At the request of the governor, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has adopted formal rules for commutation eligibility, and it has made those rulespublicly available. The new guidelines will make it easier for many inmates to have their sentences commuted, or shortened, by the governor. The newrules could help ease prison overcrowding and allow people who were serving inappropriately long sentences to be released from prison.
Among those who will be affected by the new eligibility rules are people serving long mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug crimes. Oklahomais known for doling out long sentences for relatively minor drug offenses, and these mandatory minimums are partly responsible for the state's prisonovercrowding problem. You may remember the case of Patricia Spottedcrow, an Oklahoma mother who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for her first drugoffense--a $31 marijuana sale. Ultimately, she was released on parole after spending two years in prison, but her case has become a well-known exampleof Oklahoma's tough drug laws and sentencing.
Now, those like Spottedcrow, who were given inappropriately long sentences for minor drug offenses, will have the opportunity to petition the Parole Boardand the governor for a commutation much earlier.
The new rules are not limited to nonviolent drug offenders, however. Both nonviolent offenders and nonviolent offenders may be eligible to apply for acommuted sentence under the following stipulations:
The new commutation eligibility rules will likely have the biggest impact on nonviolent drug offenders, who may now become eligible for a commuted sentenceafter serving only 3 years of their sentences, which are often in excess of 10 years.
While the new rules could grant early release to violent offenders, keep in mind that eligibility to apply for a commuted sentence is not the same as beinggranted a commuted sentence. The parole board is hesitant to release offenders: in January, the board recommended parole for only 30 of the 322 applicants.Most of those were for drug crimes.
A commuted sentence is different from a pardon or parole. According to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, commutation is "a form of clemency, is a matterof grace, mercy, privilege, or favor and not a matter of inherent or constitutional right." It must first be recommended by the Board, and then approvedby the governor.
