In Oklahoma, Episcopalians minister to prisoners, work for parole reform
After serving two years in an Oklahoma state prison, Melissa Serrano was paroled, but not released. At least not until six months later.
For another prisoner, Noel (who asked that his real name be withheld), the wait between parole and release was longer, about four years.
While they wait, Episcopalians in Oklahoma minister to their needs, and advocate for changes in the parole system, which now causes paroled prisoners like Melissa and Noel to remain in prison while the state's governor approves the parole board's granting of parole. The Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma passed a resolution at its 2008 convention calling for action to change the way the state deals with parole.
"I went to the parole board June 25, 2008 and so I was expecting to be released" soon afterwards, recalled Serrano, a 40-year-old disabled mother and grandmother with congestive heart failure, during a recent telephone interview from her Tulsa home.
But, since the state constitution requires that the governor approve every parole, pardon and commutation of sentence, Serrano was told it would take 30 days before her jacket, or case file, even reached Governor C. Brad Henry's desk.
"After 45 days, my mother started calling (Henry's office) and they kept saying he's reviewing it, that it could take anywhere from 60 to 90 days," recalled Serrano, who was a nonviolent offender at the minimum-to-medium security Eddie Warrior Correctional Center in Taft, about 140 miles east of Oklahoma City. "She called every other week, then every week. And then she called every day. And it was 100 days, and it just kept going and going."
The rest is here-
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_109091_ENG_HTM.htm
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