Prison News | Oklahoma

• Education & Rehabilitation
• Executions, Death Row, & the Death Penalty
• Gangs in Prison
• Health & Medical Treatment
• Prison Classification, Placement, and Release
• Prison Conditions & Corruption
• Prison Life & Prison Culture
• Riots, Lockdowns & Escapes
• Suicides in Prison
• Workplace & Industry News and Science & Tech

Education & Rehabilitation

• 4 graduate from Oklahoma ReMerge prison diversion program for women facing incarceration
  
  OKLAHOMA CITY — Four women facing a total of more than 15 years of incarceration for a variety of offenses have graduated from a prison diversion program.......[more]
  Associated Press, Tuesday, July 9, 2013
  
  

Executions, Death Row & the Death Penalty

• A look at the five federal death row inmates facing execution
  
  Mass killer Timothy McVeigh was the last USA federal inmate to taste death at the hands of the state. I commend the president and Attorney General Barr for reinstating the federal death penalty in order to carry out sentences imposed on five brutal murderers by juries of their peers. ...[more]
  sbdirtysouthsoccer.com, Saturday, July 27, 2019
  
  
• Ex-inmate used T-shirt launcher to send drugs over prison fence: cops
  
  A just-released inmate is accused of sending a care package filled with drugs, cellphones and headphones flying into an Oklahoma prison yard — with the help of a T-shirt launcher....[more]
  New York Post, Wednesday, March 20, 2019
  
  

Gangs in Prison

• Five inmates sent to state hospitals after prison gang clashes ; At least 20 inmates take part in fights between Indian Brotherhood
  
  HOLDENVILLE - A rash of gang fights Sunday involving at least 20 inmates in three housing units at the Davis Correctional Center ended with guards using pepper spray to secure the prison and five inmates transported to hospitals......[more]
  Tulsa World, Wednesday, July 3, 2013
  
  
• State Supreme Court Ruling Could Remove Hundreds Of Sex Offenders From Registry
  
  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ...[more]
  Associated Press, Tuesday, July 2, 2013
  
  
• Microchips bad idea
  
  that would give prisons around-the-clock supervision of an inmate...[more]
  Muskogee Daily Phoenix , Sunday, June 3, 2007
  
  
• New Inmate Tracking System in Oklahoma
  
  A new inmate tracking system is being implemented in Oklahoma. The system alerts crime victims whenever there are changes in the status of inmates. ... ...[more]
  KTEN , Saturday, May 12, 2007
  
  
• Notorious killer dies in prison
  
  A killer who was considered a key figure in the so-called Dixie Mafia has died in...[more]
  Associated Press, Saturday, January 13, 2007
  
  

Health & Medical Treatment

Prison Classification, Placement, & Release

• Increasing Okla. prison population leads to rise in number of inmates on ankle monitors
  
  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - As Oklahoma looks for ways to handle a rapidly increasing prison population, the number of offenders being monitored with electronic bracelets also is on the rise, but experts warn the tracking system is far from a ......[more]
  Associated Press, Sunday, July 28, 2013
  
  
• Officials say DOC is out of space, needs $10M
  
  McLOUD - The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is out of space, the agency's governing board was told Friday. The agency is expected to need a minimum of $10 million to $15 million in supplemental funds to finish fiscal year 2014, which ......[more]
  Tulsa World, Saturday, July 27, 2013
  
  
• Experts say Oklahoma sex offender registry is inflexible, not accurate way to determine risk
  
  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A system for categorizing sex offenders that experts describe as flawed is causing local police departments and state prison workers in Oklahoma to spend time and money monitoring thousands of sex offenders who pose ......[more]
  Associated Press, Tuesday, July 23, 2013
  
  
• State Supreme Court Ruling Could Remove Hundreds Of Sex Offenders From Registry
  
  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ...[more]
  Associated Press, Tuesday, July 2, 2013
  
  
• New Inmate Tracking System in Oklahoma
  
  A new inmate tracking system is being implemented in Oklahoma. The system alerts crime victims whenever there are changes in the status of inmates. ... ...[more]
  KTEN , Saturday, May 12, 2007
  
  

Prison Conditions & Corruption

• Female Officer Accused of Raping Prisoner
  
  Oklahoma City A 25-YEAR-OLD Oklahoma prison inmate who has spent his entire adult life behind bars is suing the state Corrections Department over claims he was forced to have sex “50 to 100 times” with his caseworker....[more]
  Daily Telegraph, Monday, August 26, 2013
  
  
• Ex-DOC clerk is accused of sex assault on inmate
  
  OKLAHOMA CITY - A former mailroom clerk for the state Department of Corrections is accused of sexually assaulting a prisoner at DOC headquarters in Oklahoma City, authorities said....[more]
  Tulsa World, Saturday, July 27, 2013
  
  
• 11 women sue over system allegedly allowing sexual assaults at Oklahoma prison for females
  
  McLOUD, Okla. (AP) - A federal lawsuit filed by 11 inmates of a female prison claims the women were sexually assaulted by guards at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud, and that the prison system allowed the attacks....[more]
  Associated Press, Saturday, July 27, 2013
  
  
• Overflow ; Overcrowding needs a solution
  
  If there's one constant in Oklahoma, it is chronic overcrowding of this state's jails and prisons. The state builds them, the state fills them and then, when facilities spill over with people, the hand-wringing and the finger-pointing about ......[more]
  Tulsa World, Friday, July 12, 2013
  
  
• Jail crowding trickles down ; Many state DOC inmates have to be housed by county jails, which are pushed to capacity.
  
