Oklahoma State Senator Connie Johnson thinks Larry Yarbrough should be free. Larry, a model prisoner, is in his 17th year of a life-without-parole sentence for a nonviolent drug crime. On August 17, Sen. Johnson will speak on behalf of Yarbrough at an Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board hearing that will be considering commuting Larry Yarbrough's drug trafficking sentencing. In 2002 the Board unanimously commuted his sentence, but former governor Frank Keating overturned that decision and denied Larry his freedom.

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Defense attorneys in a federal corruption trial involving two Tulsa Police officers pointed to inconsistencies in statements of one government witness and questioned the motives of another during Friday's proceedings.

In the fifth day of testimony against Officers Jeff Henderson, 38, and Bill Yelton, 50, an informant used by the partners said she received Christmas gifts of perfume and marijuana from Henderson.

Henderson and Yelton were indicted under seal July 19, 2010, and special prosecutors and U.S. District Judge Bruce Black of New Mexico were appointed to handle the case.

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NORMAN -- Seventy percent of firearms seized in Mexico were submitted to a United States gun-tracing program. The figure could be higher, as investigators couldn't determine the origin of nearly 9,000 seized weapons.

It's further evidence of the many ways the U.S. has contributed to Mexico's violent path. America's insatiable demand for drugs has fueled cartels to turn to violence in controlling supply lines.

Three U.S. senators released the weapons report this week. Of the 29,284 firearms recovered by Mexican authorities in 2009 and 2010, 20,504 came from the United States.

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Emily Linville grew up hearing how to illegally call in a drug prescription. It was that knowledge that landed her, a sister and their mother in Tulsa County's Drug Court at the same time. But, only Linville has graduated from Drug Court.

Her sister, Mary Beth Linville, 25, violated program rules and was sent to prison in January to serve four years for prescription drug fraud and bogus checks.

Their mother, Mary Kathleen Linville, 52, was charged Dec. 16 with four counts on attempting to obtain prescription drugs by fraud. Her previous convictions include prescription drug fraud in 2007 and 2008 and an escape from prison. In 2004, she was convicted in Creek County of prescription drug fraud.

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Justice System Examined in Oklahoma's Top-Rank for Female Incarcerations

Editor's Note-Oklahoma Watch is an independent investigative and in-depth reporting team that partners with news organizations and higher education to produce impact journalism in the public interest. This is the first installment in a series of stories in which Oklahoma Watch, the Tulsa World and The Oklahoman are examining the issue of Oklahoma's female incarceration rate. For more, visit tulsaworld.com/okwatch.

In 1908, Kate Barnard, Oklahoma's feisty first commissioner of charities and corrections, traveled to Kansas to investigate the alleged torture and mistreatment of Oklahoma prisoners. Oklahoma federal prisoners - and Oklahoma Territory's felons before them - were incarcerated in the state penitentiary in Lansing, Kan., because the new state had no prison. Barnard, elected to her state post before women had the right to vote, had been instrumental in lobbying the first Legislature to adopt prison laws that were then among the most progressive in the nation. "In Oklahoma," she had said, "we would do differently."

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