Capitol Report for dailies for week of Feb. 26, 2006

Without ID, freed inmates said set up for failure
By Jim Campbell
OPA Capitol News Bureau

Fresh out of prison, they're also fresh out of identification, out of a ride and many times out of luck.
"It sets them up for failure," says Sen. Daisy Lawler, D-Comanche.
With no driver's license they can't even cash a check, she said.
"We've had people let out and re-arrested with their $50 check still in their pocket because they couldn't cash it," she said.
Not surprisingly, she said, they had stolen something to survive and earned themselves some more hard time to boot.
Lawler's Senate Bill 1698 seeks to improve on that scenario, for the inmate as well as for the state's pocketbook. It requires the Department of Corrections to maintain inmates' valid driver licenses or state identification cards and send the paroled or discharged offenders back into society with them, along with $50 and tickets home.
The Senate Appropriations Committee gave the measure a do-pass recommendation, with the title stricken to allow further refinement. Lawler said she would continue working on details with officials of the DOC and the Department of Public Safety. 
She said the bill resulted from an interim study on ways to trim the numbers of offenders who return to prison. At two faith-based workshops, she said, she heard "that one of the biggest obstacles was that they (released inmates) did not have any identification."
Some committee members questioned the expense and safety of the bill's provisions.
"We're going to give them a driver's license, clothing, a rental car maybe?" asked Sen. Jonathan Nichols, R-Norman.  
Sen. Cliff Aldridge, R-Midwest City, was concerned that "they've been in prison 10 or 15 years, don't have any insurance and they're going to get in a car and drive off?"
The prisoners would have to pay to keep their driver's licenses valid, Lawler said.
She sees her bill as part of efforts to control Oklahoma's ever-increasing costs of incarceration.
"We have 400 (inmates) coming in this year and that's going to cost $7 million," she said. "If we can cut recidivism with this bill it will pay for itself."
An agreement on $24 million in supplemental funding for corrections, simmering on Senate and House burners since June, was announced only Thursday.
Lawler said high costs spring not only from incarceration and recidivism but in the social costs of caring for inmates' children and subsequent crimes.
"Most of them are going to get out, 90 to 95 percent will be returning," she said. "And we incarcerate more women than any other state."
She said 80 percent of the women will have children and 70 percent of those children are likely to become offenders if left on their own.
Among other things, the bill also would require the DOC to implement pilot faith-based volunteer programs in its institutions by July 1. At least one would be for female inmates and at least one for males.
Inmates would be encouraged to take part in "a pro-social environment where values and responsibilities are appropriately rewarded."

HHH

Oklahoma doctors have a go-ahead from a house committee to take part in the execution of criminals, free of potential reprisal from professional organizations.
"This would prevent the kind of situation that is going on right now in California," said Rep. Paul Roan, D-Tishomingo, before his House Bill 2660 received a do-pass vote with no discussion in the House Judiciary Committee 
The California situation renewed arguments over the ethical role of physicians in capital punishment.
Two anesthesiologists refused to monitor the administration of a sedative for convicted killer Michael Morales before he was to be put to death at San Quentin by paralyzing and heart stopping drugs.
A federal judge in San Jose had ordered the anesthetic after hearing arguments that the lethal injections inflicted excruciating pain and suffering and was therefore unconstitutionally cruel and unusual. The California Medical Association told doctors they should not take part in executions.
Roan's bill, a request from the Department of Corrections, declares no licensing body shall take any action to "revoke, suspend or deny a license to any person authorized to operate as a professional in the state of Oklahoma, for the reason that the person participated in the execution process as required or authorized by law or the director of the Department of Corrections."
Richard Kirby, director of legal services for the DOD, said two Oklahoma death row inmates have filed a suit to prevent their execution on grounds that the way the injection is administered would cause pain and suffering.
The California physicians, who were not identified, issued a statement saying they were concerned that they might have to advise the executioner if Morales should awaken or appeared to suffer pain.
A spokesman for the Oklahoma State Medical Association said the organization will not have an official stance on the issue until it is discussed by the board of trustees and the House of Delegates.
The California Medical Association has proposed legislation that would end the role of physicians in executions.
The same committee also approved a bill allowing judges to be armed in the courtroom.

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