Oklahoma parole board adopts new policy on nonviolent offenders

The members had agreed that it should be the executive director but, then, Chairman Marc Dreyer said he would like to sign at least the first one.

“This is just me wanting to make history,” said Dreyer, a Tulsa pastor.

The board finally decided either the board's “chairperson” or executive director would sign the certificates.

What the public said

The board sought written public comment on the new policy and procedures but it received only a few emails.

One critic of the change wrote: “I believe the people of the state of Oklahoma never intended for the Pardon and Parole Board to have free rein without the governor being involved. The way the state question was written caused a lot of people to vote contrary to their intentions.”

One supporter wrote: “It is my firm belief that the governor should be taken out of the parole process, altogether. … If we can't trust the people in the parole process, who watch the inmates during their incarceration; the case managers, the employers, the instructors, the guards, and the parole investigators' recommendation, and the Parole Board, why do we pay any of them?”