Poker games in Oklahoma prisons just got more interesting.
Yesterday afternoon, the OSBI and Department of Corrections announced the launch of a new program designed to help solve cold cases across Oklahoma. It involves letting Oklahoma prisoners purchase limited-edition sets of cold case playing cards.
Via KOKH:
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation has unveiled a program that will distribute cold case playing cards to Oklahoma prisons.
The decks, featuring 52 homicide or missing person cold cases, have already been distributed to commissaries in six Oklahoma Department of Corrections facilities. OSBI Director Stan Florence says that the cards feature cases in Oklahoma from 1978 to 2013.
"This is a very unique partnership between us and the Department of Corrections," Florence said...
That's pretty cool. When I first caught word of the press conference, I thought they were going announce that world-class cold case detective Lilly Rush was being brought in to solve the crimes, or that drug court inmates currently working at chicken slaughterhouses were being assigned new jobs scouring Lake Draper for bodies.
Although it seems kind of weird and outside the box, the program has had some success in other states.
The cards feature the victim's names and circumstances that led to their death or disappearance. Florence reports that at least 17 other states have a similar program and 40 homicides have been resolved as a result of those programs...
It also doesn't cost the state any money:
The 5,000 decks reported cost OSBI $5,450 which was paid for through the agency's evidence funds. The cards will cost inmates $1.42, of which the DOC will refund $1.09 back to the OSBI. Each deck features an 800 number for inmates to call in information on the cases.
Wow. The cards are only $1.42 a pack? That's cheaper than you can get most card decks on Amazon! Why are they limiting them to prisons? They should go ahead and sell them to the general public, or better yet, use the cards at tribal casinos. I'm sure most people playing antee black jack have been witness to some sort of heinous crime.
