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The top item on criminal justice reform advocates’ agenda has stalled as the Oklahoma legislature passed its first major deadline.
Senate Bill 704 would have greatly limited the practice of lengthening prison sentences because of someone’s previous, nonviolent felony convictions. According to Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform, enhancements mean Oklahomans end up serving prison sentences 70% longer than the national average for property crimes and 79% longer for drug crimes.
The bill was also retroactive, so it would have benefited people in prison serving enhanced sentences. Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform Policy Counsel Colleen McCarty said the state is making progress releasing people from prison and preparing them for life outside, but those can’t be the only actions taken.
Press release content from Globe Newswire. The AP news staff was not involved in its creation.
Hobby Lobby Joins Prison Fellowship in Effort to Improve Justice Outcomes in Oklahoma
Prison FellowshipMarch 10, 2021 GMT
Washington, D.C., March 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Prison Fellowship ®, the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit serving prisoners, former prisoners, and their families, has received a multimillion dollar investment from ’ Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. an American Arts & Craft retail giant. The investment will help Prison Fellowship continue a multi-pronged, holistic approach to achieve more successful justice outcomes in the state of Oklahoma with a particular focus on the rising rates of women’s incarceration.
A Latimer County judge who ruled the Choctaw Nation was never disestablished will now decide if the state lacks jurisdiction in a case accusing a Native American man of sex