Oklahoma § 57-521 - Commitment to custody of Department - Assignment and

§ 57-521. Commitment to custody of Department - Assignment and

classification to correctional facility - Pre-release reintegration

services - Annual report.

A. Whenever a person is convicted of a felony and is sentenced

to imprisonment that is not to be served in a county jail, the

person shall be committed to the custody of the Department of

Corrections and shall be classified and assigned to a correctional

facility or program designated by the Department and authorized by

law.

B. It is the intent of the Legislature that inmates in the

custody of the Department of Corrections, prior to leaving the

custody of the Department, be reintegrated into society through the

use of work release programs, work centers, community corrections

centers, intermediate sanctions facilities, accredited halfway

houses and transitional living centers, subject to the availability

of space and funding.

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 57. Prisons and Reformatories

C. All persons who have nonassaultive institutional records and

who are convicted of only previous and current nonviolent offenses

and have a nonviolent juvenile record and are sentenced to the

custody of the Department of Corrections shall be processed for

assignment to a work release program, a work center, a community

corrections center, an intermediate sanctions facility, an

accredited halfway house, a transitional living facility, or any

combination of such placements not less than two hundred ten (210)

calendar days immediately prior to release from the custody of the

Department of Corrections, unless the offender is currently

participating in another approved program based upon the offender’s

needs assessment. Other persons may be processed for assignment

according to the offender’s needs and security classification not

more than one hundred eighty (180) days prior to release from the

custody of the Department. This assignment shall be for the purpose

of assisting the person in obtaining gainful employment, receiving

reintegration skills, and locating a suitable post-release

residence. For purposes of this subsection, assistance in obtaining

employment, receiving reintegration skills, and a post-release

residence shall be part of the function of the placement and shall

not be construed to require or authorize any financial assistance or

expenditure of state funds to any inmate or to any contract provider

for additional program services to an individual inmate.

D. The provisions of subsections B and C of this section shall

not be applicable to inmates, as determined on an individual basis

by the Department of Corrections, who otherwise constitute a serious

or immediate risk to public health and safety.

E. Nothing in this section shall require a county jail to

provide any services that are not currently being provided.

F. Not later than February 1st of each year beginning February

1, 2011, the Director of the Department of Corrections shall post on

the Department's website and transmit to the President Pro Tempore

of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the

Governor, a report on the progress of the Department in meeting the

goals and intent of subsections B and C of this section. Such

report shall, at a minimum, include the following information:

1. A listing of all facilities owned, operated, and/or

contracted to the Department by security level together with the

number of inmates released from each facility during the preceding

calendar year;

2. A total of the number of inmates released from physical

custody during the preceding calendar year;

3. A total of the number of inmates employed by private

employers prior to the inmate's release from physical custody; and

4. A total of the number of inmates exiting the Department's

system who have spent less than one hundred eighty (180) calendar

days in a halfway house.

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 57. Prisons and Reformatories

The report shall be in such form and contain such other information

as may be required or desired by the President Pro Tempore of the

Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the

Governor.

Added by Laws 1967, c. 261, § 21, operative July 1, 1967. Amended

by Laws 1978, c. 79, § 1, emerg. eff. March 27, 1978; Laws 1993, c.

276, § 7, emerg. eff. May 27, 1993; Laws 1994, c. 2, § 20, emerg.

eff. March 2, 1994; Laws 2000, c. 183, § 1, emerg. eff. May 3, 2000;

Laws 2002, c. 211, § 4, eff. July 1, 2002; Laws 2003, c. 74, § 1,

eff. Nov. 1, 2003; Laws 2010, c. 410, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2010.

NOTE: Laws 1993, c. 187, § 3 repealed by Laws 1994, c. 2, § 34,

emerg. eff. March 2, 1994.