DRUG SENTENCES FILL PRISONS

Growth In Drug-Related Convictions Straining State's Resources

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Drug convictions are continuing to drive up the state's
bulging inmate population at a time when funding for additional bed space
appears scarce.

K.C. Moon, director of the Criminal Justice Resource Center, said the state
has space for 21,500 offenders but houses 23,000. It depends on private
prison contracts for some of that space.

Oklahoma will add another 600 inmates in fiscal year 2004 at a cost of $9
million to $10 million, Moon said. Another 822 beds will be required in
fiscal year 2005, costing $12.3 million, according to a report released
this week by the Oklahoma Sentencing Commission.

But those figures are contingent on sentencing and crime trends remaining
the same, Moon said.

Oklahoma Department of Corrections' figures show an actual fiscal year 2002
prison population of 22,981. The prison population is projected to increase
to 23,638 in fiscal year 2003, rising to 25,113 by fiscal year 2005.

"Drug offenses are the No. 1 offense that people go to prison for," Moon
said. "It is about 40 percent of all receptions."

Ten years ago, drug crimes represented 23 percent of all prison receptions.

"Drug crimes are consistently going up every year," Moon said.

Drug arrests have increased to 14.2 percent of all arrests in 2001 from 8
percent in 1989, according to the Sentencing Commission report. The
increase is a 78 percent hike, according to the report. Drug arrests
include sale, manufacturing and possession of drugs.

Meanwhile, arrests for crimes such as murder, rape, robbery, aggravated
assault, burglary and larceny have decreased 26 percent, from 14.5 percent
of total arrests to 10.7 percent during the same time, according to the report.

The average prison sentence for an offender convicted of simple drug
possession in 2001 was 5 years and 4 months, Moon said.

An offender convicted for drug distribution was sentenced to prison in 2001
for nearly 10 years, about the same as an offender sentenced for assault
and battery, a violent crime, he said.

The Department of Corrections received a supplemental appropriation of $9.8
million for fiscal year 2003 during a recent special session. The money was
needed to delay staff furloughs until April, Department of Corrections
Director Ron Ward has said.

"Delaying the furloughs will mean that employees may have to absorb the
furlough days within a shorter time frame if significant fiscal improvement
is not realized, supplemental appropriations are not provided or additional
revenue shortfalls occur," Ward said in a Nov. 18 director's update.

The department is projected to need another $18.4 million in funding for
fiscal year 2003, said Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie.

"The Legislature hasn't funded corrections to the extent that the
Department of Corrections wanted because the Legislature has other
priorities, clearly -- education, roads, tax breaks," Moon said.

In addition, administrative changes within the department have caused
inmates to serve more time, which in turn costs more money, Moon said.

"Early release alone will hardly make a dent in the problem," Moon said.
"We can let 1,000 offenders out today and those beds will be refilled in
four months."

Reform of sentencing laws, a tax increase, a drop in the crime rate or an
improved economy could help offset the funding woes faced by the
department, Moon said.

The Oklahoma Sentencing Commission next month is expected to issue
recommendations to lawmakers about how to deal with the state's prison
populations.