Date: August 5, 2020
Amy Hanus called the Club meeting to order via Zoom. Elizabeth Gaylor led the invocation and David Powell led the Club in saying the Pledge of Allegiance and Amy lead the recitation of the 4-Way Test.
Announcements
- Rotary Noon Meeting will be meeting on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month via Zoom.
- Ardmore Literacy Leadership (A.L.L.) will be hosting Literacy Day in the Park on August 8th from 10 am to 1 pm. This a back to school event that will provide backpacks filled with school supplies and will be a drive-thru. No income verification needed.
Guest Speaker
Our guest speaker today was Kris Steele. Kris is the Executive Director of Oklahoma Criminal Reform. He is originally from the Ardmore area and now resides in Oklahoma City. He is an ordained minister that mainly works with non-profits. Kris has served as a state legislator for 12 years, from 2000 to 2012. This tenure as a state legislator sparked an interest in corrections, incarceration, and criminal reform. He spoke today about state question 805 and for criminal reform. State Question 805 will limit the use of excessive sentencing applied to non-violent offenders. This would only apply to true non-violent offenders, if an offender has a violent offense in the past then they would not be eligible. According to Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, if SQ 805 passes it will save the tax payers approximately $190 million dollars over 10 years that could be applied to rehabilitation and treatment.
Some statistics from today:
- Since 1973, Oklahoma’s corrections population has grown 600%.
- In 1991, Oklahoma became a world leader in female incarceration and has remained the leader in female incarceration.
- In 2019, the Department of Corrections has requested $1.6 billion to fund their department to meet the need to house our incarceration population, the state however only granted $623 million.
- Oklahoma is a state leader in spending on corrections and last in education. It costs about $19,000 to incarcerate an individual and to reduce state down to the national average, Oklahoma would have to reduce prison population by 8,000.
11 members, 3 guests, for a total of 14, were present.
Guests
Kris Steele, Guest Speaker
Robby Short, Guest of Kim Benedict
Sierra Rains, Guest of Kim Benedict