Oklahoma budget crisis opens door to criminal justice reform

Source: Reuters

World | Fri Apr 8, 2016 7:05am EDT

Oklahoma budget crisis opens door to criminal justice reform

BY RORY CARROLL

Dwindling oil revenues in Oklahoma are spurring a nowadays rare collaboration by state politicians of all stripes on reforming a bulging prison system that critics say is in danger of breaking down.

The state, always an oil producer, cashed in on the massive growth of fracking operations that extracted hard-to-reach crude oil, boosting tax revenues and easing fiscal constraints.

But the collapse in oil prices in 2014 contributed to a massive $1.3 billion budget deficit, bringing into focus the state's overcrowded and costly corrections system.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

The state's tough-on-crime ethos has spurred the second-highest overall incarceration rate in the country, with a prison system running at 122 percent of capacity. That makes it the third-most-overcrowded in the country, according to the DOC.

[font size=1]-snip-[font]

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-oklahoma-prisons-reform-idUSKCN0X514O