Oklahomans with criminal records can change lives. Let's be a state that honors 2nd chances
One of us — Tammy Franklin — grew up in a home in Oklahoma marked by darkness, neglect and alcohol. By the age of 13, Tammy ran away in search of love. Instead, she found a cycle of crime, addiction and repeated incarceration. At 50, sitting in a county jail facing a 20-year sentence for her latest drug crime, Tammy thought her life was over. Then she received pictures from her daughter-in-law of family milestones, snapshots of graduations and of her first grandchild.
That’s when Tammy had a breakthrough. She didn’t want to receive envelopes of memories she had missed. She wanted to be in the pictures, too. Tammy took ownership of her choices through regular meetings with the prison chaplain. She enrolled in prison programs to tackle substance abuse and signed up for college classes. Released from prison in 2015, Tammy began to work with incarcerated women at Kate Barnard Community Corrections Center — the very same prison she served time — as a program manager for the Prison Fellowship Academy®.
The academy is a yearlong program that uses targeted curriculum, compassionate coaches and restorative community to replace participants’ criminal thinking and behaviors with renewed purpose and biblically based life principles. Today, Tammy oversees similar programs in prisons across Nebraska and Oklahoma, helping others reach their own breakthrough.
Tammy’s comeback shows us that people in prison today can be tomorrow’s leaders.
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Gov. Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma lawmakers recognize the urgency of giving Oklahomans who have served their time a second chance. From removing government barriers to licensed work to ensuring people leave prison with critical paperwork like identification cards, the Sooner State is becoming a national example for policymaking that fosters reentry success. These laws are moving alongside cultural change, as Oklahoma churches and reentry providers deepen their work to provide mentoring, community and rehabilitative opportunities behind bars and in reentry. Now is the time to build on these successes.
In 2023, Oklahoma legislators should heed their constituents’ calls to remove barriers to success for Oklahomans with a criminal record. For instance, lawmakers should stop limiting access to state financial aid for incarcerated students who pursue higher education. Enrollment in prison education programs reduces recidivism, increases employment after prison and promotes positive conduct behind bars. In fact, research shows that participants in these programs are almost 50% less likely to commit another crime. Striking this financial aid restriction in the Oklahoma Tuition Aid Grant will strengthen the public-private partnerships now bringing hope through higher education to Oklahoma prisons.
Lawmakers also can reduce often exorbitant court fees attached to criminal cases. Criminal fees have grown significantly in Oklahoma, even while collection rates remain low. Meanwhile, defendants can face a spiral of negative consequences when they are unable to pay off court fees, including driver’s license suspension, loss of wages and property, poor credit ratings that impact work and housing, and even reincarceration. Court debt should not undercut reentry success or shoulder defendants with an impossible burden.
Finally, lawmakers should incentivize rehabilitation by providing Oklahomans with the opportunity to complete parole or probation sooner when they successfully meet the requirements for their community supervision. Numerous states, such as South Carolina and Wyoming, promote reentry success by allowing men and women to accumulate time credits off their supervision term through good behavior. Oklahoma instituted this compliance credit tool for supervised parole in 2022, and this mechanism for promoting active accountability should extend across the state’s community corrections.
Tammy’s transformation reminds us that people with a past can change their lives and impact their communities for the better. Let’s build on recent progress and make Oklahoma a state that honors second chances.
Sarah Decker is Prison Fellowship’s legislative strategist in Oklahoma. Tammy Franklin is the associate director of Academy programs for Prison Fellowship.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Barriers should be removed for Oklahomans with criminal pasts
