TULSA, Okla. — The Oklahoma Survivors Coalition is advocating for change in a law they say over-punishes survivors of domestic violence.
2 News talked with Oklahoma Appleseed, who says time is of the essence to fix the ‘failure to protect’ law.
“I missed so much time that I would never get that time back,” said Tondalo Hall.
Tondalo Hall, who goes by Toni, had her 30-year sentence commuted by Governor Kevin Stitt in 2019.
Hall says her then-boyfriend was abusing her, and when she realized her kids were, too, she immediately took them to the hospital for help.
But it backfired on her, and she was convicted of letting the abuse happen.
“When he sentenced me to 30 years, I was like, 'Are you serious? '” said Hall. “I’m the one who took them to the hospital.”
For 15 years, she was behind bars while her kids grew up with family members.
“I missed seeing them ride their first bike,” said Hall. “Seeing my daughter walk because she was 3 months when I went away.”
After hearing Hall’s story, we went to Oklahoma Appleseed to see how the law is also impacting other Oklahoma families.
“We really carry a lot of our anger about what happens to kids out on women, even if the women weren’t the ones committing the abuse,” said Colleen McCarty.
Executive Director of Oklahoma Appleseed Colleen McCarty says 55 people, 93% of them women, and many of them survivors of domestic violence, are sitting in Oklahoma prisons right now for “failure to protect.”
It’s why Oklahoma Appleseed is a part of the coalition that has until March 4 to get SB594 heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The bill does three things:
- Changes the word “enabling” as it relates to child abuse crimes to “failing to protect from.”
- Instead of a potential life sentence, the max prison time would be 7 years.
- It establishes an affirmative defense for failure to protect from child abuse.
The bill summary says, “A defendant may claim a reasonable fear of great bodily injury or death, show that they experienced domestic abuse, or voluntarily took steps to end the abuse or neglect.”
“We should not be treating survivors of domestic violence this harshly in the criminal justice system,” said McCarty.
“We have to get some policies changed,” said Hall.
McCarty also says in many of these situations the actual abuser spends less time in prison than the person convicted of “failure to protect.”
In Hall’s case, her then-boyfriend got a 10-year suspended sentence while she got 30 years for a first offense.
Read the full bill here.
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