A corrections officer stands guard at a gate inside a prison in Livingston, Texas. PAT SULLIVAN / Associated Press file
There's a reason why Oklahoma still supports a prison population whose numbers are as high as an elephant's eye while North Carolina has shuttered five prisons in the past two years.
In North Carolina, policymakers apparently care about trying something different. In Oklahoma, some leaders don't want to change the business-as-usual model, which is to allow state prisons to remain overstuffed - more than 26,000 at last count - and to pack the overflow crowd off to private prisons.
Oklahoma had - still has - the opportunity to do what North Carolina has accomplished, which is to carry out the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, a conservative, public-safety strategy. Lawmakers passed JRI here in 2012 but after funding the program the first year, they have largely allowed the initiative to languish. In the past year, the inmate population has risen by 800 inmates.
North Carolina passed JRI in 2011 and has reduced its inmate population by 4,000.
The differences between the two states was laid bare in a "Tale of Two States," reported Aug. 28 by Oklahoma Watch and published in the Tulsa World. It tells the story of why Oklahoma threatens to become a penal colony - fourth highest incarceration rate in the nation - while North Carolina, Texas, Ohio and South Carolina have moved forward.
JRI is a multi-year plan, which aims to reduce nonviolent inmate populations and recidivism, enhance law enforcement, reduce crime and punish some nonviolent offenders in more productive ways than straight incarceration. All this is done with an eye toward reducing costs and improving public safety.
Texas, which like Oklahoma relies heavily on private prisons, put the JRI into effect years ago. Texas has experienced substantial results - saving money, reducing crime, incarcerating fewer nonviolent inmates - even closing an older prison.
Last spring, the Tulsa World reported that as Oklahoma's prison population has risen, so have costs - more than $460 million annually to the Department of Corrections - the third largest state expenditure behind public education and the Department of Human Services.
The state spent $73 million on private prison contracts last fiscal year, up from $57 million in fiscal 2004. The trend here is for prison spending to crowd out other state needs.
In North Carolina the trend is going the other way. Two states with the same opportunities: One takes advantage of a fresh start. The other remains in the throes of a 25-year addiction of letting the inmate population grow unchecked.
If that incarceration rate continues to climb, private prisons have a bright future with plenty of inmates heading their way.
Editorials
The 6,300 employees at the American Airlines Maintenance Facility in Tulsa could use some certainty, but they're going to have to wait.
The loss of 12 lives, 13 counting the suspect, in the Navy shipyard shootings Monday is tragic. With each killing spree the natural reaction is to search for the motive or the psychological reason for such a horrific event.
