Thread: Millions spent on foreign prisoners

Millions spent on foreign prisoners

by: ZIVA BRANSTETTER AND LEIGH BELL World Staff Writers
5/11/2007


A DOC study finds 401 'deportable detainees' are housed in Oklahoma jails and prisons.


Oklahoma jails and prisons are holding 401 foreign-born "deportable detainees" who have committed crimes including murder, rape and robbery, according to a Department of Corrections report.

The report, obtained Thursday by the Tulsa World, shows the state expects to pay nearly $8 million to incarcerate the prisoners during fiscal year 2007, or about $21,000 per day.

Corrections Department spokesman Jerry Massie said the report was prepared after a request by U.S. Rep. John Sullivan, R-Okla. The report does not distinguish between illegal immigrants and foreign-born legal residents.

Sullivan said he asked for the report to determine how much the state was paying to house such offenders.

"After reviewing the statistics, I'm shocked that Oklahoma taxpayers are paying almost $8 million per year for these incarcerations," he said.

The report shows that 311 of the inmates, 77 percent, identified their birth country as Mexico. Inmates also listed countries including Cuba, Afghanistan, Laos, Vietnam, Iraq and Iran.

Nearly all the inmates were Hispanic males and the largest number were between 26 and 30 years old.

Almost half of Oklahoma's foreign-born population is from Mexico, according to U.S. Census data from 2005. Foreign-born people account for 4.5 percent of the state's 3.4 million people, but just over 1 percent of its prison population.

The report shows of the 401 foreign-born prisoners, about two-thirds of them committed nonviolent crimes including drug possession, alcohol-related offenses and larceny. The remainder include 18 convicted of first- and second-degree murder, 39 convicted of rape and 21 convicted of robbery. Of those, 13 are serving life sentences.

The Corrections Department has custody of about 56,000 inmates, including about 31,000 on probation or parole.

The largest number of foreign-born prisoners, nearly half, were convicted of distributing controlled drugs, the report shows.

Massie said DOC has asked the state parole board to create a special docket for deportable detainees who have committed nonviolent crimes. With the agency facing a budget and space crunch, that would free up beds for other inmates.

"If they would do that then once it's commuted, the immigration service would come and pick them up and they would be transported for their detention hearing," Massie said.

The parole board is supposed to consider the proposal at its next meeting, but Gov. Brad Henry has already said he opposes using the parole system to solve prison overcrowding.

The U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement places detainers on foreign-born prisoners who are in the country illegally, as well as those legally present but guilty of an aggravated felony or a crime against a child, said ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok.

A detainer means that when the prisoner gets out of prison or jail, he or she is handed over to the agency. Detainers are placed on criminals only when law enforcement agents contact the agency for verification of legal status, he said.

There's a "distinct possibility" that others in the state prison system are illegal immigrants and officials just don't know it, Rusnok said.

That could change in November when House Bill 1804 goes into effect. It requires law enforcement to make a "reasonable effort" to verify the resident status of those jailed for a felony or drunken driving.

Sullivan said he plans to work with the state to ensure the new law is successfully implemented.

Rusnok said illegal immigrants with detainers can be deported but the inmates can appear before a federal immigration judge to appeal deportation.

Of the 195,000 people deported from the country in fiscal year 2006, 88,600 were criminal aliens, he said.

The report shows most of the inmates are held in medium-security state prisons, while 90 are held in private prisons and 20 are in county jails under DOC contracts.

More than half of the inmates were convicted in Oklahoma and Tulsa counties, while 39 inmates were convicted in Texas County and 17 in Custer County.

Most immigrants in Oklahoma come here for a better life, not a life of crime, said Mark Leblang, a local immigration attorney.

"They do as little as possible to be noticed so they're not breaking into places," Leblang said. "Usually, they're holding down two or three jobs and don't have time to commit a crime."

He didn't deny a criminal element in the immigrant population here.

"If you lined up 100 saints, you could go back and find somebody who has done something wrong," Leblang said.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article. ... hADOC72450


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I remember reading or hearing somewhere that we spend 3 billion anually to house criminal aliens in our jails and prisons.