Criminal justice reform is a major agenda topic in this year’s legislative session. A myriad of bills that would implement deep changes to the system have been introduced, and though many were left for dead, several still in the process seem likely to pass.
Former Republican state Speaker of the House Kris Steele is now executive director of Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR). He said the organization is supporting 14 reforms that, if passed, would collectively reduce the state’s prison population by 17 percent by 2028.
“If we do not impact meaningful corrections reform policy now, this year, our prison population is projected to grow by an additional 14 percent in the next 10 years. It’s unsustainable,” Steele said. “What we are proposing is a very logical, methodical, practical agenda. … I would note that last year, 77 percent of all [state Department of Corrections] admissions were for nonviolent crimes.”
Damion Shade, Oklahoma Policy Institute’s criminal justice policy analyst, said he is still watching about 30 different bills. He said some of the top issues addressed include jail sentences, bail, fines, fees and community impact statements.
Retroactive 780
House Bill 1269 would decrease the prisons’ high populations by making State Question 780, which reclassified simple drug possession as a misdemeanor, retroactive. OCJR estimates there are 1,100 people in custody for possession offenses.
“That’s just 1,100 people who were arrested for simple drug possession, in some cases weeks or days before 780 kicked in,” Shade said. “If they’d been arrested, like a week later, they would have been arrested for a misdemeanor, but instead they were arrested and incarcerated for felony.”
Steele said this is at the top of his group’s legislative agenda because it would apply what Oklahomans voted for to people who are incarcerated for what are now misdemeanors.
Reforming bail
HB1294 and SB252 tackle the issue of bail reform, especially for nonviolent offenders.
“The real core takeaway from both bills is they would allow for what are called recognizance bonds. It’s basically exactly the same thing that happens to you if you get a speeding ticket — that’s an easy way to think of it,” he said. “When you get a speeding ticket, technically from a legal definition standpoint, you’re arrested by a cop. … You sign what is known as an [own recognizance bond] that allows you to drive away from that arrest with the statement that at the time that’s listed on the ticket, you will appear in court, you’ll pay whatever your fines and fees are and that’s why you’re not taken to jail.”
Those bills would provide the same opportunity for certain nonviolent offenders. Steele said this bill aims to end the current practice of debtors’ prison so people can continue to work and take care of their family before their trial.
“What happens today is if people are arrested and charged … they’re held pretrial in the county jail until their case goes to trial and that can range anywhere from 34 days to 180 days,” Steele said. “The person literally has not been found guilty of anything at that moment in time. They’re there in the jail because they can’t afford to pay their bond. In essence, what we’ve done is we’ve criminalized poverty and we’ve created a debtors’ prison, which is unconstitutional.”
An analysis on the potential effect of SB252 was recently released by Open Justice Oklahoma director Ryan Gentzler through OK Policy.
“Oklahoma’s money bail system incurs millions of dollars in fees to our most vulnerable communities and keeps thousands of our citizens incarcerated each year because they can’t afford to bond out,” the report reads. “People accused of nonviolent offenses can spend weeks or months in jail, costing counties millions of dollars with no benefit to public safety.”
The report found that during the 2018 fiscal year, Oklahomans accused of nonviolent offenses paid nearly $8.2 million in nonrefundable fees and spent over 329,000 days in jails across the state, costing counties approximately $8.9 million.
Court costs
Over the last 20 years, Shade said court fines and fees have become a big problem for the state. HB1974 authorizes the court to defer outstanding fines, fees or other court costs for certain nonviolent offenders.
“This is another one of those attempts to try and say … ‘Let’s find a way you can waive some of these outstanding fines and fees that make it more difficult for people to get back into their normal lives, both post-conviction and if you’re out on pretrial release,’” Shade said. “There are a lot of these fines and fees that can just stack up, then become an immense burden for people being able to become productive citizens.”
Another bill taking on court costs is HB2218, which would waive some fines and fees under certain circumstances, like people enrolling in workforce training programs.
