OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) More than 450 inmates walked out the doors of prisons across Oklahoma on Monday as part of what state officials say is the largest single-day mass commutation in U.S. history.
The release of inmates, all with convictions for low-level drug and property crimes, resulted from a bill signed by new Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. The bill retroactively applied misdemeanor sentences for simple drug possession and low-level property crimes that state voters approved in 2016.
Stitt has made reducing Oklahomas highest-in-the-nation incarceration rate one of his top priorities and has appointed reform-minded members to the states Pardon and Parole Board.