July 1, 2005 News OK
TULSA - It probably didn't take Tulsa County jail inmates long to know a new -- but familiar -- sheriff was in town. Sheriff Stanley Glanz said he planned to conduct a shakedown search shortly after regaining control of the jail, which was scheduled to happen at midnight Thursday. Glanz has waited six years for his department to regain control of the jail. The shakedown, conducted by 100 deputies, reserve deputies and jail staff, is an effort to improve safety and efficiency at the jail. "I had a lot of patience," he said. "I learned that a jail is a law enforcement function and it needs to be operated by government and not private companies. Of course, I've been saying that for 10 years, but it's been reinforced to me." Criminal Justice Trust Authority members voted 7-0 to privatize after reading reports that Corrections Corporation of America could save taxpayers as much as $10 million in five years. But the trust authority in March voted, 4-3, to give the jail back to Glanz.

May 7, 2005 Tulsa World
A Tulsa Jail corrections officer was fired Thursday after he was arrested in the armed robbery of a woman in a mall parking lot. Charles Courtney Wilson, 19, was arrested about 1:30 p.m. Thursday on an armed robbery complaint and booked into the the jail about 5 p.m., jail records show. Chris Howard, a spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the jail, confirmed that Wilson was an officer there. He was fired after CCA officials learned of his felony arrest. The robbery took place about 1:15 p.m. in a parking lot outside Woodland Hills Mall at 71st Street and Memorial Drive, Sgt. Kim Presley said. A woman told police that she had just returned to her car, which was parked on the south side of the mall, when a man appeared "out of nowhere." He pointed a gun at her and told her to get out of her car. She got out, and he grabbed her purse, Presley said. The man then ran to a car where a getaway driver was waiting. Witnesses described the getaway car to police, and officers saw the vehicle a short time later. The car's two occupants were arrested in the 7400 block of East 29th Place, Presley said. The man who is the suspected driver, Bernard Ezechukwu, was arrested on complaints of armed robbery, eluding and traffic-related complaints.

May 6, 2005 KOTV
Good Samaritans helped Tulsa Police arrest two men stealing a woman's purse at gunpoint. One of the suspects works at the Tulsa County jail. Police say 19-year-old Charles Wilson ran up to the victim's car at Woodland Hills Mall, pointed a gun at her, and reached across her to grab her purse out of the passenger's seat. Corrections Corporation of America, the company that runs the jail, tells the News on 6, Wilson is a corrections officer.

April 23, 2005 Tulsa World
Outside oversight during the Tulsa Jail's management transition is likely, county leaders say. Officials are still pondering what kind of oversight they will put in place once the sheriff assumes operation of the Tulsa Jail on July 1. Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority Chairman and County Commissioner Bob Dick said most have agreed that the sheriff's operation of the jail will be a big change and that some form of outside oversight should be maintained for a period of time. Sheriff Stanley Glanz plans to generate a monthly report internally and said he doesn't mind oversight. Jail transition: About 270 applications for jail staff positions have been received so far. Some 230 to 240 of those have come from existing CCA employees, Chief Deputy Tim Albin said. The sheriff plans a staff of 304. Ninety-seven applicants have taken a standardized test, with more than 95 percent passing. "They've got some really good people working over there, and that's why we're trying real hard to latch on to that work force," he said.

March  30, 2005 Tulsa World
A former Tulsa Jail supervisor faces a three-year prison sentence upon being convicted Tuesday of raping a female inmate there. Tulsa County jurors found Eugene Pendleton, 48, guilty of second-degree rape. Pendleton was jailed after the verdict, ending a six-day trial in District Judge Tom Thornbrugh's court. Jurors also imposed a $3,000 fine. Pendleton managed an addiction treatment unit at the jail. His accuser, now 29, testified that she participated in a jail counseling program to address her drug problem. Jurors heard testimony that the woman -- who is no longer an inmate -- has said Pendleton had sex with her six or seven times between Christmas 2001 and May 2002. Pendleton denied the accusation. The rape charge did not require proof of force. It is illegal for a person in a "position of authority" to engage in sexual contact with an inmate, Assistant District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said.

March 30, 2005 Tulsa World
Police have ruled that an inmate's death at the Tulsa Jail on Monday is consistent with an intentional hanging. Corrections Corporation of America's spokesman Chris Howard said only that Felipe Gonzalez, 46, was pronounced dead at 3:15 p.m. The jail has had at least 18 inmate deaths since August 1999. At least five were suicides.

March 29, 2005 AP
Tulsa police are investigating the apparent suicide of an inmate at the Tulsa Jail. The man's name and how he died have not been released. EMSA paramedics were called to the jail about 3:00 yesterday afternoon and say when they arrived they were told the patient was dead from a traumatic injury. The jail is run by Corrections Corporation of America and spokesman Chris Howard says he can't release information about the death.

March 19, 2005 Tulsa World
All agreed it was a tough decision to make, but in the end the seven-member Criminal Justice Authority elected to turn the Tulsa Jail operation back over to the sheriff in a 4-3 vote Friday. Undersheriff Brian Edwards said he thought the sheriff's public accountability, local presence and community involvement were the key factors in the selection. "I think that we presented a solid plan," Edwards said. "I think the trust authority's going to give us an opportunity to prove ourselves. That's just what we intend to do." The Tulsa Jail has been under the management of Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America since August 1999. CCA's contract with the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority expires June 30, but officials are hoping the company will agree to stay an additional 180 days to allow the sheriff's transition team six months to prepare for the takeover. The authority decided to seek new proposals for running the jail after it struggled with a $2.9 million deficit this budget year. Sheriff Stanley Glanz, CCA, the GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut) of Boca Raton, Fla., and Correctional Services Corp. of Sarasota, Fla., responded with bids. The authority discussed the issue for about an hour Friday morning before a standing-room-only crowd of largely CCA employees before deciding it would give the sheriff as many as three years to see how well he performs. Commissioner Randi Miller made the motion in favor of the Sheriff's Office early in the discussion, and it was seconded by Tulsa Mayor Bill LaFortune, who made the most arguments in favor of Glanz. Commissioner Bob Dick said he came to the meeting prepared to vote for the GEO Group, but he ended up being the deciding vote in favor of the sheriff. Dick was part of a unanimous vote in 1997 to turn over the jail operation to CCA after its bid came in $2 million cheaper than the sheriff's. This time the sheriff was about $2 million cheaper than CCA.

March 18, 2005 KOTV
The Tulsa County jail's new operator is the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office. The jail is currently operated by Corrections Corporation of America. Last month, the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority ordered the re-bidding. CCA and the sheriff's office was two of four bidders who submitted bids. During a meeting Friday morning, the authority voted 4 to 3 in favor of returning the operation of the jail to the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office.

February 6, 2005 Tulsa World
Tulsa County's sheriff and a Florida counterpart have differing viewpoints on public vs. privately run. Faced with rising costs at privately operated facilities, both Tulsa County and Hernando County, Fla., are trying to determine how their jails can be run for less money. But while Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz thinks he can run a jail cheaper than Corrections Corporation of America, Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent has no interest in running a jail and says he can't do it for less. Times have changed since sheriffs operated jails with budgets based on the number of prisoners they held, Nugent said. Glanz said the reason he is in the running to operate the jail again is because he believes his office can help the community. The sheriff never believed the Criminal Justice Authority should have turned over the operation to a private operator in 1999, when Tulsa's new jail opened. He blamed that decision on politics and fought it in court, but lost. "They have a company and they run a business for profit, where I'm a law enforcement official and I would run the facility in the best interest of the law enforcement community," Glanz said. Collin County (Texas) Sheriff Terry Box said that running a jail is about more than who has the lowest bid. Box's office operates the county jail in McKinney, which Glanz's office has used as a model for the direct supervision style of management used at the Tulsa Jail. "I would never want to have a private firm have someone behind bars for a county operation. Because in a county jail, there's a lot of innocent people in jail. It's kind of odd to me to give that kind of constitutional authority over to a private firm," Box said. In Tulsa County, the jail tab paid to CCA has increased to $22.1 million in 2004 from $15.6 million in 2001. Glanz submitted a proposal to run the jail in December that was at least $2 million less than what CCA is being paid, sparking a movement to seek formal proposals from potential jail operators.

January 25, 2005 Tulsa World
Efforts to reduce the jail budget have mainly focused on CCA's contract to operate the Tulsa Jail. But Corrections Corporation of America officials question why other jail-related costs funded by the quarter-penny sales tax are not part of the discussion along with some of the ideas they have suggested to help reduce costs and boost revenues. "I can understand their point of view," said County Commissioner Bob Dick, chairman of the county's Criminal Justice Authority. "We're looking at every way possible, but the obvious big dollars are in the contract." In the five years since CCA first won the jail contract, its per-inmate-day fee has risen 32 percent, while the total amount it has been paid has gone up 42 percent in four years. CCA was paid $15.6 million in its first full year of operations in 2000-01, and it received $22.1 million in 2003-04. The average daily jail population has gone up from 1,135 inmates in 2000 to 1,250 inmates in 2004. The Criminal Justice Authority is taking bids for a jail operator. The sheriff, CCA and an unknown number of private operators are expected to vie for the contract. Glanz maintains he can operate a better jail for less money because he doesn't have to earn a profit.