“Let’s say you were to go to a [vocational-technical] program to become a welder or plumber or some type of skilled technician that’s in high need, you could get relief for some of your court fines and fees for that,” Shade said. “In exchange for that sort of training, which is in high demand right now in Oklahoma, you could also earn early credits to reduce the amount of time that, if you’re out on parole supervision for example, to reduce the amount of time that you have to spend on parole.”
Impact statements
Another legislative priority for OK Policy and OCJR is community impact statements, which HB1855 would institute. It would essentially boil down to a cost-benefit analysis of legislation for a broad range of agencies, which Shade said would help address or alleviate issues that disproportionately affect particular groups of people.
“Having a community impact statement would tell you, ‘Hey, here’s the criminal justice laws that will make that situation better. And here’s some criminal justice system laws that might make the situation worse,’” he said. “Community impact statements have been really effective in Iowa; it just started in New Jersey, but we’ve seen positive signs in other places that they’re a really good way to stop some of these disparities.”
Smart reforms
Steele said passing smart criminal justice reform measures would not only lower Oklahoma’s incarceration rate and high prison population but would also increase public safety.
“It’s very, very costly to incarcerate a person in Oklahoma; it costs roughly $18,000 a year to incarcerate an individual,” he said. “Compare that to the average cost for treatment and supervision in the community; that cost is about $5,000 a year. So the reality is by safely reducing our prison population for nonviolent offenses, that then provides resources for Oklahoma to invest in alternatives to incarceration. By alternatives I mean mental health care, substance abuse treatment programs, community supervision, job training, whatever may be needed to help a person effectively deal with the root cause behind the behavior.”
This article appears in Alcoholmanac 2019.
He had been released about a year from prison & spent his entire adult life there & drugs became a habit in the system & now that he is out & doing good, THEY KEEP OFFERING HIM 15 YEARS ON WHAT IS A POSSESSION CHARGE. HE HAS A REAL HARD TIME AS IT IS ADJUSTING TO THINGS OUT HERE & WHAT ARE THEY SAYING IS THAT HE DONT DESERVE HELP BECOMING PART OF SOCIETY. THE ADDICTION CAME FROM INCARCERATION & FOR EVERYONE ELSE WHO BECAME ADDICTED OUT HERE THEY ARE FINDING ALTERNATIVES, But for Richard Urrutia there can’t be nothing but another 15 years on a possession which is technically a misdemeaner now. SO WHAT DOES INCARCERATION DO FOR SOMETHING DEVELOPED THROUGH INCARCERATION ??????
(“We believe that issues of addiction and mental illness are better addressed through treatment than through punishment,” said Kris Steele, who leads Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform, which led the election campaign. “When we incarcerate a low-level offender and attract a felony charge to that individual, it tends to make a bad situation worse.”
With the new law, Steele estimates Oklahoma will save $45 million over the next ten years, as more offenders receive treatment instead.)
AND HE HAS ALSO DEVELOPED SCHITOPRENIA FROM YEARS & YEARS OF BEING SECLUDED IN A SMALL SPACE BY HIMSELF & IF I CAN HELP CHANGE HIS LIFE SO FAR THEN I DONT KNOW WHATS WRONG WITH AN ENTIRE JUSTICE SYSTEM NOT BEING ABLE TOO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Richard Urrutia Jr. himself is 42 now & his old friends gave him his job & since it pays $20 bucks an hour then Richard took it. He had started to work a bunch those last 2 weeks because as soon as money started rolling in then he was so proud of himself & talked about what all he can do. He works pretty hard you know & it had been recently he was taking on 2 jobs for a minute.
We had court today & it’s all over a possession charge which they have listed as Trafficking because that’s how they do things. They try to prosecute you as much as possible by using terms that don’t really apply & it depends on if they want to send you to prison or not. But technically there are so many ways it’s easy to get around inside how our laws are laid out.
