CORRECTIONS AGENCY OFFERS FISCAL PLAN

The Oklahoma Corrections Department presented its strategic plan Monday for
the next fiscal year to the public safety and judiciary appropriations and
budget subcommittee. Highlights of the report were:

Nearly 80 percent of Corrections' new inmates in fiscal 2001-02 were
nonviolent offenders.

Nonviolent offenders make up 61 percent of the prison system population.
Nearly half the system's annual receptions are for people convicted either
of DUI or for drug crimes.

A presentation by Corrections Director Ron Ward noted that the state's
inmate population continues to climb.

Oklahoma ranks fourth nationally, behind Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas,
in the number of people it sends to prison per capita.

State prison spending in Oklahoma has doubled to almost $400 million in the
past 10 years; the inmate population has grown from 14,400 to more than 23,000.

Corrections houses about 5,000 inmates in for-profit private prisons. The
state also contracts with county jails to house 300 inmates.

Ward told committee members 98 percent of the system's available public
beds are occupied. About 90 percent of available private prison space is
being used, he said.

The report also details funding and staffing problems for the department,
including five years without an increase in the daily reimbursement rate
for private prisons that house state prisoners, and a growing shortage of
correctional officers because of budget cuts.

The department's six major goals as part of its strategic plan are: To
achieve the secure management of sentenced offenders in correctional
facilities; to promote the successful re-entry of offenders; to support
alternatives for incarceration; to provide constitutional and efficient
health care to inmates; to provide effective employee training and
leadership development; and to provide efficient support services for
operational needs.

Subcommittee Chairwoman Jari Askins, D- Duncan, said the presentation was
helpful to her group, but the committee will be talking to Ward again.

"We are just getting started in our evaluation of the department and its
budget," Askins said.