January 9, 2005 Tulsa World
At least 17 Tulsa Jail inmates have died since Corrections Corporation of America took over operations, four times the number who died in the jail the previous five years, a review by the Tulsa World has found. The deaths include three suicides in the jail's medical unit. Another inmate who died from a brain aneurysm displayed signs of a head injury for weeks following assaults in the jail, but prison medical staff claimed his problems were "all in his head," records show. Sheriff Stanley Glanz said private companies have an incentive to keep medical costs low, which can lead to poor care for inmates. Glanz has made a proposal to take over operations of the jail when CCA's current contract expires in June. The county's Criminal Justice Authority is considering whether to extend the contract and has requested proposals from Glanz and other private operators.  The Tulsa World reviewed all deaths in the jail since Jan. 1, 2000, the first full year that the Nashville-based company operated Tulsa's new 1,440-bed jail. During those five years, at least 17 people died in the jail or at medical facilities following illnesses or injuries at the jail. From 1995 through 1999, there were four deaths in the jail operated by the sheriff. Records show several Tulsa Jail inmates who died were suffering from cancer or other serious ailments and those deaths were likely little surprise to authorities. But even in those cases, records show an apparent indifference to inmates' medical problems among some CCA employees. Sondria Allen was jailed July 26, 2004, on larceny and other complaints and initially housed in the jail's medical unit. Three days later, on July 29, Allen was transferred out of the medical unit to a segregation unit. The officer states that the other officers told him Allen "was very dramatic and would probably try faking something. I was told that she was in medical on suicide watch at one point and if she left medical she would hurt herself." Allen was found unresponsive in her cell about four hours later. Other cases drew sharp criticism from jail inspectors. Jail staff failed to notice or document that inmate Merlin Lee Foster had not eaten for four days before his death on June 18, 2000, from a bowel infarction. "It is apparent in the medical file that Foster complained about his stomach hurting since May 16," states a report by jail inspector Loyd Bickel. "It is also apparent that prescribed treatment was not working." Bickel notes that medical staff were not responding to requests for treatment within the required 48 hours and medical files were in disarray. "I find it to be an enormous red flag of the inadequacy in rendering treatment as well as adequate charting of the inmate's condition that it is verified that his medical file was lost for a period of five days," his report states. Foster, 62, died at a hospital following surgery. His widow, Peggy Sue Foster, sued and a jury found in favor of CCA and other defendants. CCA's press release following the suicide of inmate Cory Adam Morris stated: "Although a loss of life did occur, CCA employees followed policies and procedures." In fact, the state jail inspector cited the company with numerous lapses in Morris' hanging death. Morris, 20, was found hanging in a cell from a sheet tied to his bed at 4:50 p.m. on Jan. 15, 2000. The company's initial statement said Morris was seen "acting normally" during a routine check at 4:25 p.m. According to an investigation by the Jail Inspection Division, Morris had apparently been dead for awhile before anyone noticed. "Hourly prisoner checks were not conducted or documented and shift change counts were not conducted or documented according to the state standards." The report notes that an inmate was "allowed to conduct security checks for the officer on duty and was allowed to have supervision over other inmates. CCA later reported that its press release was inaccurate and that pod officers had not actually seen Morris during the last check. Two correctional officers were fired. While Morris was held in the general population, three suicides have occurred in the jail's medical unit, records show. Among the jail's deaths from natural causes is a case in which CCA was cited for failing to seek appropriate medical attention for an inmate who was assaulted. For weeks after he was assaulted by inmates in the jail on Nov. 25, 2000, inmate Leonia Sanchez Arriaga displayed signs of a head injury. A jail inspector's report states that while he was in the medical unit, Arriaga complained of headaches, buzzing in his ears and was "crawling around on all 4s and climbing on top of the sinks and toilet within the facility. He is also reported as confused and to have an unsteady gait." Arriaga was taken to a hospital, where he reportedly refused treatment, and was returned to the jail's general population. The inmate attacked Arriaga, striking him numerous times in the head, the report states. Arriaga, 31, continued to display signs of a head injury and was transferred to the medical unit. On Dec. 8, records state he was confused, disoriented and "crawling on all fours." Jail staff, however, did not request that Arriaga be examined at a hospital but instead sent him to court for a hearing in his DUI case. Arriaga attended his court appointment in a wheelchair and "became incontinent," the jail inspector's report states. He was returned to the jail and transported to a hospital later that evening. Arriaga died at the hospital before surgery could be performed. Hospital tests showed Arriaga died Dec. 13, 2000, from a ruptured brain aneurysm and his body was returned to family in Mexico. The medical examiner ruled his death was due to natural causes. On the day following Arriaga's death, Masek, the contract monitor at the jail, said he would investigate the matter. He said at the time that Prison Health Services, the private company which CCA contracted with to provide medical care in the jail, "went to great lengths to take care of this guy." In its investigation, the jail inspector's office cited CCA with numerous failures, including failing to give Arriaga appropriate medical care, delaying transportation to a hospital, failure to accurately document the assaults and failure to contact the jail inspector's office until four days after his death. In April 2001, CCA ended its contract with Prison Health Services. At the time, CCA Director of Communications Steve Owen said the move "enables us to be more responsive to our customers." But according to a memo dated May 31, 2001, the company was also working hard to control medical costs. The memo on file at the state Jail Inspection Division states that a CCA nurse called that day to report that "med help must leave when they've put in 40 hours and stay gone." The nurse told the jail inspector's office she stayed one hour overtime to finish paperwork for the next shift "and was called at home and told 'she'd better watch out,' " states the memo to state Jail Inspector Don Garrison. "She has been a nurse for 33 years and states she has no desire to throw mud at her employer (CCA). However, proper medical care is not being administered. When their 40 hours are up, that's it," the memo states.

January 7, 2005 Tulsa World
Current access to the inmates is criticized, but Sheriff Glanz says he would improve conditions. Some Tulsa ministers say they would like to see a more "pastor-friendly" environment at the Tulsa Jail and believe that would happen if the sheriff were back in charge. The Rev. Melvin L. Bailey of Shiloh Baptist Church said personal contact with inmates is difficult when conversations must occur through glass and there is a fear of being overheard. "We'd like to be able to hold the hand of an inmate," he said. Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz said he would allow ministers free access, as he did before politics took the responsibility for the jail away from him. The news media was invited to a Thursday gathering of about two dozen pastors and members of the Sheriff's Office at St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church. Glanz told the group that his father was a minister, "so I know what you guys do." St. Andrew's pastor, the Rev. Bertrand Bailey, said ministers in his area are not happy with the access that Corrections Corporation of America allows them to inmates. He said he hopes ministers would try to influence a decision to return the jail operation to the sheriff. The financially troubled Criminal Justice Authority, which governs the jail operation, is seeking proposals to run the jail from the sheriff and as many as seven private operators, including CCA, which has held the jail contract since August 1999.

January 2, 2005 AP
The number of potential private jail operators has more than tripled since officials shopped for someone to run the Tulsa Jail six years ago. In 1998, the choice of private operators was between Corrections Corporation of America, which won the contract, and Wackenhut Corp., now known as the GEO Group. Now the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office and as many as seven private companies could be submitting proposals to run the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center. CCA's contract expires at the end of June, and another deficit of about $5 million is projected for the next fiscal year. The Tulsa County sheriff enters the ring again as a potential jail operator after a five-year hiatus. Sheriff Stanley Glanz launched a court battle several years ago against the creation of the Criminal Justice Authority and its decision to turn the jail operation over to CCA. He lost that fight but has maintained that a jail is a sheriff's responsibility and should not be operated by a private company out to make a profit.

December 19, 2004 Tulsa World
The sheriff's department estimates its plan will save $2 million over current jail operator CCA. The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office believes it can operate the Tulsa Jail for less money than Corrections Corporation of America because of the management style it would implement. Interim Undersheriff George Haralson said that the sheriff's office would operate the jail as a "direct supervision" facility, which requires fewer employees because only one detention officer is assigned to supervise inmates in each housing pod. Haralson has also touted the sheriff's proposal because it is based on a fixed price of $19.2 million, while there is no ceiling on what CCA can be paid each year because its payment is based on jail population. The Tennessee-based company's compensation rate is based on a per-inmate, per-day rate that is estimated to cost about $23 million this year. The Criminal Justice Authority requested the sheriff's proposal so that a cost comparison could be conducted. Those results, in part, prompted the authority to decide it will take new bids on the jail contract. An operator is expected to be selected by the end of March. CCA is in its final year of a three-year contract, with two one-year renewal options. Haralson told the authority that the sheriff has agreed to pay for any startup costs out of his budget or cash fee accounts if he is chosen to run the jail.