Today we went for a bond reduction hearing & instead of looking at the case these days, the District Attorney’s office brought up the charges he had on Richard when he was 18 & 20 years old. That’s 24 years ago & why should it matter in a case today? He was a kid then & those type charges have not applied since then either & so why does it have a bearing on his life today?
He had finished his time for that & we are talking about someone’s life which has changed & since they been released they have had no charges referring to actual crime being done & all he has received is this possession charge.
During that hearing his Attorney Micah Sielert covered & covered well how Richard was working these days & had a well established job since release. That Richard has lived here all his life & that he has a support system these days too. That obviously his new wife stands by him & a few others have too. I know of 2 people besides myself who have sent in letters telling how Richard has made an impact on them these days, & also how there had been no substantial reason for his search in the first place & so that charge had been dropped.
The attorney mentioned it was barely the amount to consider as trafficking & that sentence has been changed & lowered. But even with that fact this case does not show to be an actual trafficking case.
Then came in District Attorney John Brewer & for his plea he mentioned Richard’s charges but never stated the fact that those charges had been 22 to 24 years ago when Richard was 18 – 20 years old & not charges that have even been within the 10 year period that supposed to matter after a case has been closed.
Richard had charges from 1995, when he was 18 years old & almost 25 years ago). And then in 2002, making that 18 years ago, & that’s the just of his charges that hold him being a violent offender with an outrageous bond amount that they won’t lower, & this why now they feel like for what was obviously (and they know it & were lowing it to that), but his possession now has him looking at 15 years prison time when for everybody else it is a misdemeaner charge.
Other than those charges Richard was only in trouble once & that was in 2013 for a possession & grabbing a toolbox out of the back of a truck. They have it listed as Burglary 2 & for that one incident in 2013 he was incarcerated 5 years, & now it’s another possession & they want to throw 15 years in it because of what he did when he was a young 25 years ago & not to mention that Richard grew up on SE 23rd & Central which was the very worst side of town. I don’t really have a record but I grew up in Moore. He grew up on a side of town that is extremely violent & he has changed his life enough that in the past 18 years time he has only caught that one in 2013 which is nothing much & for what.. .? (it’s always a life sentence)
Why do they make sayings like these if are system don’t believe in them?
“” We all have a past, the difference between those people who achieve thier dreams & the difference between those who don’t is they don’t let the past define them.”
“Your mistakes don’t define your character, it’s what you do after you have made the mistake that makes all the difference.”
I have learnt that it’s always a life sentence & that’s what causes things to never change!
I feel the 10 years after a sentence is already crazy because they give someone a 5 year deferred & then make it to where even 10 years after that it still matters. Don’t they mean a 15 deferred because a deferred is basically promising that you won’t get in any trouble for those 5 years or else you will do time. But even 10 years after then you get in trouble your gonna do that time still because that gives you priors & see so whatever they have you on doubles. So you best hope it is not a rough charge because it don’t matter how minor your prior charge was because enhancements don’t work like you would think here. Enhancements are not for repeating the same type charge like I thought.. . Enhancements come solely because of previous charge, or charges..
Well, come to find out now it’s really a life sentence once you have had a charge because the ones they brought up at Richard’s court date which made him sound like a violent offender were the ones that happened 22-24 years ago. Not anything was mentioned by the Prosecutor in that case today that was within those 10 years back even. Otherwise he would not have those type charges to make his case sound bad at all.
It seems to work because this is actually giving them reason to charge him with 15 years in prison over a possession charge,! So why not just call everything a life sentence & just leave it at that !
You would think it would be based on your recent life & that’s why they say once someone goes to prison then it leads them back again & again. Maybe it’s not them & maybe it’s because we never accept their change & therefore never allow it to stay that way!
That’s what I am here for & its to observe things from the other position of things & help understand where we lack here. From this position is where all the answers come from.
