Oklahoma woman imprisoned in failure-to-protect case is free

Tondalao Hall released

MCLOUD, Okla. (AP) – An Oklahoma woman who failed to report her boyfriend for abusing her children and who spent about 13 years longer in prison than he did for the abuse has been released.

Thirty-five-year-old Tondalao Hall left a women’s prison in McLoud, Oklahoma, on Friday after serving 15 years behind bars. She offered thanks in a statement about her release.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections said Thursday that Gov. Kevin Stitt signed the order to commute her sentence. Her release comes about a month after the state Pardon and Parole Board voted unanimously to recommend that Stitt commute her sentence to time served.

Hall’s ex-boyfriend, Robert Braxton Jr., pleaded guilty to abusing the children and was released on probation after two years in jail.

The disparity of the sentences outraged women’s rights advocates and brought further attention to Oklahoma’s high rate of incarceration, particularly of women.