Soundcloud Audio - 4:35 minutes
This year (2018), Oklahoma became the nation’s top incarcerator - a title that formerly belonged to Louisiana. But officials in the Bayou State said it reduced its prison population by 7.6 percent in less than a year by passing a sweeping package of reforms.
Louisiana and Oklahoma both started new criminal justice reform efforts around the same time. Officials in each state asked the U.S. Department of Justice and nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts for help with task forces that would make recommendations on the best ways to keep people out of prison.