Close to 500 convicts in prison across the state of Oklahoma were released in the largest single-day jailbreak in United States history.
On Monday, state officials in Oklahoma released 462 inmates who had their sentences commuted after Republican and Democrat lawmakers passed criminal justice reform legislation this year.
In total, nearly 530 inmates have already had their sentences commuted by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. Those released were in prison after being convicted for “non-violent crimes” such as drug possession.
Critics of jailbreak, though, have long argued that supposed “non-violent” convicted criminals have often committed violent crimes and merely pleaded down to misdemeanors to escape hefty prison sentences.
The mass release of convicts in Oklahoma comes as jailbreaks increasingly occur in the U.S., led by the “First Step Act,” which President Trump signed into law this year following a huge lobbying effort by Republicans, Democrats, progressives, libertarian think tanks, and celebrities like Kim Kardashian West.
The First Step Act, as Breitbart News has chronicled, released a former “Latin Kings” gang leader, Joel Francisco, who immediately returned to a life of drugs after being freed from federal prison. Now, Francisco has been arrested for murdering a man in Rhode Island.
In November 2018, Breitbart News reported that the First Step Act would result in the release of thousands of drug traffickers from prison despite their dealing deadly drugs such as fentanyl and heroin. A report this year by Fox News’s Tucker Carlson stated that the First Step Act had successfully released about 240 sex offenders, nearly 60 convicted murderers and assailants, as well as almost 1,000 inmates convicted for drug crimes.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.