December 17, 2004 Tulsa World
Tulsa County may have to rely more heavily on its cash funds and other tax streams to free up property tax dollars for the Criminal Justice Authority's lagging jail budget. The Criminal Justice Authority meets Friday to consider its budget and contract for jail operations. The Budget Board also meets Friday to take action on an expected request from the Criminal Justice Authority to help cover its projected $2.9 million budget deficit. Sheriff Stanley Glanz said he hasn't spent any of his cash funds this year in case the jail operation is returned to him. The sheriff has been asked to submit a cost proposal to run the jail so it can be compared to Corrections Corporation of America, the private operator at the jail since 1999.

December 14, 2004 Tulsa World
The jail trust authority discussed several solutions that may solve its short-term financial troubles by seeking assistance from Tulsa County authorities and the county Budget Board. The county's fiscal officer, Jim Smith, told the Criminal Justice Authority during a special meeting Monday that the $3.7 million deficit has been revised to $2.9 million. In addition, the sheriff has been asked to submit a cost proposal to run the jail. A report, prepared by commissioners' chief deputy Paul Wilkening, is supposed to be released this week that will compare the sheriff's costs to the Corrections Corporation of America, the private operator that runs the jail. Tulsa Mayor Bill LaFortune said the comparison needs to be done because CCA's current contract is a large component of the deficit. LaFortune was the only Criminal Justice Authority member who voted against the CCA contract two years ago. DOC officials have previously recommended that the Criminal Justice Authority look to other jurisdictions who could house state inmates cheaper than CCA, but the contract with CCA prevents it from doing that.

December 12, 2004 Tulsa World
Corrections Corporation of America could reduce its $48.60 per inmate daily compensation rate at the Tulsa Jail by nearly $12 if it no longer provided booking, transportation, holding and medical services. But the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority would have to look to other entities to provide those services more cheaply than CCA before it could see any savings. Records show that the Nashville, Tenn.-based company has outlined other potential cost reductions, including the removal of on-site monitoring of its operation by Criminal Justice Authority employees. The Criminal Justice Authority is facing a projected $3.7 million budget shortfall, but Chairman Randi Miller has said hiring other entities to perform some jail functions just seems like cost-shifting. A report is submitted to the authority each month that addresses staffing levels, maintenance, escapes/wrongful releases, inmate deaths and medical services. But an inmate release time survey is no longer included in Contract Monitor Joe Masek's monthly report to the authority. "Questions are being raised again that it's taking a long time to get out of jail, so I feel it's my duty," Masek said last month following a complaint from an inmate's father. Committee member Robert Breuning has complained that the county doesn't allow the committee to perform its role as a watch dog so members have lost interest. He asked the Criminal Justice Authority in March to appoint new members because the 14-member committee was down to seven members.

December 10, 2004 Tulsa World
Tulsa County bears no liability for the jail authority's projected $3.7 million budget deficit, but it could voluntarily transfer general funds to save the authority from indebtedness, according to a district attorney's opinion. The county's Budget Board in the past has approved transferring general funds to the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority, records show. Transfers from the authority to the general fund have also occurred. County officials have been hesitant to say what should be done about the Criminal Justice Authority's budget, which has a cash balance that has dwindled to $6,097 from $994,299 as jail costs continue to outpace incoming revenues. County employees could be affected by a cut or reduction in benefits. Property owners could also be affected if the deficit goes unchecked and the Criminal Justice Authority is sued for unpaid bills by jail operator Corrections Corporation of America or other entities.

December 9, 2004 Tulsa World
The proposal is being hampered by the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority's financial troubles. Corrections Corporation of America officials have confirmed that they are marketing available beds at the Tulsa Jail to the Kansas Department of Corrections. However, the effort to house out-of-state prisoners is being hampered by the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority's financial troubles, which have the Nashville, Tenn., company wondering whether it will be in Tulsa after its contract to run the jail expires in June. "We're holding back on who we're going after," said Jennifer Taylor, CCA's senior director of business development. "It's not good to be uprooted," which would happen to potential Kansas inmates if CCA's contract with the Criminal Justice Authority to run the jail is not renewed or if the company leaves because the authority can't pay its debt. Criminal Justice Authority Chairman Randi Miller has been in talks with CCA in an effort to lower jail costs, but she said she didn't know anything about the proposal to house Kansas inmates. She said CCA has mentioned the idea several times but the authority has had no discussions on it.

December 5, 2004 Tulsa World
Tulsa County taxpayers are paying 30 percent more to run the Tulsa Jail than the average amount that other jurisdictions pay Corrections Corporation of America at facilities it manages across the nation. In its latest financial report to investors, records show the Tennessee-based company's daily revenue per inmate averages $37.52 among the 26 facilities it manages but does not own. Locally, taxpayers are paying CCA $48.60 per inmate daily at the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center, owned by the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority. Oklahoma County's per diem rate has been $35 a day for the past three years, according to the sheriff's office, which operates the jail. Dick said CCA indicated to him that it makes a profit of about $1 million a year in Tulsa in its current contract. Based on the $22,179,438 CCA was paid in 2003-04 that would be about a 5 percent profit. In the five years since CCA first won the jail contract, its fee has risen 32 percent, while the total amount it has been paid has gone up 42 percent in four years. Ken Kopczynski, who operates a Florida-based watchdog group called the Private Corrections Institute, said Tulsa's jail problems are not unique. "You are basically getting the same issues everywhere. The prices are escalating. They (CCA) just walked away from a contract in Nevada because they low-balled it, and they came back begging for more money, particularly for medical costs." Kopczynski said private prison operators "say they can do it better and cheaper, but . . . they have to provide a profit to their shareholders. On top of that, they have to contribute thousands of dollars to politicians." In Florida, state law requires that use of private prisons results in a 7 percent cost savings. CCA runs six private correctional facilities in that state: three jails and three prisons. A review by the Florida Legislature found that only one in five private prisons operated by CCA and another company met the requirement.

December 2, 2004 Tulsa World
Four members of the county Budget Board have called for a special meeting Friday to discuss the use of general funds to compensate for the jail board's projected $3.7 million deficit. But Commissioners Randi Miller and Wilbert Collins say there may be no alternative. Miller has mentioned the possibility of reducing the county's contribution to certain employee benefit plans in an effort to help pay for the jail. She has also asked the sheriff to submit a proposal on running the jail in an effort to see if the it could be operated for less money. A contract with jail operator Corrections Corporation of America is up for renewal in July. In the five years since CCA first won the jail contract, its fee has risen 32 percent.

November 16, 2004 Tulsa World
Tulsa County's budget and jail boards scheduled and then canceled back-to-back Tuesday meetings to act on a critical state audit and deal with a $3.7 million hole in the county's jail budget. Tulsa County Commissioner Randi Miller said the meetings were called off because negotiations with Corrections Corporation of America -- the private contractor that operates the county's jail -- aren't finished. The county wants to reduce CCA's $48.50 per-inmate, per-day compensation rate. In the five years since CCA first won the jail contract, its fee has risen 32 percent.

October 30, 2004 Tulsa World
Two men wanted to ask the Criminal Justice Authority about jail procedures and funding. Al Nichols and Clifton Sartin say they would like to speak at a Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority meeting but that the board doesn't allow public comment. Asked why authority meetings don't have a public comment section, County Commissioner Bob Dick replied: "Why should there be? To give someone a platform to rant and rave to me isn't good policy." Both men attended Friday's authority meeting but didn't speak. Nichols sent a letter to the authority Oct. 13, asking to address the board regarding his son's having been held in the Tulsa Jail for eight hours despite efforts to pay his bail. But Nichols said his concerns can be answered only by the authority because it has oversight of the jail, which is operated by Corrections Corporation of America. "There are certain things CCA can't correct," he said. Sartin said he wants an explanation for the jail board's troubled finances. "Why are they going bankrupt, and how will they pay for the jail if it does?" he asked.

October 28, 2004 Tulsa World
A consultant's draft report commissioned by the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority suggests no specific solutions on how the governing body should combat a projected $6 million deficit in the jail budget, officials say. County Commissioner and authority Chairwoman Randi Miller said the draft report is too vague and doesn't really identify any specific cost savings. Michael A. O'Toole & Associates of Denver was paid $20,000 for an efficiency analysis of the jail, which is operated by Corrections Corporation of America. But Sheriff Stanley Glanz, who is nursing a broken leg after a lawn-mowing accident, said he has reviewed the report. "One of my concerns is the county's broke," he said. "I cut my budget 20 percent from what I requested. The county does not have the money to pick up funding of the jail." In the five years since CCA was given the jail contract, its fee has gone up 32 percent -- to $48.60 from $36.76 per inmate per day.

