THE HARDEST TIME

Oklahoma locks up more women per capita than any other state in the country
and it has for years. The question is why. Are Oklahoma women just meaner?
Do judges and juries look upon them more harshly?

The Oklahoma Criminal Justice Resource System has formed a task force to
figure out this vexing fact. And it has come up with some theories.

For one, the Sooner State does not arrest more women than other states.
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Bureau report, about 700 women are
arrested for every 100,000 in the population. That coincides with national
statistics.

But Oklahoma puts twice as many of those women in prison than the national
average - 130 per 100,000 versus only 58 per 100,000 nationwide.

"There's something happening between the arrest and the disposition of
their case. At the end of the system we're incarcerating them more," said
K.C. Moon, director of the resource system, which is conducting the study.

Perhaps the biggest difference between Oklahoma's female prisoners and the
rest of the country is found in the crimes they commit. Oklahoma is quicker
to lock up women for non-violent crimes than other states. Only 9 percent
are serving time for violent crimes in Oklahoma compared to 23 percent
nationwide, according to 1994 statistics, the most current available.

"Nobody has found any evidence that Oklahoma women are meaner or more
dangerous than women in other states and the numbers would bear that out,"
Moon said. "We're locking up females we're mad at as well as those we're
scared of."Nearly half of Oklahoma's female inmates are in prison for drug
or alcohol-related offenses, which, besides the obvious crimes of using and
selling drugs, include such things as shoplifting, bogus checks and driving
under the influence. Few are locked up for murder and mayhem.

Oklahoma's high drug crime rates may have to do with a lack of
rehabilitation sources offered to citizens without insurance. Oklahoma's
social services and mental health systems also lack the resources that
other states have, Moon theorized, which mean fewer safety nets to help
women in the early stages of trouble.

Many women may, therefore, become overwhelmed with children and the lack of
a decent job or adequate finances. Some turn to drugs or theft -- or to a
no-good man whose promises turn into unsavory demands and, too often,
physical abuse. Something like that was true for Kim Baskeyfield, 40, who
is serving a life sentence for killing a man that, she said, her husband
actually murdered and "put it out on me."

Baskeyfield's son was a baby at the time. Now age 20, he visits her at
Mabel Basset Correctional Center in McLoud. Her ex-husband has nothing to
do with her. "They can say they love you till the end of the world,"
Baskeyfield said. "But you see very few stick by you when you get here."

Women may also be reluctant to testify against their male partners, causing
them to be punished for not doing so, Moon theorized. In a recent
Corrections Department survey, three out of four women inmates said they
were victims of physical abuse. If Oklahoma women are locked up for lesser
crimes, that would also explain why they reoffend and return to prison
slightly less often than the national population.

They also reoffend less than their male counterparts. The State Corrections
Department reports that 16 percent of all women released from prison end up
back in prison, often within months. For men, that number is 22 percent.

"If they're less risky and we release them and they don't reoffend, then we
say we fixed them. And they didn't need fixed in the first place," Moon
surmised.

And yet, the Corrections Department spends less than 1 percent of its
budget on rehabilitation. At Mabel Bassett, inmates can get their general
equivalency diplomas and take an array of classes such as anger management
and making good choices.

But most classes have a long waiting list to enroll.

The six female inmates who spoke to The Oklahoman recently said they felt
"warehoused," even though one admitted taking 14 classes and having 234
hours of counseling in prison.

Another factor that may contribute to Oklahoma's high incarceration rate of
women is the state's 'tough on crime' attitude and an equal opportunity
approach in the court system. It could also be a poorly funded public legal
defense system that is overburdened and unable to give everyone a proper
defense.

Another difference between Oklahoma prisons and those in the rest of the
country is the so-called "truth in sentencing" law, which keeps prisoners
in for their full sentences. Even before this law, governors were reluctant
to release someone early on parole.

So when inmates are released, they often have no one monitoring them - and
no help from the state in reintegrating back into society. Those who don't
have good support systems of their own are likely to fail, said Karen
Johnson, a counselor at Mabel Bassett.

"We hear it all the time: 'Ms. Johnson, this is the last time,' and three
months later they're back," Johnson said.

Debbie Morton, a unit manager at Mabel Bassett who has worked with both
male and female prisoners, said men appear to get more outside support than
women. Wives and families stick by them more often and they get more visitors.

Oklahoma's female prisoners are more educated than the national average,
but many are victims of low self-esteem and are ridden with guilt. Nearly
all of them - 81 percent - are mothers when they enter prison. Plenty have
lost their parental rights. "My children's father stabbed me six times and
left me for dead," said Shelly Hyde, a 37-year-old mother of two teenage
girls, who is serving 10 years for grand larceny. "He got seven years and
served one in prison."

This is Hyde's second time around. Her crime of shoplifting was related to
a drug addiction - one she's determined, this time, to beat. At the same
time, Hyde is scared to death she won't.

Doing it for her children isn't enough, she said.

"I said that last time: My kids would keep me out, and I came back," she
said. "You can't do it for anybody but yourself."

This month, she learns whether she'll be released from her second prison
term."I feel like this is my last chance and I'm scared of getting around
the same crowd again," Hyde said. "I know I have another relapse in me, but
I don't think I have another recovery. For me, prison has saved my life. I
was very sick from drugs."

One area where women flourish is in drug court, which is an intensive
probationary program that strictly monitors its participants' behavior with
frequent court appearances and drug testing. Some 27 counties in Oklahoma
have drug courts - but those in the justice system have said that's not
nearly enough.

The good news is that those who successfully complete drug court are far
less likely to commit more crimes.

"Women seem to be especially receptive to drug court treatments," Moon
said. "It may be taking in their psyche more than males."