NOTHING is ever simple when it comes to criminal justice reform in Oklahoma, as is seen in inmates' frustration that a state question approved by voters in 2016 doesn't benefit them.

State Question 780 reclassified some drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. The aim was to send fewer men and women to prison, thus bringing some relief to a system that has been dangerously overcrowded for many years.

Yet as The Oklahoman's Dale Denwalt reported recently, the fact SQ 780 didn't apply retroactively means many inmates are serving lengthy sentences for crimes that would have brought a different punishment had they been committed after July 1, 2017, when the new law took effect.

One inmate wrote to the newspaper to say he had 2,600 days remaining on a 10-year sentence “for an addiction. I need help. I am ready for recovery. Actually past due.”