October 27, 2004 Oklahoman
Faced with an anticipated budget shortfall, the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority will consider new staffing recommendations for the county jail Friday. The authority pays Corrections Corporation of America on a per-inmate basis and expects the bill for this fiscal year to be $23 million. But based on experience in past years, the authority estimates a sales tax dedicated to the jail's operations will raise only $18 million during the fiscal year, which began July 1. That is why the authority hired a consultant to review the operation and its staffing levels. The authority would like to renegotiate the contract that allows Corrections Corporation of America to increase its fees. On July 1, for example, the corporation's charges for each prisoner went up from $47.18 a day to $48.60 a day. Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz, who is not a member of the authority, has reviewed the report, he said Tuesday. Glanz also wouldn't discuss specifics, but maintains that his department could run the jail for the same amount of money or less.

September 14, 2004 Tulsa World
The mother of an inmate who was found hanging by a ligature in his Tulsa Jail medical cell has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Corrections Corporation of America, the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority and the city of Tulsa. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Darla Lamb, alleges that authorities had reason to know that Scott Ray Dickens, 36, was suicidal but failed to monitor him properly.

September 2, 2004
A man who served only about 2 1/2 years of a 16-year state court prison sentence for college grade-altering offenses was arrested Wednesday after a paperwork problem allowed him to be free for weeks before serving a consecutive federal sentence.  After federal officials learned of his early release, Tarig Al-Taweel, 35, was arrested Wednesday afternoon by U.S. marshals at a residence where he had been staying in the 1400 block of East 38th Place, Deputy U.S. Marshal Rick Holden said.  Holden said Al-Taweel was arrested based on a one-year prison sentence U.S. District Judge James Payne imposed last September.  He was ordered to serve time in a federal prison for taking an English proficiency test for another foreign student and for mailing a threat to his former wife.  Payne said then that he was ordering the one-year term to run consecutively to the 16-year state sentence because a concurrent term would be the sort of "leniency" he does not support.  Tulsa County jurors convicted Al-Taweel in November 2002 of eight felonies linked to accusations that grades were changed for Middle Eastern students at Tulsa Community College.  Chris Howard, a spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the Tulsa Jail, said Al-Taweel was in the jail from Nov. 5, 2001, until Oct. 7, 2003, when he was transferred to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.  Temporarily lost in the shuffle was the one-year prison sentence Payne had imposed.  Holden said Wednesday that a U.S. Marshals Service detainer -- as well as documents temporarily relinquishing federal custody of Al-Taweel -- were provided to Tulsa Jail officials Nov. 18.  That was a few weeks after Payne had issued a formal written order setting out the terms he imposed at the Sept. 26 sentencing hearing.  CCA's Howard said Wednesday evening that Al-Taweel was released into Department of Corrections custody more than a month prematurely last fall.  He said that meant that certain paperwork -- such as the Marshals Service detainer -- did not follow Al-Taweel into the state system.  Both Moore and Corrections Department Assistant District Supervisor Johnny Blevins said Wednesday that they did not see any reference to the Marshals Service detainer in Al-Taweel's DOC file.  Howard said the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office -- not CCA -- compiles the list of inmates who are supposed to be taken from the Tulsa Jail to state prison facilities.  "Ordinarily inmates are not to be moved to a DOC facility while they are still in our custody," Holden said Wednesday.  He said the Marshals Service is still in the "very early stages" of determining exactly how this happened.  (Tulsa World)

August 28, 2004
A Colorado-based consulting firm has been selected to perform an efficiency analysis of the Tulsa County criminal justice system.  Michael A. O'Toole & Associates of Denver was selected Friday from among five firms that expressed an interest to the county Criminal Justice Authority. The cost for the study will be confirmed once a contract is successfully negotiated.  Corrections Corporation of America operates the Tulsa Jail, and its fee has gone up in the five years it has held the contract by 32 percent -- to $48.60 from $36.76 per inmate per day.  Tulsa County Commissioner Randi Miller said O'Toole's firm definitely needs to study CCA's compensation rate. Miller said officials might have to make severe cuts to the county's general fund to counter a projected $3 million to $5 million deficit in the criminal justice budget.  (Tulsa World)

August 7, 2004
Five firms have expressed an interest in conducting an efficiency analysis of Tulsa County's criminal justice system.  Officials are looking for ways to cut costs amid a projected $3 million to $5 million deficit in the operating budget for the jail and other criminal justice-related divisions.  The jail has been operated by Corrections Corporation of America since it opened in 1999. CCA's fee has gone up 32 percent -- to $48.60 from $36.76 per inmate per day -- in the five years since it has had the jail contract.  (Tulsa World)

August 6, 2004
A Corrections Corporation of America employee was arrested Wednesday night in the staff parking lot of the Tulsa Jail after a gun and a bag of marijuana were discovered in his vehicle.  Dustin Holley, 22, resigned from his job as a corrections officer and was jailed on a misdemeanor complaint of marijuana possession. He was released early Thursday.  Chris Howard, spokesman for CCA, which operates the Tulsa Jail, said employees who were visually searching vehicles in the employee parking area noticed what appeared to be a gun under the seat of Holley's vehicle. Holley allowed them to search his vehicle, where they allegedly found a small bag of marijuana.  (Tulsa World)

July 25, 2004
The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority hopes to hire a consultant within the next month to audit the criminal justice system's efficiency in an effort to combat a projected $3 million to $5 million deficit this year. The authority will ask the firm to review the contract with Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the Tulsa Jail, and make recommendations on ways to reduce costs.  CCA's fee has gone up 32 percent -- to $48.60 from $36.76 per inmate per day -- in the five years it has had the contract. Some think that is an incredibly steep increase.  (Tulsa World)

July 21, 2004
The mother of a man who died May 13 while incarcerated at the Tulsa Jail has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Corrections Corporation of America.  Tulsa police reported previously that Michael Andrew Jones, 27, apparently had killed himself using a plastic trash bag while in the jail's medical unit, where he was being observed for seizures.  Mary Jane Jones alleges that the private jail operator was negligent in her son's death because it did not provide ade quate supervision. Jail officials previously reported that Michael Andrew Jones had not been on suicide watch, and police said he had not threatened suicide.  Mary Jane Jones alleges that CCA should have known of her son's medical and mental circumstances. She maintains in court documents that her son suffered from a brain injury and was unable to care for himself or function normally.  Michael Andrew Jones was jailed on a charge of violating.  (Tulsa World) 

June 15, 2004
County commissioners authorized a special state audit of their finance offices Monday because of recent management changes and budgeting problems.  Commissioners and the county's jail authority are bothered now by escalating costs to keep Corrections Corporation of America operating the Tulsa County lock-up. The contract calls for the private firm to operate the county jail for more than $23 million during the coming year.  The problem for county leaders is that a dedicated sales tax designed to pay for the operation is raising only about $18 million a year.  Commissioners can't cut the budget of the jail operations because the county jail authority's contract with Corrections Corporation of America can't be ended without a 180-day notice period.  Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz said he has remained a critic of the county's jail authority since it opted to use a private company to operate the facility.  The problem with the authority's current agreement with Corrections Corp. of America, Glanz said, is that it pays the private company a daily rate for each inmate it keeps. Now, the rate is $47.18. It is expected to climb to $48.60 on July 1.  That's a luxury his department never enjoyed when it operated a county jail, said Glanz, who is running for re-election.  "I don't know of any other budget in county government that's doubled in five years," Glanz said.  (The Daily Oklahoman)

June 11, 2004
The family of a man who died in the lobby of the Tulsa Jail has settled a federal lawsuit against the facility's operator.  Plaintiffs' attorney Joel LaCourse declined Thursday to disclose terms of a settlement with Corrections Corporation of America, a private company that operates the jail.  CCA spokesman Chris Howard said he couldn't disclose any details of the settlement.  The family of Shane M. Spencer also sued the city of Tulsa, which settled the claims against it for $200,000 but made no admission of wrongdoing. A complaint first filed in Seminole County District Court in October 2002 stated that Spencer was arrested in October 2001 after collapsing in an east Tulsa driveway while he was in "an obvious state of alcoholic stupor."  Two Tulsa police officers then dragged Spencer, 27, into the jail on his face and "dumped" him there, alleged the lawsuit, which was moved to federal court in Tulsa in February 2003.  The lawsuit alleges that CCA officials allowed Spencer to lie face-down for several minutes before checking on him and beginning efforts to save his life.  (AP)

May 14, 2004
A David L. Moss Correctional Center inmate died Thursday night in an apparent suicide. The 27-year-old inmate, jailed for an alleged violation of a protective order, apparently killed himself by placing a plastic bag over his head, Detective Demita Kinard said. The man was being held in the center's medical wing for psychiatric reasons. (Tulsa World)

