Oklahoma Governor commutes 147 drug possession sentences

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has commuted the sentences of 147 people imprisoned for simple drug possession charges that would not be felonies if brought today.

The Oklahoman reports that Stitt signed papers on Friday to commute the sentences of 119 people to time served and another 28 sentences to one year. The Republican Governor has made reducing Oklahoma’s highest-in-the-nation incarceration rate a top priority. The commutations are the latest under a law that retroactively applied misdemeanor sentences for simple drug possession and low-level property crimes.

Last year, the state released more than 450 people in the largest single-day mass commutation in U.S. history.