Oklahoma Corrections Professionals

The Oklahoma Corrections Professionals would like to congratulate its many members who have been visiting with, calling and writing their elected officials tirelessly over the past months.  It paid off in a big way!  This week Governor Henry, Speaker Benge, and President Pro Tempore Coffee announced an agreement on supplemental funding for FY10, which included $7.2 million for the Department of Corrections.  DOC Director Justin Jones indicated that this funding will allow the agency to avoid the upcoming furloughs and should be seen as recognition by the Legislature of the dedication of DOC employees.

“Since receiving State approval as an employee association late in 2009, OCP’s number one priority has been to eliminate the furloughs,” stated OCP President David Ramsey.  “OCP’s leadership has held countless meetings with elected officials around the State on this topic and our members have done their part by contacting their own local representatives.  This is a great example of what is possible when employees across the agency join together to work with the Legislature and agency leadership for a common purpose.” 

OCP expresses its sincere thanks to those legislative leaders who worked to fulfill their promise to put public safety first.  Along with the heads of both Houses, Representative Terrill and Senator Sykes, Chairs of the Public Safety Appropriations Committees, are commended for their diligence in finding creative solutions to the budget crisis.  “DOC employees have been asked to make many sacrifices this year and we’re willing to do our part,” Ramsey said, “but this shows that our leaders recognize that sacrifice and are working hard to meet us in the middle.” OCP also thanks DOC leadership for their role in this victory.  Their transparency with the agency's finances and efforts to find creative cost-savings measures played an integral role in demonstrating to the legislature that the DOC would make the most of this additional funding.

While this is a major victory for OCP and its members, we can’t stop here.  Our fellow members at the Pardon and Parole Board have been suffering through furloughs for months and the State’s financial situation is only expected to be worse when FY’11 begins this July.  Let’s keep this momentum going throughout the legislative session to ensure the State continues to provide the funding necessary to maintain essential public safety services. 

“When we stand together, no one can stand against us!”  

There will be an OCP Board meeting on Monday, January 25, 2010 at 11:00 AM in the North Conference Room in DOC Headquarters located at 3400 Martin Luther King Boulevard.

The major items on the agenda include a final contract for our Executive Director and approval of a Legislative Liaison and Membership Grievance Representative.  No less important than these topics will be approval of OCP's first Constitution which will serve as a foundational belief system for the association for the present and the future.

Come join us if you can for this important metamorphosis as OCP comes out of the cocoon and begins to fly.

On Friday, January 15^th, OCP Executive Director, Amanda Ewing, attended the Board of Corrections meeting at LARC, where the budget was the topic in the forefront of everyone’s minds.  The DOC financial situation has become dire, as agency-wide furloughs are just weeks away.  Director Jones spoke candidly with the Board and the public, explaining that the FY’10 cuts will be the largest twelve-month reduction of funding in the history of the agency.  In comparison with other states, Oklahoma is the only state sustaining this level of cuts while still enduring a significant net growth in offenders.  Without legislative intervention early in session, DOC employees will suffer a cut in pay, on average, of 13% during the four months of furloughs. 

In a meeting at DOC Headquarters, Director Jones explained to OCP board members and the executive director that the discrepancy between the number of offenders and staff continues to grow larger.  The agency provided the chart below, which shows that in fiscal year 2000, the agency had well over 5000 employees with just over 15,000 offenders in custody.  Today, with just over 4,500 filled positions, DOC is responsible for over 18,000 offenders.  

OCP Executive Director, Amanda Ewing, visited Charles E. “Bill” Johnson Correctional Center in Alva, on Wednesday, December 16^th.  Ewing spoke with employees at the facility throughout the day regarding the upcoming legislative session and the work OCP is doing to minimize the possibility of agency furloughs.  Employees at the facility spoke candidly with Ewing about issues of importance to them, some of which included obtaining full insurance benefits for retirees, implementing a discounted dues structure when multiple members of a family join OCP, and modeling other states that charge inmates for utilities as a possible source of new revenue.  Many members stated how important it is to them that OCP’s future priorities reflect a balanced focus on issues relating to uniform and non-uniform staff.  OCP’s Board shares that outlook and just as every effort has been made to ensure that the Board of Directors reflects that balance, so too will OCP’s actions.   

OCP thanks the employees at BJCC for maintaining the highest rate of membership enrollment in the state, at 94 percent!

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