NewsOK: Federal funding runs out for mentoring children of inmates
BY CARRIE COPPERNOLL ccoppernoll@opubco.com
Published: August 1, 2011
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma lost the last two years of its federal funding for a program that pairs mentors with children of incarcerated parents.
Justice Clark, 9 of Oklahoma City, takes a break from paddling. Children and mentors of Big Brothers Big Sisters participated in [...]
Read more...Journal Record: On the job, out of trouble
Persistence pays off for woman after prison term
By Laney Ellisor
The Journal Record
Friday, July 15, 2011
Cielito Russell, assistant manager at Taco Bell in El Reno. (Brent Fuchs)
OKLAHOMA CITY – On March 17, 2009, Cielito Russell was released from prison with little money, many bills and no job.
She owed $150 per month for [...]
Journal Record: Project gives female offenders a second chance
By Laney Ellisor
The Journal Record
Friday, July 15, 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY – The new Tulsa Community Women’s Reentry Project is helping female offenders find jobs within 30 days of their prison release by beginning when the women are still incarcerated.
The project was created by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections Division of [...]
Tulsa World: Mom moves forward after serving sentence
Tulsa World
By: Cary Aspinwall and Adam Wisneski
07/10/11
Megan Olmstead has a tan now, one of the telltale signs that she’s no longer living in a correctional facility.
She lives at her mother’s house, where there’s a pool, a dog and toys for her 3-year-old daughter Chloe – and no warden, no bars, no bed checks.
A few weeks [...]
Tulsa World: Rising crime rates prompt study to evaluate state’s justice system
by: BARBARA HOBEROCK World Capitol Bureau
Friday, June 24, 2011
6/24/2011 7:28:01 AM
OKLAHOMA CITY – House Speaker Kris Steele on Thursday announced a comprehensive study of the state’s criminal justice system, which leaders hope will lead to the creation of legislation and policies that result in better use [...]
NEWSOK: Oklahoma selected for intensive criminal justice study
Oklahoma was selected for the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, a program funded in part through the federal Department of Justice. It will include an intensive study aimed at improving public safety and reducing prison overcrowding.
BY SEAN MURPHY
Published: June 24, 2011
State leaders Thursday promised a detailed study of Oklahoma’s criminal justice system with a [...]
Read more...NEWSOK: Oklahoma governor signs prison bill
Measure expands Oklahoma’s use of community sentencing programs and the electronic monitoring of low-risk, nonviolent inmates. It also limits the governor’s role in the parole process for nonviolent offenders.
BY MICHAEL MCNUTT mmcnutt@opubco.com
Published: May 12, 2011
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signs one of five separate bills designed to shore up the state’s underfunded [...]
Read more...Oklahoma Watch: Incarcerations imperil children’s future
Children whose parents are in prison are more at risk for unhealthy physical and social behavior
by Jaclyn Cosgrove, Oklahoma Watch
jcosgrove@oklahomawatch.org
January 30, 2011
She doesn’t remember Jeffrey’s funeral.
But Laura Taff knows that’s when it all started – the booze, the pills, the drugs, anything she felt would sedate her.
All of it was self-medication. Taff wanted the pain [...]
Tulsa World: Oklahomans support alternative programs
photo by Mike Simons | Tulsa World
Dawn Elrod lies in her bed at Eddie Warrior Correctional Center at Taft, Oklahoma. A recent survey indicates Oklahomans support looking for more effective and less costly ways of treating nonviolent offenders.
Poll results indicate Oklahomans support alternative programs as a way to reduce the state’s incarceration [...]
eCapitol: OK-Pilot program aimed at reducing Oklahoma’s high female incarceration rate
Author: Erin Boeckman Date: 10/11/2010
(OK) Two groups in Oklahoma City and Tulsa are working with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to implement a pilot program that was approved by the Legislature this year to address Oklahoma’s status as No. 1 in female incarceration.
The program was authorized under HB 2998, by Rep. Kris Steele, R-Shawnee, and Sen. Todd Lamb, [...]