November 18, 2003
A new state law that adds county sales taxes to residential energy bills is expected to raise more than $4.5 million a year for the Tulsa Jail and local capital improvement projects.  Electricity and natural gas bills were untaxed until the Legislature passed Senate Bill 708, which took effect on Nov. 1. The law was written by Sen. Angela Monson, D-Oklahoma City, and Rep. Clay Pope, D-Loyal.  Paula Ross, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Tax Commission, said the law attempts to clarify a 1999 commission ruling that lifted a tax exemption for residential customers.  A recent auditor's report shows that the current sales tax stream for the Tulsa Jail is insufficient to pay its operating costs.  The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority has tapped its reserve funds, which have shrunk from $11.9 million in 2002 to $5.8 million in 2003, the report shows.  The Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the jail, was paid close to $21.1 million in 2003, a 22.8 percent increase from 2002.  (Tulsa World)

November 22, 2003
A pay-to-stay plan is a welcome source of new revenue but probably won't solve all the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority's financial problems, officials said.   During a meeting Friday at which the plan officially was approved, County Commission Chief Deputy Paul Wilkening said the authority could earn about $1.06 million a year by charging inmates for one night of their jail stay.  "The good news is that it helps the shortfall," Commissioner Bob Dick said. "The bad news is that it sure doesn't make up for what the state's doing to us."  The number of state inmates at the Tulsa Jail has been growing as the Department of Corrections has accepted fewer inmates at its intake facility in Lexington. The DOC reduced the weekly number of Tulsa County inmates it will accept to 36 from 52 last year. County officials have watched the DOC-ready inmate population at the jail balloon from 48 in October 2002 to 336 this month.  In an interview Friday, DOC spokesman Jerry Massie said the weekly number was reduced because last year only an average of 36 inmates were actually transported to prison each week by the sheriff.  "The majority of the time, more often than not, they don't send the full complement," he said.  The authority is only partially compensated for housing state inmates. The authority pays private jail operator Corrections Corporation of America $47.18 a day for each inmate, but the DOC reimburses the authority only $24 per day per inmate.  "That story can't be told too much or too often. The state is giving us an unfunded mandate of about $4.8 million dollars a year right now," Dick said. "The voters were kind enough in 1995 to vote a permanent tax on sales, and I don't think they voted thinking that this is going to subsidize the state system. I think they did it to take care of the local jail problem."  Massie said rural jails are more satisfied with the $24 rate than Tulsa County.  "It sounds like what Tulsa County's problem is is (that) their per-diem rate is so high," he said. "They'd probably be happy if it covered their cost; it wouldn't be as big of issue for them."  Wilkening previously has mentioned that the authority might want to pursue legal action against the state for causing the authority to have financial problems. Jim Orbison, the authority's attorney, said before Friday's meeting that a lawsuit would be a last resort.  A recent auditor's report shows that the current sales tax stream is insufficient to pay jail operating costs. The Criminal Justice Authority has tapped its reserve funds, which have shrunk from $11.9 million in 2002 to $5.8 million in 2003, the report shows. CCA was paid nearly $21.1 million in 2003, a 22.8 percent increase from 2002.  Dick said instituting the pay-to-stay plan is the "right move" and that the authority might want to consider broadening the scope after monitoring the results for a period of time. Prisoners will pay $47.18 for one night's stay -- the amount paid to CCA by the authority.  Inmates will be charged for only one day, regardless of the length of their jail stay. Wilkening said judges recommended the one-day charge because they felt that it would be easier to collect.  "It's a start, and it will generate a substantial amount of money if collected," Wilkening said. "If we can get a million-six or a million dollars and it can go back into the operation of the jail, then that's something."  CCA Warden Don Stewart estimated that about 30 percent of inmates spend only one night in jail.  (Tulsa World)

June 18, 2003
A former Tulsa Jail corrections officer has been charged with participating in a mail fraud scheme that took $1.2 million from WorldCom.  Henry Darian Wilson, 25, is charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tulsa with participating in criminal activity with his sister, Alisha Nicole Johnson, from January 2001 to March 2002 while she worked at WorldCom.  Charges against Johnson, 31, are expected to be filed soon.  The charge against Wilson says Johnson was a senior accounting assistant who audited accounts payable and approved payment invoices.  Prosecutors allege that she submitted false invoices to WorldCom's check-writing center in Virginia in the name of an Oklahoma City company that was a legitimate supplier of goods and services to WorldCom. Wilson, who lists a Coweta home address, is accused of renting a mail box in Oklahoma City in the company's name, retrieving the checks as they came in and having them deposited in bank accounts in Oklahoma City and Oceanside, Calif.  Wilson was a corrections officer from July 2000 to February 2001 at the Tulsa Jail, which is operated by Corrections Corporation of America, CCA spokesman Chris Howard said.  He said Wilson resigned without notice.  (Tulsa World)

May 30, 2003
The Tulsa Jail will have a $6.3 million budget deficit by the end of June, the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority was told Thursday.  County Fiscal Officer Wayne Carr cited a litany of factors contributing to growing detention costs and made suggestions on how to reduce the jail's inmate population.  The authority has to pay jail operator Corrections Corporation of America for those inmates at the normal rate of $45.81 a day and is only reimbursed $24 per inmate by the state. Carr said the state frequently falls behind in its payments and currently owes the authority about $380,000.  (Tulsa World)

May 28, 2003
The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority decided Friday to allow a Texas-based company to charge the public to access inmate information from an Internet site. Some public records questions still need to be answered, however. Metric Technologies has been providing the service for free since Aug. 5 at http://tulsa.inmatecenter.com. Now the company is asking to be compensated for the service, starting June 5. The company gave the authority three options: paying $29,500 for the service for two years; paying $8,000 and passing off other charges to the public through a subscription-based system; or terminating the site. According to the Oklahoma Open Records Act, public documents should be open to inspection and public bodies can charge only for the direct cost of reproducing a document at 25 cents per page. Search fees are not allowed if a document is in the public interest. Calls to Metric Technologies on Friday were not returned. Trimble said the system has been a huge benefit and savings to jail operator Corrections Corporation of America, which doesn't have to answer as many public inquiries. (Tulsa World)

April 28, 2003
A clerical error has led to another mistaken release from the Tulsa Jail, officials said Friday.  Marvin Branham, a spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the Tulsa Jail, said the jail released Dixon because workers received an "order of release from custody" for him from the court clerk's office.  Court Clerk employee Sonya Smith said it appears that when the bond was paid for Dickson, it was recorded as paid for Dixon's case number, not Dickson's.  In 2001, errors led to the mistaken releases of three inmates and two ere mistakenly released last year from the Tulsa Jail.  (AP)

March 27, 2003
A woman sues two corrections companies and an escapee who is accused of killing her husband.  A wrongful death suit was filed this week in connection with the Christmas Eve shooting of a Tulsa man that allegedly was carried out by an escapee from the Riverside Intermediate Sanction Unit.  Virginia Qureshi filed the suit on behalf of her late husband, Zubair Qureshi, previously referred to as Mohammad "James" Qureshi, 53, who was working behind the counter of the 24-hour U-Stop, 2520 E. Mohawk Blvd., when he was killed.  Defendants in the suit are the Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the Tulsa Jail; Avalon Correctional Services, which operates the Riverside facility; and Markis Daniels Rogers, who escaped from the Riverside facility Nov. 24.  Martin and Associates is representing Qureshi.  The law firm alleges that CCA employees transferred Rogers to the low-security Riverside facility operated by Avalon but continued to charge the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority to house him.  It alleges that CCA paid a Avalon a lower rate to house Rogers and pocketed the difference.  Attorney C. Rabon Martin, said that whether CCA made a profit by sending Rogers to the Riverside facility is irrelevant.  "The meat and potatoes is that they took a very dangerous guy to Avalon in low-security," he said.  Rogers was sent to the Riverside facility by mistake.  (Tulsa World).

January 20, 2003
A federal lawsuit filed by the estate of an inmate who died after becoming ill at the Tulsa Jail in July 1998 has been settled on confidential terms, attorneys said Wednesday.  Jeannie Edwards of Okmulgee County filed the suit in January 2000 after her brother, Gregory Allen Pope Sr., was pronounced dead at Tulsa Regional Medical Center on July 1, 1998.  The lawsuit originally listed both the city of Tulsa and Tulsa County among the defendants, but eventually only Wexford Health Sources, the jail's health services contractor at the time of Pope's death, remained.  The plaintiff claimed that Pope, 34, began vomiting and convulsing and that a trusty notified a nurse, who then allegedly chose to continue talking on a telephone instead of responding immediately to Pope's medical needs.  The estate alleged that 30 to 45 minutes passed before the nurse was brought to the scene by corrections officers.  Pope was taken by ambulance to TRMC, the lawsuit states. The estate claimed that Pope died of cardiac arrhythmia brought on by breathing in his vomit.  (Tulsa World)

December 27, 2002
A man who was critically injured when he was beaten by a fellow Tulsa Jail inmate has settled his lawsuit against the jail's operator under confidential terms, an attorney for the organization said Thursday. Brandon McKnight had sued Corrections Corporation of America, the private company that runs the jail, on May 31 in federal court. He claimed that CCA was negligent in placing him in the same cell as Joshua Cudjoe on Jan. 27, 2001. Cudjoe was found guilty in May 2001 of assaulting and battering McKnight with an intent to do bodily harm.  A corrections officer was fired for failure to perform his job properly in relation to the episode, in which McKnight suffered severe trauma to the throat, face and head, reports show. (Tulsa World)

