility’s construction.
4. Easy Access to Competency Treatment
For a defendant’s competency to stand trial, the defendant may be obliged to receive mental health treatment. Oklahoma has a Forensic Center where offenders can get competency treatment. Unfortunately, the Oklahoma Forensic Center does not have an adequate bed capacity to accommodate the increased demand.
Defendants found incompetent to stand trial must wait many months for a bed at the Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita to become available. Thus, the need for treatment to be made available in the jail; to lower the backlog and allow trials to go more quickly. Consequently, Sen. Michael Bergstrom, R-Adair, has introduced legislation to permit pretrial inmates to receive competent treatment in the jail under certain conditions.
If a forensic center’s bed space is unavailable within 30 days of a person being incompetent to stand trial, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services would be entitled to provide off-site treatment.
5. Uniform Criminal Penalties
Oklahoma, unlike most states, does not use a sentencing grid or categorize felonies by severity. Instead, there is a dispersal of criminal charges across state statutes, with the legislature setting the penalty range. As a result, the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Reclassification and Coordination Council have completed a plan to classify all felony charges according to their severity.
The task team included 22 state legislators, district attorneys, law enforcement authorities, and a retired judge. Members received instructions to make suggestions possible to lower or keep the state jail population at the same level. According to task force members, the classification system will give criminal justice stakeholders a better understanding of the criminal code and how long a person sentenced to prison would be locked up before becoming eligible for release.
According to proponents for justice reform, the approach might result in harsher jail sentences for offenders convicted of drug and property crimes. Oklahoma lawmakers will consider overhauling the state’s criminal sentencing statute due to the possibility of it increasing the incarceration population over the next decade.
Conclusion
In Oklahoma, many criminal justice issues need sorting out. Reforming the country’s criminal justice system will go a long way toward solving these issues.
“Though, the results of these reforms are still unknown. However, the outcome of court judgments and state legislative votes will have an impact on Oklahoma’s criminal justice system for years to come,” says criminal defense attorney William Umansky.
