By Barbara Hoberock
Tulsa World
OKLAHOMA CITY —- A state lawmaker and Gov. Mary Fallin’s office believe the Oklahoma Department of Corrections isn’t properly releasing offenders to lower levels of supervision as they near the end of their sentences.
But the agency contends it is following the law.
Rep. Gus Blackwell, R-Laverne, said the agency’s high inmate capacity is in part due to its reluctance to rely on halfway houses, as allowed by law.
Blackwell recently appeared before the state Board of Corrections to make his case.
“Filling these beds would save, at least, $2 million and would reduce the overall capacity rate from 99 percent to approximately 96 percent,” Blackwell said in a letter to the Board of Corrections.
The Department of Corrections recently emptied male offenders from the Avalon Correctional Services halfway house in Tulsa following an investigation of the facility. The company hopes to come up with a plan so the DOC will again rely on the halfway house, said Brian Costello, Avalon president and chief operating officer.
Fallin’s office believes the Department of Corrections is not following the law, which would result in an increased use of halfway houses as offenders near the end of their sentences. That message was conveyed to the agency last summer and again in December, said Steve Mullins, Fallin’s general counsel.
Fallin’s office has asked incoming Department of Corrections Director Robert C. Patton to take a look at the law and the agency’s policy, said Alex Weintz, a Fallin spokesman.
Patton, division director of operations at the Arizona Department of Corrections, was tapped to replace Justin Jones, who resigned from the agency plagued with crowded facilities, low staffing and high turnover.
Jerry Massie, a Department of Corrections spokesman, said he doesn’t believe there is a disagreement over the use of halfway houses, adding that the agency is following the law, which has exclusions for certain offenders in the step-down process.
But, Massie said, the process can be improved.
Blackwell said the state needs to increase its reliance on halfway houses, which are cheaper than traditional incarceration.
Halfway houses provide offenders with the opportunity to secure the necessary documents and work experience to be successful once they are released, he said.
Blackwell said about 500 halfway houses in the state are vacant. Increased use of halfway houses would reduce the strain on DOC staff and the agency’s budget, he said.