Oklahoma DOC seeks $1.6B as inmate population soars

[TexasTowelie]

Since 2010, more than 30 states have seen a decrease in prison populations. Oklahoma is trending in the other direction, and it doesn't have the cell space to keep up.

"If Oklahoma truly wants to incarcerate that many people, (Oklahomans) will end up having to pay for it," former Oklahoma House Speaker Kris Steele said.

Oklahoma Department of Corrections communications director Terri Watkins said she expects the state's prison population to grow 25 percent over the next 10 years.

To combat the rising tide, DOC is pushing to appropriate more than $1.6 billion for fiscal year 2018, including $850 million for two new medium-security facilities.

Read more: http://www.swtimes.com/news/20170126/oklahoma-doc-seeks-16b-as-inmate-population-soars

[Tanuki]

1. Boondoggle for the private prison industry

"Oklahoma began contracting with private prisons in the 1990s. Watkins said Oklahoma had a choice: build more prisons or contract with private prisons.

"The state chose private prisons," Watkins said. "Now, there is no room at the inn if we shut down the private prisons. We do not have a place to put the 5,900 inmates that are currently being housed in private prisons in Oklahoma, as of this morning.
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"In my opinion, private prisons are meant to act as a temporary stopgap for when the prison population surpasses capacity," he said. "However, Oklahoma has become very reliant on private prisons, and those temporary inmates are becoming permanent inmates."

In addition, Steele said private prisons have no incentive to reduce recidivism rates and actually benefit from the state's inmate surplus.

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Steele said Oklahoma has an incarceration rate 78 percent higher than the national average. It also has the highest incarceration rate for women and the third highest incarceration rate for men. Most are non-violent offenders imprisoned for drug-related crimes.

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