Delita Starr
Delita Starr, 50 year old Oklahoma woman (mother of Patricia Spottedcrow) handed down a 30 year suspended sentence for the same charges. It was her home that the sale which got Patricia in trouble took place in. Since the justice system is so empathetic, they allowed her to avoid jail time in order to look after her four grandchildren, whose mother is to serve 10 years for selling $31 of marijuana. She lives in near poverty and is being forced to pay nearly $9,000 in fines stemming from the incident.
In their home state of Oklahoma: For 14 of the past 15 years, Oklahoma has locked up more women per capita than any other state. More than 65 percent of the women in prison were convicted of nonviolent crimes and more than 85 percent leave behind children, whose care becomes the responsibility of a family member or the state. Taxpayers also pay a high price, as the cost of the operating the state's prison system has increased from $188 million in 1995 to more than $450 million.
