Thread: I hear constantly that Oklahoma's prison system is corrupt because of private prisons. Let's talk about why that is one tiny piece of the huge problem that is Oklahoma's criminal justice system. Not a lawyer, policy wonk, etc. This is some 101 stuff.
Oklahoma's PUBLIC state-owned and operated prisons have nearly 20k people in them. That is 113% of capacity. Where are those 13 percent? Glad you asked. Usually one of two places: county jails or temporary beds.
In county jails, there are no services. No mental health, no substance abuse, no job training. No counseling at all. Just meals. Temporary beds are shoved into common spaces. Sometimes it's the spaces where these classes are supposed to be held, so those classes disappear.
On top of this being over capacity, let's talk about staffing. Prisons director Joe Allbaugh wrote an editorial recently stating 1/3 of corrections officer positions are vacant. Why? They make about $13/hour to control prisons. They can make more at QuikTrip.
And 1/3 is average. There are facilities where vacancies are pushing 50 percent. On top of being past capacity, they have to close wings in the prisons because there aren't enough people to patrol them. But that's not all about workers.
Same Allbaugh editorial. Want to guess how many plumbers work for a system that serves 20k inmates, not even counting workers? ONE. Electricians? ONE. Also, every single prison needs basic infrastructure repairs. Badly. There are some where the locks don't even work.
One facility literally has a water tower's control valve held together with a toothbrush and a broom. This isn't a joke. This is a reality. So ok, these are the public prisons.
The wildly understaffed, crumbling state prisons hold 20,000 inmates, which is 113% of their capacity. We have 7,000 more inmates in our private prison system. What happens if we just shut down all those greedy private prisons? We in a very literal sense can't.
That's not the end of the line. Let's move forward one step in the process: County jail. Do you think those are any better funded? No. How many cases have we seen of people dying in county jail before they ever get to court? Don't have #s. @DGoforth918 @rcgentzler @RoryFleming8A?
@DGoforth918 @rcgentzler @RoryFleming8A But you can go back one more step. Our court system is underfunded. Not only does it depend on fines and fees, which just about everyone agrees we should venture away from. We have a savings account paying for a good chunk, the OCIS fund. It's almost empty journalrecord.com/2018/06/20/cou…
@DGoforth918 @rcgentzler @RoryFleming8A Oklahoma has 77 counties and 27 district attorneys offices. Want to guess asst. DA's caseloads? 300-400 simultaneously. Staffing shortages there too. They are lucky to read a case the day before. Oh and we pay them about $45k. A JD from OU law costs >$150k journalrecord.com/2018/08/16/dis…
@DGoforth918 @rcgentzler @RoryFleming8A Are public defenders any better? No. The agency overseeing those is flirting with insolvency. I haven't worked on a story about that yet and I'm not finding many so here's @rcgentzler in @enidnews. enidnews.com/opinion/column…
Literally everything on the way to prison is underfunded, and our public system is falling apart. We literally can't handle 7,000 more prisoners in the public system.
If you want change:
Sheriffs/ county commissioners decide how jails are run/funded.
State lawmakers decide how to fund the public defenders offices, DA offices and public prisons.
Governor chooses prisons diretor.
Call. Vote.
Do NOT come at me parroting lines re: private prisons
Sheriffs/ county commissioners decide how jails are run/funded.
State lawmakers decide how to fund the public defenders offices, DA offices and public prisons.
Governor chooses prisons diretor.
Call. Vote.
Do NOT come at me parroting lines re: private prisons
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