STATE SPENDS LESS FOR WOMEN PRISONERS' TREATMENT

Oklahoma spends dramatically less on drug and alcohol treatment programs
than other states that send fewer women to prison, a task force was told
Wednesday. K.C. Moon, director of the Criminal Justice Resources Center,
said Oklahoma's per capita expenditures for alcohol and drug abuse treatment
programs are 117 percent less than the U.S. average.

Oklahoma spends $6.06 per capita on treatment programs, compared with $13.17
nationally. On a regional basis, expenditures total $8.12, or 37 percent
more than in Oklahoma.

Generally, Moon said, the states that have the lowest incarceration rates
are the ones that spend the most on treatment.

Moon said the low Oklahoma spending on treatment programs might be
surprising to many, since the state also leads the nation in the number of
citizens that do not have health insurance.

The task force, headed by Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin, is seeking to discover
reasons why Oklahoma imprisons women at a higher rate than any other state.
Oklahoma tops the national average in sending women to prison by 143
percent.

The task force had previously heard statistics of a growing trend toward
sending drug offenders to prison.

Officials have suggested that the lack of treatment opportunities is leading
prosecutors and the courts to divert some inmates to prison who should go to
community treatment programs.

Most of the women go to prison in Oklahoma after plea negotiations which Rob
Wallace, Le Flore County district attorney, said are necessary because of an
underfunded judicial system.

Officials of the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit organization in New
York, said some other states - including Kansas, Texas and Indiana - have
instituted programs to divert first-or second-time drug offenders to
treatment programs instead of prison.

Sen. Dick Wilkerson, D-Atwood, said he would not favor making drug treatment
mandatory in every case. He said judges need flexibility.

Moon said there also is a danger of expanding the prison population and
creating other social problems if people must plead guilty to a felony drug
charge to get treatment.