By Graham Lee Brewer
The Oklahoman
OKLAHOMA CITY — A partnership between several state agencies is taking the criminal justice system in Oklahoma County one step closer to modernization, state and county officials say.
Oklahoma County Court Clerk Tim Rhodes and the state Corrections Department have been operating a pilot program for the past two months that allows a convicted inmate’s sentencing to be electronically submitted from the court house to prison staff. The program streamlines inmate transfers in the county by eliminating pen and pad documentation and the involvement of an entire agency in the process.
When an offender is charged in the state, the county clerk gives the conviction and length of sentence information, known as a “judgment and sentencing,” to the county jail where the offender is housed. It’s up to sheriffs when to notify the state Corrections Department of that sentencing and deliver the inmate to the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center, where all state inmates are processed.
“We were already scanning those documents into our computer system,” Rhodes said. “So, rather than printing them, multiple copies, stamping the certification stamp and then squeezing it with the old cast iron seal and mailing them or holding them here for someone to pick up ... all those steps have been eliminated.”
Rhodes said the process is as simple as emailing the judgment and sentences to the state Corrections Department and any other necessary state or county entity, from an authorized email address. Rhodes said documents sent through the email address are considered by all parties to be certified.
Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel agreed the program creates efficiencies by taking his office out of the notification process altogether.
Whetsel is still responsible for transporting the inmates to Lexington for processing.
As of Thursday, Whetsel said he had close to 75 state inmates awaiting transfer to a state prison.
That number for prisoners on a waiting list is down by more than two-thirds after the state Corrections Department in April began rapidly removing the backlog of thousands of state offenders who had built up in county jails across the state.
“It may decrease slightly the amount of time (inmates stay in county jails), but the larger goal was to eliminate the paper that was changing hands,” state Corrections Department spokeswoman Terri Watkins said in an email.
“It also eliminated the chance of documents being misplaced or lost.”
System will spread
Watkins said the new electronic system will officially become routine in Oklahoma County in January, at which point they plan to reach out to larger counties like Tulsa and duplicate the program.