Why Oklahoma has the Highest Female Incarceration Rate in the Country
For over 25 years, Oklahoma has led the nation in the rate at which it sends women to prison. Roughly 151 of every 100,000 Oklahoma women are behind bars — twice the national average.
Drugs and drug-related crimes, even simple possession, are some of the top reasons women enter the state's criminal justice system. And, they're staying longer. Stephens County, a mostly rural area where Allen is from, had the third-highest rate of women in prison. Allen is serving 20 years for possession of methamphetamines — two times longer than the state average.
While other conservative states have reduced sentences for drug crimes, Oklahoma has headed in the opposite direction. Judges and prosecutors haven't reformed the number of sentences for women. Some have increased women's sentences for drug crimes over the last decade. Voters, tired of waiting for legislative change, used a referendum last fall to make drug possession a misdemeanor. Those changes took effect in July.
In Tulsa County, the rate for sending women to prison has decreased over the last seven years. That's due, in part, to a program funded by oil billionaire George Kaiser that aims to send women to treatment instead. …