Advocates for reducing prison populations praise Stitt’s appointments

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Advocates for reducing Oklahoma’s prison population are praising Gov. Kevin Stitt’s selection of three new members to the state’s Pardon and Parole Board.

Stitt announced Tuesday the appointment of Kelly Doyle, Adam Luck and Robert Gilliland to the five-member panel, saying he hoped the reconfigured board would address a “backlog in the system.”

The Republican governor has said reducing the prison population will be one of his top priorities, and he proposed $150,000 in his executive budget for hiring more pardon and parole investigators.

A recent analysis by the Tulsa-based think-tank Oklahoma Policy Institute shows the number of inmates granted release on parole in Oklahoma decreased 77 percent from 2008 to 2017.

The author of the study, Damion Shade, praised Stitt’s appointees as advocates for changes to the parole system.