Oklahoma Justice Reform Task Force Final Report

In this report, the Oklahoma Justice Reform Task Force investigated Oklahoma’s exploding incarceration rates and the judicial policies that contribute to prison overcrowding. The Task Force used their analysis to develop 27 policy recommendations aimed at improving public safety by reducing recidivism and reforming sentencing policies. 

You can read the full text of the report here. 

Key findings

• Throughout the state, there is no consistent communication between a person with financial obligations and the courts.
• The Task Force supports developing a program that will consolidate all the fines, fees, and other costs an individual may owe to a court for a criminal offense and also establishing a pilot program to incentivize payment of outstanding fines, fees, and court costs.  

Recommendations

• Except in instances of willful nonpayment, eliminate the extension of supervision for failure to pay court-related financial obligations, including but not limited to fines and fees.
• Establish realistic payment plans based on discretionary income–income in excess of 150 percent of the federal poverty line–for anyone who requests it. 
• Modify HB 3160 by requiring all courts to defer payments of fines and fees upon reentry for all probationers, parolees, and those being released from prison for the first six months after release from state prison. 
• Require that no inmate be ineligible for the GPS program based on an inability to pay GPS monitoring fees; DOC should work with the inmate to waive, subsidize, or establish payment plans for GPS costs.