December 23, 2002 
A burglary suspect who was shot by Broken Arrow police hanged himself with a bed sheet in a Tulsa Jail.  Scott Ray Dickens, 36, was discovered hanging in a medical cell about 9:05 p.m. Saturday, jail spokesman Chris Howard said.  Howard said Dickens had been jailed on charges including possession of a stolen vehicle and armed robbery.  (AP)

December 18, 2002
Tulsa County officials say reductions in the number of sentenced inmates being accepted each week by the Department of Corrections is creating a backlog of prisoners being housed in the Tulsa Jail at the expense of local taxpayers.  On Monday, 164 inmates were ready to go to the DOC's intake facility at Lexington, but the Sheriff's Office will only be al lowed to take 35 of them this week. If conviction and arrest rates stay the same, officials fear that number will continue to grow.  The DOC reimburses the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority $24 a day for each prison-ready inmate housed at the Tulsa Jail. But because the authority pays Corrections Corporation of America a daily per-inmate rate of $45.81, each of those state inmates wind up costing taxpayers $21.81 a day.  A task force has been formed to examine ways to reduce the jail population. Dick said discussions with Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the Tulsa Jail, are under way to house those arrested for public drunk at a lower cost.  (Tulsa World.com)

September 22, 2002
Corrections Corporation of America terminated a new employee this week after she was arrested for possession of a controlled drug.  Daniele Marie Niedzialkowski, 25, was arrested Tuesday evening along with three others at a south Tulsa apartment.  CCA spokesman Chris Howard said Niedzialkowski was fired shortly after her arrest.  She had been working as a corrections officer at the Tulsa Jail after going through training in July.  Tulsa County sheriff's deputies arrived at the home to serve two arrest warrants regarding Russell Gilbert Campus, who, along with John Curtis Adams and Jason Michael Smith, was arrested for possession of a controlled drug.  Campus indicated to deputies that he was employed by CCA, but Howard said Campus had only applied for a job and had not been hired.  (Tulsa World News)

August 25, 2002
A former inmate who alleges that she was raped by a former Tulsa Jail supervisor is suing Corrections Corporation of America and past and present CCA employees. A lawsuit filed Friday in Tulsa County District Court on behalf of a 26-year-old woman alleges that she was "repeatedly raped and forcibly sodomized" by Eugene Pendleton while she was in the jail. Pendleton managed an addiction treatment unit at the CCA- operated Tulsa Jail. Former Warden Jim Cooke hired Pendleton for that post in 2001. At the time, Cooke said drug offenders relate well to someone such as Pendleton, who had overcome addiction. Her suit alleges that Pendleton was negligently hired, supervised and retained. It maintains that CCA, Stewart and Cooke knew of Pendleton's "violent criminal background" before and during his employment with CCA. Authorities with the Alabama Department of Corrections said Pendleton spent 17 years in prison there for second-degree murder in the death of a University of Alabama football player.   He was released from an Alabama prison in 1992, and he subsequently has worked at various CCA facilities. (Tulsa World)  

August 24, 2002
The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority paid more last month to operate the jail than it earned from county sales taxes for the first time since the facility opened in 1999.  On Friday, the jail board approved the July payment of more than $2 million to Tulsa Jail operator Corrections Corporation of America, while only drawing $1.6 million from the county sales tax that funds operations.  But efforts are being made to avoid tapping reserves.  The transfer of about 100 inmates to a public drunk facility will begin on Wednesday in an effort to decrease the jail population and curb costs.  The jail board will pay Avalon Correctional Services $29.99 a day to hold an inmate at the former Adult Detention Center, now know as the Riverside Intermediate Sanction Unit.  CCA is paid $45.81 a day.  If inmates are diverted to Avalon each day, it will save about $500,000 a year.  (Tulsa World)

August 16, 2002
An employees at the Tulsa Jail was fired after her mistake in procedure allowed an inmate to walk out the front door.  Chris Howard, spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America, which runs the jail, said the inmate followed a records clerk out of the booking area, past the inmate dressing rooms and operations desk and around a corner to a hallway that leads to two secure doors operated by the master control.  The records clerk asked the inmates where he was going.  Unsatisfied by his response, the clerk followed him to the doors, where he pushed a button requesting master control to open the doors, Howard said.  "The records clerk was waving to master control not to open the doors," he said.  But the doors were mistakenly opened anyway.  Stacy Barnes, the employee in master control that night, was fired for failing to identify an individual verbally or visually before opening two computer-operated doors that paved the way for the man's escape.  (AP)

August 13, 2002
A Tulsa Jail inmate's flight for freedom was short-lived when he was caught by police less than three hours after his escape, authorities said.  Scoot Edmiston, 38, of Tulsa, who was at the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center on charges of driving under the influence and no insurance verification, escaped around 9:15 p.m., jail spokesman Chris Howard said.  Edmiston was arrested by Tulsa police at 12:06 a.m. Sunday.  The incident is under investigation, but it is believed the escape occurred because a staff member failed to follow identification procedures, Howard said.  (Tulsa World.com)

July 30, 2002
The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority has accepted a $200,000 offer from a bankrupt company that failed to provide a computer system for the Tulsa Jail. The authority accepted the offer on Friday.   The total claim is nearly $600,000 for damages and incomplete work. But Dick said getting one-third of a claim is "not bad" for a bankruptcy case. (Staff Reports)

July 27, 2002
Business is booming at the Tulsa Jail-- so much so that the officials are looking for ways to lower inmate count to keep from busting the budget.  Jail board members said the increase in the inmate population could be linked to an underused program designed to divert public drunks to a treatment facility.  A study points to an increase in bookings on charges that could have been handled with a citation, jail board Chairman Bob Dick said.  "Apparently that's at least part of what's going on," Dick said.  The current pace has the jail on track to owe Corrections Corporation of America, which runs the lockup, more than $2 million for the month of July, County Fiscal Officer Wayne Carr said.  That's more money that the county expects to collect in sales taxes.  To lower inmate housing costs, the jail board will begin housing certain inmates in the former Adult Detention Center, a city-owned facility at 1727 Charles Page Blvd.  The jail board will pay Southern Corrections Systems Inc. $29.99 per day for each inmate housed at that facility.  Southern Corrections already operates the public inebriate program.  The jail board approved a measure Friday that extends the public inebriate program contract with Southern Corrections Systems until Nov.30 in hopes of seeking the booking increase.  (Tulsa World News)

May 27, 2002
Corrections Corporation of America, negotiating for a new contract running the Tulsa City- County jail, wants to charge inmates $8 every time they demand a sick call.   The fee, admittedly sometimes uncollectible, would slow the number of frivolous sick calls, which CCA officers say are as high as 90 percent of all claims of illness.   Although the purpose of the fee is to reduce infirmary visits, a co-pay charge will produce as much as $15,000 a year.   Given that most sick calls are frivolous, jail attendants should nevertheless be alert to spot genuinely sick inmates. Those jailed often are suffering from drug and alcohol abuse and a bevy of diseases. None of them should be denied the treatment they need. (The World)

May 26, 2002
The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority on Friday approved a new contract with a private jail operator despite objections from Tulsa Mayor Bill LaFortune.   The three-year contract, with two one-year renewal options, will pay Corrections Corporation of America at least $20.62 million a year. That is a 20.6 percent increase from the estimated $17.1 million the Tennessee- based company will earn in the last year of its current contract.   LaFortune cast the dissenting vote after asking authority members to delay the vote for a month or even a week so that law enforcement, particularly the Tulsa Police Department, would have an opportunity to address ongoing concerns and make suggestions on the contract.   LaFortune also said he had not had enough time to review the new contract.   "I have only had this contract in my hands since Monday," the new mayor said. "This contract is far too critical to the public safety of Tulsans to be subject to such a rush review."   Palmer submitted a memo Friday to LaFortune that commented on the new contract. In the pre-booking area, where officers have complained about long waits Palmer said standards are set so low that CCA is never out of compliance. He recommended that CCA be required to complete the prebooking process in 30 minutes 90 percent of the time. The current standard is 75 percent.   Palmer said the quality of fingerprinting, photography and booking information at the jail "remains grossly inadequate for investigative purposes." (World Staff)

