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Oklahoma House OKs Work-Release Program For County Inmates

County sheriffs would be able to set up a work-release program for jail inmates to earn time off their sentences under a bill that has been given final approval in the Legislature.

The House voted 90-0 on Monday for HB3039, dubbed the "Debt to Society Act of 2016," and sent it to the governor.

The bill, authored by Rep. John Paul Jordan (R-Yukon) and Sen. Wayne Shaw (R-Grove), would allow local sheriffs to set up the program in conjunction with the local district attorney and with approval of a district judge.

“I think as we are fixing the state’s overcrowding problems, it is equally important to work on county problems,” Jordan said. “Instead of a top-down approach, this gives counties more flexibility in how they address their overcrowding problems.”

It would allow defendants who enter a plea or are convicted of a nonviolent misdemeanor to earn a day off their sentence by working an eight-hour day.

Defendants would be limited to earning off up to one-third of their total sentence.

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