TULSA, OK -- 3/11/20 -- Kellie Gregory, 48, graduated from WIR in 2014 after spending 17 months in the program. She was facing 20 to life for endeavoring to manufacture. Now with six children and four grandkids, she is a Peer Recovery Support Specialist for Family and Children’s Services, doing homeless outreach. She had her record expunged in 2018.
Women In Recovery is a diversion program designed for women who slip past state programs like Drug Court and are facing long prison sentences. It is a last chance for women who have charges that stem from addiction, trauma and abuse. The program is credited with reducing the female incarceration rate in Tulsa County by 52%.
Oklahoma incarcerates more people per capita than any other state, and incarcerates women at a rate that ranks second globally. However, bipartisan efforts at criminal justice reform have been making inroads and the state’s progress at decarceration is among the nation’s fastest.…by André Chung #_AC24436