OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A bill to allow some aging prisoners to be released from prison early has been shot down in the Oklahoma Senate.
The Senate voted 29-14 on Wednesday against the Parole of Aging Prisoners Act. The bill would have allowed the state Pardon and Parole Board to parole prisoners who are 65-years-old or older if they have served 10 years in prison or at least one-third of their sentence.
Sex offenders or those convicted of one of about two dozen crimes that require inmates to serve 85 percent of their sentences would not have been eligible for the program. The bill specifically targeted inmates who pose what was called "minimal public safety risks."
Oklahoma has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the nation.