Yours truly, STACY PRIVETT
Wow. They never solved the Carina Saunders murder & I still believe the reason why is because as soon as the officers discovered it was linked to a drug ring that the F.B.I was chasing then thats when they began going after. That messed up the entire case. Thats what happens in politics when they begin to do things the wrong way & with unrealistic motives. Faking evidence & falsifying witness statements. And dont you think that David Prater was not also in on this & not just those 2 detectives. I know because I had given Derek Chance the info they needed to show what was going on & Luis Ruiz’s incarceration at the time. After many court dates & knowing everybody knew of it, but yet they had not released him, then Derek Chance told us that this arrest was needed to win elections & they could not release Luis Ruiz until after they were over. THATS WHAT I THREATENED THE D.A.’S OFFICE WITH & WHY THEY DONT CARE FOR ME.
So this brings me to the case of Richard Urrutia jr. & his case still pending & I had made them mad enough they are now trying to give him 20 years time. They should of never arrested him but I also noticed they falsified info on the probable cause statement so it could appear they had cause. In the end of it they were left with what was really a possession charge & it had no other items that would say different. It barely came to the amount that they can consider as Trafficking which is 20 grams & thats not even an ounce. At first they were going to reduce the charge to possession seeing as how there were no seperate bags, no scales, no baggies, & no other narcotics found, but his possession charge they wanted 15 years prison time & now asking 20 years on that. LAST I CHECKED POSSESSION WAS A MISDEMEANER.!
The thing with his case they had no probable cause to even have searched him & they did this after a guy reported seeing his stolen truck & telling officers it had been a mexican male driving & he was wearing a white shirt & he had entered the store across the parking lot. There was a witness in the store at the time who stated officers walked in & called Richard out by name as he stood in line in front of the doors of the store at the registar. This witness lady, & the cashier, both stated that the officer asked the cashier if Richard had paid for a pump & what pump he paid for? And the cashier said he had not paid for anything yet so he did not know. The Officer had also asked Richard if he drove a red truck & he said the truck he drove happened to be blue. The officers handcuffed Richard & had him searched before he ever left the counter that day. Another witness sitting outside at pumps stated Richard was cuffed & carrying lottery ticket when he came out the store. After they had all exited the store the owner of the so called stolen truck told police that he did not want to file charges on the defendant because he believed that the defendant had just borrowed it from somebody & had not known anything about it. He said Richard even stated this as they brang him out but also he believed him. But this would also be because the truck owner had allowed somebody other than defendant to borrow his truck & that girl never returned it & therefore he reported stolen after 2 days. The victim never realized they still took Richard to jail on those charges until i contacted him. If that officer had pulled Richard out of store to find out what was going on & make sure that the defendant who was mexican with white shirt was even the person in question, then they would of known that the victim did not choose to arrest Richard. The man felt Richard was innocently put in that situation & therefore he did not want to arrest an innocent person. The victim said he was just happy to have his truck back.
They still arrested Richard on those charges from that vehicle regardless because while searching him inside the store, before they found out there was no just cause, they had recovered in his pocket a single bag of meth which was less than an ounce of dope. The officer had not wanted to allow him to leave that scene & in effect he had to still keep his reason for search in the first place & therefore still charged him with stealing that truck. The victims real address was 1315 se 20th & other than the address they had sent the supena too for him to show at court. Victim never showed up to court so that charge was dropped although that gave them reason to keep the possession charge which they classified as Trafficking because they could get away with it seeing as how it barely hit the mark still of 20 grams.
Now they are trying to give him a 20 year prison sentence & using his past of 24 years ago against him although it is not even in the time frame of the 10 years after completion of the sentence. And its not supposed to work like that.
“This is why statistics say that once you gone to prison then people most times always go back.”
Richard had been working, had a very good pying job that he had been working at for quite some time & his last felony had been 8 years back now & it was for a possession as well, but also when he stole a toolbox out of the back of a truck. He was given Burglary 2 & those were his latest charges & they themselves were almost 10 years ago. Instead of looking at his life now though, at court they used his many charges back 24 years ago while he was barely past a teen to hold him incarcerated on a high bond which they would not reduce at the bond reduction hearing. And trying to give him 20 years on what is a possession charge that was illegally obtained in the fierst place.