May 23, 2002
Corrections Corporation of America would be paid about $3.5 million more annually to operate the Tulsa Jail if a proposed contract with the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority is approved.   While a majority of authority members say they are in favor of signing a new contract with the Tennessee-based company, Tulsa Mayor Bill LaFortune said he is undecided.   The authority is expected to vote as soon as Friday on a three-year contract, with two one-year renewal options, that would pay CCA at least $20.62 million a year. That is a 20.63 percent increase from the estimated $17.1 million CCA will earn in the final year of its current contract. The authority would also pay $1.4 million annually for utility costs, which CCA pays under its current contract. LaFortune, the newest authority member, said he was just briefed on the new contract Monday and may ask the authority to defer on voting Friday.   "I know the timing is important as far as getting the contract in place, but I also believe that the public's interest outweighs having to rush into a contract," Tulsa's new mayor said. "To me, this is an extremely critical decision about the future of our jail."   LaFortune said he would like to speak to individuals involved with operating the jail as well as members of the Tulsa Police Department, which has previously expressed concerns about long waits to book in prisoners.   "That's a public safety issue, in my opinion, because it takes that arresting officer off the street for that period of time," he said.   LaFortune said he also wants to be assured that erroneous release problems have been addressed. (Tulsa World)

May 16, 2002
A female inmate at the Tulsa Jail hoarded medication and wound up in the hospital Tuesday after suffering the affects of an overdose.   Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Chris Howard said corrective action would be taken against a medical assistant for failing to crush the inmate's medication.   Elizabeth C. Horton, 25, was in the process of being transported to Corrections Department custody but was held back because she was pale, groggy and disoriented, Howard said. Horton was on medication not available in the liquid form, Webber said. CCA has maintained in the past that it crushes psychotropic drugs prior to administration. An understanding between CCA and the authority stemmed from CCA's being cited in a medical audit last year for not purchasing psychotropic drugs in the liquid form as required in its contract.   Following an attempted suicide in December, the authority gave CCA notice that it was still in violation of its contract by not administering psychotropic drugs in the liquid form. (Tulsa World)

May 11, 2002
The manager of the Tulsa Jail's female Addiction Treatment Unit is a self-admitted drug offender. But authorities with the Alabama Department of Corrections have confirmed that Eugene Pendleton also spent 17 years in prison for second-degree murder. Former Warden Jim Cooke hired Pendleton to run the women's Addiction Treatment Unit last year. At the time, Cooke said that drug offenders relate well to someone such as Pendleton who has overcome addiction. Pendleton has been working at various Correction Corporation of America facilities since he left prison. Cooke first met Pendleton in 1979 while he was serving his sentence in Alabama. Cooke worked for the Alabama Department of Corrections at the time. Don Stewart, who became warden of the Tulsa Jail earlier this year, said he was aware of Pendleton's murder conviction but that prospective employees with felony convictions are not automatically excluded from employment. Stewart said it's not unusual for CCA's treatment employees to have had a criminal past.  Court records indicate that a female inmate alleges she was sexually assaulted by Pendleton on Tuesday. A search warrant was filed Thursday in Tulsa County District Court to obtain samples from Pendleton for DNA and forensic testing.   (The Tulsa World)

May 9, 2002
A female inmate has accused a male staff member at the Tulsa Jail of rape, police said.  The case is being investigated by the Tulsa Police Department's Sex Crime Unit, Sgt. Gary Stansill said.  (The Tulsa World)

March 23, 2002
The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority has penalized the private company that operates the Tulsa Jail for three mistaken releases last month. The panel, which oversees the jail, voted unanimously Friday to reduce compensation to Corrections Corporation of America by $5,625. The authority has paid CCA roughly $2.6 million to operate the jail so far this year. Two of the erroneous releases involved inmates who were still wanted in other jurisdictions. (AP)

March 7, 2002
Financial sanctions against the operator of the Tulsa Jail following two recent erroneous releases likely will be discussed at the next meeting of the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority on March 22.   Tulsa County Commissioner Bob Dick said he will suggest that the authority withhold compensation to Corrections Corporation of America in accordance with its contract.   "I think we have a duty as an authority to take formal action," he said.  CCA's three-year contract is up for renewal in August, and negotiations are under way. But Dick said the latest incidents should not affect those talks.   Though there is some conjecture among county officials that the Sheriff's Office is going to get the jail back, Dick said it's "way too early to say that."   "I haven't had any sense we weren't going to come to terms at some point. Our lawyer and their lawyer are having some strong conversations about some language, especially in regard to the breach area, but I'm comfortable that will be worked out."   Commissioner John Selph said the latest mistaken releases, discovered Feb. 24 and 27, are the result of employee negligence, and CCA should be penalized.   "We need to hold their feet to the fire," Selph said. The jail board notified CCA in July that it was in breech of its contract following two erroneous releases in May, but the board fell short of fining the company.   In other developments, six to eight people have been identified in connection with the apparent illegal transfer of more than $17,000 from the inmate account at the Tulsa Jail. (Tulsa World)

March 1, 2002
Police fraud and computer crimes detectives are investigating the disappearance of more than $17,000 from the Tulsa Jail's inmate account. The money apparently was withdrawn from the Corrections Corporation of America account using either phone lines or the Internet, said Sgt. Tony Cellino, supervisor of the Fraud Unit. (Tulsa World)

March 1, 2002
A convicted felon who was wanted by federal authorities for possession of a handgun was mistakenly released from the Tulsa Jail last week. The mistake -- the second of its kind to be discovered in less than a week -- was realized only after police arrested the man again Wednesday. The latest erroneous release was discovered Wednesday when Lance J. Sherwood, 30, was arrested by members of the Northern Oklahoma Fugitive Task Force in the parking lot of the Target store at 71st Street and Memorial Drive. When officials looked at his record, they realized that Sherwood still should have been in jail following a previous arrest.  CCA officials are exploring what further action they can take against a jail intake clerk who was fired Monday following Sunday's mistaken release of Courtney K. Thompson, 20. (Tulsa World)

February 26, 2002
A female inmate who was wanted in Osage County was mistakenly released Sunday morning from the Tulsa Jail.   Courtney K. Thompson, 20, of Pawhuska, was released from jail about 8:30 a.m. after posting bond on DUI and traffic charges. She had been jailed since late Saturday.   Chris Howard, a spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America, said the jail received information from the police about an hour before Thompson was released that she was to be held for Osage County relating to charges of assault with a dangerous weapon.   "We received the add-on charge, and the intake clerk failed to enter it into the computer," Howard said.   The intake clerk, Ahmad Watkins, who had worked at the facility for about a year, was fired as a result, Howard said.   Thompson was not back in custody Monday afternoon at either the Tulsa Jail or the Osage County Jail.   Charlie Cartwright, the administrator of the Osage County Jail, said its lines of communication with CCA in relation to inmate holds are not good.   "The communications we have between the public sectors and private sector that operates that private facility" sometimes leaves "a lot to be desired," he said. (Tulsa World)

February 8, 2002
A committee of prominent lawyers will look at operations of the privately run Tulsa Jail, specifically the release process.   Attorney Allen Smallwood, who will be the committee's chairman, said a wait of six to 18 hours for release -- after charges are dismissed or bond has been posted -- is not unusual.   "I don't want to be ugly about it, but that place is 2-1/2 years old, and we've had a lot of time for initial growing pains to be worked out," he said. Phil Frazier, president of the Tulsa County Bar Association, said the committee was formed following complaints from attorneys and residents.   When the sheriff ran the jail, Frazier said, an attorney or bond agent could secure a release in a matter of minutes. But long waits have become the norm since CCA took over in August 1999, he said.   Longer jail stays also contribute to higher jail costs in some cases.   The Criminal Justice Authority pays CCA $38.02 a day for each inmate, based on a midnight count.   "It is suspect," Frazier said. "I can think of no other reason why they'd want to hold someone for an inordinate amount of time other than for some financial gain." (Tulsa World)

December 21, 2001
A former jailer at the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center was sentenced Thursday to three years and one month in prison for attempting to smuggle methamphetamine to an inmate for $40.   Edwin M. Vasquez, 47, was also ordered to serve three years of post-custody supervised release and was fined $2,500 by U.S. Senior District Judge H. Dale Cook.   Vasquez received an enhanced punishment for abusing a position of trust. Officials with Corrections Corporation of America, the private company that operates the Tulsa Jail, said Vasquez was fired the day he was arrested. (Tulsa World)

December 16, 2001
A city-county contract committee negotiating with the company that operates the Tulsa Jail is pushing a "categorized system" for inmate releases that will cut down on delays. Apparently, every inmate -- even those who never change into an orange jail jumpsuit because they are able to post bond -- is thrown into the same boat when it comes to waiting. Slow release times have been a point of contention with the authority since the jail opened under CCA's leadership in August 1999.   Officials have heard complaints from everyone from the U.S. Marshal's Service to frustrated parents who have had problems getting inmates out of jail when it's time for their release.   Slow releases also have a financial impact when an inmate who has already posted bond is held past midnight, when inmates are counted. The Authority pays CCA about $38 a day for each inmate. (Tulsa World)

December 8, 2001
Don Stewart will be the fourth since it opened.   The Tulsa Jail will get a fourth new warden in nearly 2-1/2 years of operation under Corrections Corporation of America.   Don Stewart, a warden at CCA's McRae (Ga.) Correctional Facility, will become warden of the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center in the first week of January, the company announced Friday.   Warden Jim Cooke will be "appointed as warden at an as yet undetermined CCA facility," the company said.   Cooke referred all questions about the move to company spokesmen.   The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority has found CCA to be in breach of its contract to run the Tulsa Jail twice in the last six months. The company was cited in July after two inmates were erroneously released in May and again last week when it was discovered that jail medical staff were administering psychotropic drugs in an improper form. (Tulsa World)

