Rally to end mass incarceration in OK planned for Thursday

TULSA — A rally is planned for the Oklahoma Capitol rotunda Thursday calling for an end to mass incarceration in the state.

Speakers include former Tulsa Police Drew Diamond; Kris Steele, former House Speaker and founder of Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform; and DeMarchoe Carpenter, an Edmond man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and imprisoned for 22 years.

Kevin Armstrong, Director of OK CURE (Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants), tells KRMG the rally will begin at 10:00 a.m. and go until noon.

Oklahoma leads the nation per capita in incarceration of women, and is behind only Louisiana in the incarceration rate for men.

Armstrong tells KRMG that’s about to change, but not for the better.

“Louisiana is celebrating right now,” he said, “because they’re about to drop to number two in male incarceration, and we’re going to be number one, because last spring their legislature passed a number of reform bills. And they believe that by the time this year is out, the numbers from Washington on all states and where they stand - we’re going to be number one in both categories, and we don’t think that’s right in any way.”

Criminal Justice Reform has gained a bit of steam in Oklahoma, because it’s widely supported in a bipartisan way - though progressives and conservatives push it for very different reasons.

On the left, people believe incarceration does nothing to solve the problems which lead many to drug addiction and related crimes.

On the right, there’s a growing realization that mass incarceration is costing the state a huge amount of money.

Recently Joe Allbaugh, the Director of the Department of Corrections, said the state will need to build two more prisons in the near future to house Oklahoma’s fast-growing prison population.

That, Allbaugh noted, will cost the state roughly $1.9 billion.

CLICK HERE for more information on Thursday's rally.