CASE # CF-2018-4243
This blog has a really informative content related to criminal justice. Thanks for sharing this article. https://805bail.com/areas-we-serve/simi-valley-bail-bonds/
( God does not like ugly and you might think your using your power to do good, but not when your purposely misusing info, hiding it, falsifying facts or reforming them to fit your purpose. .)
Its an issue of Harassment really & not about playing fair. They feel he needs to be in jail but I dont think its thier job to decide that or make sure it happens. I am not sure what they discovered on him that day exactly but I know it simple possession either way & they know they choose to overcharge him & give him a huge prison sentence on it. He has been incarcerated over a year in that jail fighting this case because he trusts in me & I know God will help me somehow because I know God wouldn’t allow this all to end like that. There is no way & no way I will let it happen. There is right & wrong, and there is no way I can sit back & watch something happen when I know it is not right.
They should not of messed with him in the first place & he was not doing anything wrong these days. He stopped doing stuff like that almost 18 years ago. But somehow they try to throw things out there in order to discredit him like they did at his bond reduction hearing. When I filed for one of those because it was in excess of what I can even get close to paying the D.A. guy came in with his report, hoping to deny lowering his bond, by throwing his record up as if it was charges he was facing recently. The charges mentioned were 20 years ago, but when it said to the judge he failed to mention that they were not current at all. The judge about freaked & of course did not want to lower the bond because of what the D.A. said & I am sure they will use this tactic at trial. To make him appear like he is a big criminal so heads will automatically think he has to be now. Thats because if they stuck with charges obtained within 10 years after the case ended then that would not leave them with much of a case.
The problem with this case is I dont believe it is anything different then the other they tried in March of 2018. But that one i happen to be there & so I knlw what they tried to do then. Its the exact same officer from that case & Officer Abraham Luna. But that day 4 cop cars came up to us. They told me they just wanted to speak to him & pulled him off a different direction as me. They had no reason to bug us that day & when it seemed they were done then they began telling me they found something around where we standing & if I could not say it was Richard’s that he thrown down then they would arrest both of us on charges of possession. But possession was a felony then & at one point they got so angry because i was not saying that an officer yelled out they were going to arrest him regardless but I could have charges too. They found nothing on niether of us so why wwould he be arrested regardless & if i say i seen him with something & he threw it then I wouldn’t be charged?
So they charged me also but let me out hours later. They were trying to keep him & thats why he still sat incarcerated those 10 days. When i called up to get information on the case i was told the arresting officer had been Abraham Luna & when the officer pulled it up all he said was “this is a complicated case” & then he told me nothing. All I have is the OSCN entry on my name to prove it ever happened.
Now on this case its the same (Oklahoma county case # CF-2018-4243) which had no probable cause at all I found out after speaking to the store clerk, a witness in line behind Richard at the store, & the truck owner on the case who told me that he believed Richard had not stolen his truck & thats why he told the police himself that he was not wanting charges filed on him. Which that conversation is on my messenger & it doesn’t matter because the officers had no right to detain him to begin with. Now he has been in county for a year & a half fighting a Trafficking case which showed no signs of Trafficking regardless. They refused to read out the motions written to the court during the trail conference & from what i understand they are not even supposed to continue trying to prosecute a case when it had no probable cause in the first place. But they are going to because me & David Prater have some old issues & got into a fight in the start of this case. So bad that the lawyer I hired went to the first court appearance then came back & began yelling me what I did. When i told him about the circumstances with me & David Prater then he automatically wanted to resign away from this case & put in his withdrawal by going & have Richard sign for him too that very next business day. They refuse to read our motions & set it for trial even though they never brang Richard up for the court hearing & we had to find out over OSCN because they refuse to share anything with me & when Richard’s mother called thier office then they would not return her phone calls. This case is still pending & a concern of mine. Need somebody to help figure out what is going on because I been doing it alone & it is so hard. Thanks, Stacy Marie Privett. 405-625-8927