At a fundraising gala put together by VOICE-OKC, leaders awarded the former Speaker of the House with the "Lifetime Civic Engagement Award" in recognition of his collaboration on the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, designed to direct taxpayer resources towards programs for supervision and rehabilitation of offenders.

Steel, a conservative Republican, argued to loud applause that "it's immoral for a private business to make money off of people who commit crime...it's wrong for ...governments to make money off people who commit crimes..."

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