  While the Department of Corrections struggles with having 99 percent occupancy in its prisons, Tulsa County and other entities in northeast Oklahoma are feeling the effects of prison-ready inmates taking up valuable space in their jails....[more]
  Tulsa World, Sunday, June 23, 2013
  
  

Prison Life & Culture

• Oklahoma inmate jailed for nearly 30 years freed after judge rules he’s innocent in 1991 murder
  
  An Oklahoma inmate who served more than 28 years behind bars was released from prison after a judge overturned his conviction for a 1991 murder....[more]
  www.nydailynews.com, Wednesday, July 17, 2019
  
  
• A sheriff in Oklahoma, five of her deputies and several other staff members resigned this week in protest of a judge’s order to reopen a county jail that they had deemed unsafe.
  
  A sheriff in Oklahoma, five of her deputies and several other staff members resigned this week in protest of a judge’s order to reopen a county jail that they had deemed unsafe....[more]
  The New York Times, Wednesday, March 20, 2019
  
  
• Inside/Out: An Introduction to Prison Life
  
  On January 29th, I along with fourteen other OU students, traveled the Mabel Basset Correctional Center, located in McLoud, OK for our first Inside/Out class session.

  Back in the fall, I received an email one afternoon from Professor of Sociology, Dr. Susan Sharp, that a group of OU students would be participating in ......[more]

  U-Wire, Tuesday, February 11, 2014
  
  
• Cemetery at Oklahoma State Penitentiary a resting place for unclaimed inmate bodies
  
  Outside the whitewashed brick and concrete walls of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary is perhaps the loneliest place in the state -- a paupers' graveyard that's the final resting place for hundreds of inmates who died......[more]
  Associated Press, Saturday, July 6, 2013
  
  

Riots, Lockdowns & Escapes

• Officers capture inmate who escaped from southeast Oklahoma correctional facility
  
  MCALESTER, Okla. — A 39-year-old man who escaped from a minimum-security correctional center in southeastern Oklahoma has been taken into custody....[more]
  www.koco.com, Sunday, July 21, 2019
  
  
• Oklahoma inmate who served 28 years found innocent of murder
  
  TULSA, Okla. — A judge has freed an Oklahoma inmate who has served nearly three decades in prison for a 1991 killing, saying he did not commit the crime....[more]
  www.koco.com, Tuesday, July 16, 2019
  
  
• Riot at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in which 3 inmates died remembered on 40th anniversary
  
  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Conditions inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester were miserable 40 years ago -- with overcrowding, inadequate and ineffective supervision, racial segregation and discrimination, poor health care and a ......[more]
  Associated Press, Saturday, July 27, 2013
  
  

Suicides in Prison

• Tragic video shows mentally disturbed prisoner dying in jail after spending 51 HOURS lying naked and immobile on cell floor without water as...
  
  * Elliott Earl Williams, 37, died October 27, 2011, while in Tulsa County Jail * Arrested five days prior after causing disturbance in hotel lobby, where he was 'eating dirt'...[more]
  Mail Online, Tuesday, July 9, 2013
  
  

Workplace & Industry News, and Science & Tech News

• Oklahoma DOC received just $1 million increase
  
  While staffing shortages continue at Oklahoma prisons and the inmate population grows, the Department of Corrections received a $1 million budget increase this year - a fraction of what it had asked for....[more]
  Tulsa World, Monday, August 12, 2013
  
  
• Oklahoma Board of Corrections expected to name temporary prison boss during search for director
  
  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The Oklahoma Board of Corrections is expected to pick a temporary head of the state's prison system while it searches for a fulltime replacement for longtime Director Justin Jones, who is stepping down....[more]
  Associated Press, Thursday, July 25, 2013
  
  
• Memorial to slain corrections workers; memorial honors 20 Corrections employees killed on duty
  
  OKLAHOMA CITY - Twenty Department of Corrections' employees who died in the line of duty were remembered Friday with the dedication of a memorial in their honor....[more]
  Tulsa World, Saturday, July 20, 2013
  
  
• Oklahoma Attorney General's Office offers mobile app for crime victims to track state inmates
  
  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The Oklahoma Attorney General's Office is offering a new mobile app that victims of crime can use to track inmates. The Victim Information and Notification Everyday program is a free and anonymous service that allows ......[more]
  Associated Press, Wednesday, June 19, 2013
  
  
• Microchips bad idea
  
  that would give prisons around-the-clock supervision of an inmate...[more]
  Muskogee Daily Phoenix , Sunday, June 3, 2007