« "Violent Crime and Punitiveness: An Empirical Study of Public Opinion" | Main | Council on Criminal Justice produces papers on "The 1994 Crime Bill: Legacy and Lessons" »
September 12, 2019
Jailed for unpaid fines almost a decade after being imprisoned for years for $31 pot sale
This new Washington Post article reminded me of a name and an ugly case from nearly a decade ago. As the article explains, the matter has not gotten any less depressing. The headline provides the essentials: "She got 12 years for $31 of pot. Years after her parole, she was jailed for the unpaid court fees." Here are the dispiriting details:
Sitting in her jail cell this week, Patricia Spottedcrow couldn’t imagine where she was going to get the money she needed for her release. In 2010, the young Oklahoma mother, who had been caught selling $31 worth of marijuana to a police informant after financial troubles caused her to lose her home, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. It was her first-ever offense, and the lengthy sentence drew national attention, sparking a movement that led to her early release.
But once she was home free, Spottedcrow still owed thousands in court fees that she struggled to pay, since her felony conviction made it difficult to find a job. Notices about overdue payments piled up, with late fees accumulating on top of the original fines. On Monday, the 34-year-old was arrested on a bench warrant that required her to stay in jail until she could come up with $1,139.90 in overdue fees, which she didn’t have. Nearly a decade after her initial arrest, she was still ensnarled in the criminal justice system, and had no idea when she would see her kids again....
Back in 2011, Spottedcrow became an unwitting poster child for criminal justice reform when the Tulsa World featured her in a series about women incarcerated in Oklahoma. Then 25, she had just entered prison for the first time, and didn’t expect to be reunited with her young children until they were teenagers.
At the time of her arrest, Spottedcrow was unemployed and without a permanent home, the paper reported. She was staying at her mother’s house in the small town of Kingfisher, Okla., when a police informant showed up and bought an $11 bag of marijuana. Two weeks later, he returned to buy another $20 worth of the drug from Spottedcrow. Both mother and daughter were charged with distribution of a controlled substance, and, because Spottedcrow’s children were at home when the transaction took place, possession of a dangerous substance in the presence of a minor....
The two women both were offered plea deals that would have netted them only two years in prison, the World reported, but Spottedcrow didn’t want her 50-year-old mother, who has health issues, incarcerated. Because neither had a prior criminal record and they had sold only a small amount of pot, they took their chances and pleaded guilty without negotiating a sentencing agreement, assuming they would be granted probation.
Instead, the judge sentenced Spottedcrow to 10 years in prison for the distribution charge, plus another two years for possession. Her mother received a 30-year suspended sentence so that she could take care of the children. Kingfisher County Associate District Judge Susie Pritchett, who retired not long afterward, told the World she thought the sentence was lenient. The mother-daughter pair had been behind “an extensive operation,” she claimed, adding, “It was a way of life for them.”
Spottedcrow said that wasn’t true. “I’ve never been in trouble, and this is a real eye-opener,” she told the paper at the start of her prison stint. “My lifestyle is not like this. I’m not coming back. I’m going to get out of here, be with my kids and live my life.”
After the World’s story published in 2011, supporters rallied around Spottedcrow’s cause, urging officials to reconsider her punishment. At the time, Oklahoma had the highest per capita rate of female incarceration in the country, a title it continues to hold today. Advocates contended that lengthy sentences like hers were part of the problem, and questioned whether racial bias could have played a role — Spottedcrow is part Native American and part African American.
That same year, a different judge reviewed Spottedcrow’s sentence and agreed to shave off four years. Then, in 2012, then-Gov. Mary Fallin (R) approved her parole. Spottedcrow got home in time to surprise her kids when they stepped off the school bus. The American Civil Liberties Union described her release as a “bittersweet victory,” noting that serving only two years of a 12-year sentence was highly unusual, but the penalty that she received for a first-time, nonviolent drug offense wasn’t out of the ordinary for Oklahoma.
It also wasn’t the end of her troubles. In 2017, five years after Spottedcrow was released from prison, Ginnie Graham, a columnist for the World, checked into see how she was doing. The picture that she painted was dispiriting: Spottedcrow’s growing family was living in a motel off the interstate because having a felony drug conviction on her record made it virtually impossible for her to find housing, and she hadn’t been able to find work, either. “I’ve never had Section 8 or HUD, but I need it now,” she said. “I even called my (Cheyenne and Arapahoe) tribe to help, and they didn’t. I called the shelters, and they don’t take large families.”
That same year, at a forum on criminal justice reform, Spottedcrow explained that she couldn’t go back to working in nursing homes like she had done before her arrest because of her felony conviction. And in a small town like Kingfisher, every other potential employer already knew about her legal woes....
While Spottedcrow struggled to care for her six children, the Kingfisher County Court Clerk’s Office mailed out more than a dozen notices saying she had fallen behind on her payments. Each letter meant that the court had tacked on another $10 fine, and that another $80 would be added on top of that if the office didn’t get the money within 10 days. When Spottedcrow first reported to prison, she owed $2,740 in fines. After her release, she made payments at least every other month according to the World. But it barely made an impact on her ballooning debt: When she was arrested this week, she owed $3,569.76....
Spottedcrow’s new arrest on Monday brought renewed attention to her nearly decade-old court case. KFOR morning news anchor Ali Meyer, who detailed the saga in a widely shared Twitter thread, noted that cannabis has been a booming industry in Oklahoma ever since the state legalized medical marijuana in 2018, and left it up to doctors to determine who qualified.
On Tuesday afternoon, Meyer posted the number for the Kingfisher County Court Clerk’s Office, which would allow anyone to make payments on Spottedcrow’s behalf. By Wednesday, seven anonymous supporters had covered not just the $1,139.90 that she needed to get out of jail, but her entire $3,569.76 outstanding balance, the station reported.
Somewhere, Franz Kafka is smiling.
Prior posts on Spottedcrow's case:
- "How $31 of pot gave mom a 10-year-prison sentence"
- "Mom who sold $31 in pot seeks reduction to 12-year sentence"
- "Mom of 4 reflects on first year in prison for $31 pot sale"
- Early parole after two years' imprisonment for Oklahoma woman initially given 12 years for small pot sales
September 12, 2019 at 09:06 AM | Permalink
Comments
The county which is doing this theft is in Russia--- right?
Posted by: Liberty2nd | Sep 12, 2019 2:48:56 PM
The sentence appears to be the result of the judge's opinion that the two had an "extensive operation" selling drugs. So the headline that it was for a $31 sale is misleading.
I generally dislike the criminalization of drugs. That said, this sentence may in fact have been in line with the sentences for other dealers.
How exactly does it work with court costs? The person goes to prison, and interest and late fees pile up while they are there? Is there an economically sensible way to allow prisoners to work overtime to try to pay down such fees?
If possible, I would want to find a system that worked for everyone without subsidies. In other words, useful work is accomplished and the economic benefit to the employer is sufficient to both pay the prisoners and pay for whatever added security is required.
Posted by: William C Jockusch | Sep 13, 2019 7:38:53 PM