December 1, 2001
Corrections Corporation of America violated its contract to run the Tulsa Jail when Wayne Henry Garrison's psychotropic medication was not administered in liquid form, a county official says.  CCA incident reports obtained by the Tulsa World show that Garrison, 42, was breathing and snoring throughout the night but that staff could not wake him during medication calls at 10 p.m. Tuesday and 3 a.m. Wednesday.  Sentencing proceedings for the convicted child murderer were delayed after Garrison was hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday morning. Initial reports were that Garrison was being treated for an overdose, though his defense attorney indicated that he could have suffered a stroke.  Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority Chairman John Selph said he is drafting a letter to other board members to recommended that CCA be held in breach of its contract.  "The fact that he was given the antidepressant and he was not given it in liquid form is in itself a violation of the contract," Selph said. "It's simply inexcusable."  (Tulsa World)

December 1, 2001
A Tulsa County official is drafting a letter recommending that the private company running the Tulsa Jail be held in breach of its contract for not properly administering medication to a convicted killer.  John Selph, chairman of the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority, alleges that Corrections Corporation of America violated its contract to run the facility when Wayne Henry Garrison was not given psychotropic medication in liquid form.  (AP)

November 16, 2001
A proposal to divert some Tulsa County Sheriff's Office duties to the Corrections Corporation of America may help prevent accidental jail releases, officials say.  Representatives of the sheriff's office, the Tulsa County Court Clerk's Office, CCA and others want to streamline the jail release process while preventing bad releases.  Four inmates have been erroneously released in the past two months.  The proposal would be for CCA to hire two to three people whose primary responsibility would be in the handling of jail commitments and releases.  The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority would be asked to fund the positions. CCA Warden Jim Cooke said the new positions are not in the company's contract with the authority.  (Tulsa World)

November 7, 2001
Two inmates were erroneously released from Tulsa Jail custody last week.  Emily Diane Elmore was being held for failure to appear in court for sentencing on a drug possession charge, court records show.  "The issuance of releases on cases previously dismissed should have absolutely no affect on the system whatsoever," Court Clerk Sally Howe Smith said. "I will admit and take responsibility if I or my staff makes mistakes, but these are not my mistakes, and I'm getting tired of trying to solve their problems while they try to indirectly implicate that it's the fault of my office."  Smith said Corrections Corporation of America, the company that runs the jail, should have noticed that the charges were already dismissed.  In another erroneous release identified by officials, Oscar Herrera, who was sentenced to 40 years in prison for robbing two Tulsa convenience stores, left the Tulsa Jail on Nov. 1 but was never out of custody. Masek said Herrera was transported prematurely to the state Department of Corrections processing center in Lexington.  (Tulsa World)

October 27, 2001
Those attending the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority meeting Friday seemed to be in agreement on the "weakest link" that is resulting in erroneous releases from the Tulsa Jail.   As long as paperwork for commitments and release orders remains separate and arrives at the jail at different times, some inmates will get out of jail when they should still be locked up. CCA acknowledges responsibility for four bad releases of inmates since it took control of the jail in August 1999. The authority maintains that the Tennessee-based company was in breach of its contract after two erroneous releases in May. In other business, the authority approved a request for additional funding to bring the Adult Detention Center up to code so Avalon Correctional Services can operate the public inebriate alternative program and facility for halfway house and public works offenders. Flintco project manager Mark Knowlton estimated the cost at $48,421 and said the PIA program may be ready to start in December. (Tulsa World)

October 14, 2001
Tulsa County officials are looking into separate incidents in which Tulsa Jail inmates were released after posting bond on lesser charges. Both later showed up for court on their own.   In one instance, a man sentenced to five years in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections custody got a last weekend of freedom after an apparent computer error. Edward Shannon, also known as Gary L. Shannon, 26, was sentenced Oct. 4 on a felony conviction of possession of firearms. Meanwhile, officials are still trying to sort out how Clifford Williams was allowed to bond out of jail on traffic charges stemming from a drug arrest. Williams, 55, was originally charged with possession of drugs with the intent to distribute. But that charge was amended to a lesser drug possession charge on June 5 and Williams was bound over for trial. Williams was released after posting bond on his traffic charges instead of the $25,000 bond on his drug charge. The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority recently notified CCA that it was in breach of its contract to operate the jail for past erroneous releases. To date, Masek said CCA has not provided a remedy or cure for those mistakes. (Tulsa World)

September 29, 2001
Members of the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority hope that long-awaited inmate-tracking software will help alleviate some problems at the Tulsa Jail.  Particularly, they hope it will enable inmates to get out of jail quicker after they have posted bond.  Tulsa County Commissioner Bob Dick said he sees a correlation between CCA's staff shortage and the delayed release times. Tulsa County jail compliance officer Larry Merchant said the entry-level staff who deal with releases could be another possible reason for the delays.  "That's where most of your turnover is, and so the level of expertise hasn't been able to occur in that area," Merchant said.  Warden Jim Cooke said he is short 38 officers and training classes for new employees start every other week.  Since CCA is paid by the day based on a midnight inmate count, Dick said delayed release times appear suspicious.  "As far as I'm concerned, if and when we rewrite the contract, there has to be a provision that the clock stops running when the bond has been posted," Dick said.  (Tulsa World)

September 26, 2001
A Coweta man who was charged in a reported theft of $12, 234 from the Tulsa Jail received a five-year deferred sentence Tuesday.  Danny Dean Oliver Jr., 21, pleaded guilty to grand larceny.  He resigned following the disappearance of money from a safe in the jail's administrative area in April.  A prosecutor said reports show that money in the safe had been removed from people when they were booked into the jail.  According to Tulsa police, Corrections Corporation of America declined to continue an investigation after the money was returned.  County officials said earlier that Oliver Jr. is the son of Danny Oliver, CCA's assistant chief of security and a former detention officer for the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office.  (Tulsa World)

September 20, 2001
A former Tulsa jail employee has paid a high price for trying to smuggle methamphetamine to an inmate for $40.  Edwin M. Vasquez pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of a three-count federal indictment. Vasquez, 47, worked for Corrections Corporation of America at the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center.  (AP)

September 2, 2001
Stripping an empty Tulsa Jail housing pod for spare parts is a "bad practice" that Warden Jim Cooke says he intends to stop.  Corrections Corporation of America has been informed by the county's contract monitor that the missing items need to be replaced.  The Tennessee company, which operates the jail under contract, was also reminded that it is responsible for keeping the 2-year-old facility in "good repair and in good working order."  The contract monitor, Joe Masek, found pod J-7 inoperable because of missing cell doors, door handles, locks and intercom speakers.  "These items appear to have been scavenged to repair items in other parts of the facility," Masek said.  "I feel strongly that these items should be replaced as soon as possible."  (Tulsa World) 

August 29, 2001
Corrections Corporation of America has disciplined four employees following the escape of an inmate who posed as another inmate scheduled for release from the Tulsa Jail.  (Tulsa World)

August 25, 2001
Higher cost have been incurred at the jail because of an increase in court hearings.  The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority on Friday approved more than $333,000 in additional compensation to Corrections Corporation of America that was not anticipated in original contract negotiations with the Tennessee company to operate the Tulsa Jail.  CCA Warden Jim Cooke submitted a request to cover costs incurred from additional court hearings at the Tulsa Jail.  CCA officers are held from previous shifts and work overtime to cover court needs, according to Cooke.  "It's another case of external forces impacting (the budget),"  Commissioner Bob Dick said.  Dick, as well as Skiatook Mayor Don Billups and Commissioner Wilbert Collins, expressed disappointment that the issue had not been foreseen in the original contract and that the bill had just now been presented in an accumulated sum.  County Fiscal Officer Wayne Carr said that the authority's budget, which comes from a 5/12ths cent sales tax, seems to be incurring more and more unexpected expenses.  "You amend the budget by $300,000 and the cash cow is going to have to have more cream," Carr told the authority.  The authority encountered other expenses as well Friday, approving more than $355,000 in estimated maintenance costs at the Adult Detention Center.  Costs at the detention center are to bring the building up to code and to pay for other maintenance in preparation for the operation of a 40-bed public inebriate alternative program.  Supporters say the program will reduce jail costs by diverting public drunks from the jail and housing them for less money and shorter lengths of time.  Avalon Correctional Services has a contract to operate the program while also staffing a minimum- to medium-security halfway house and housing public works offenders.  (Tulsa World) 

August 18, 2001
A Tulsa Jail inmate used the identity of another inmate who was scheduled for release to walk out of the facility Thursday morning. Brandon Florence, 22, who was being held on two counts of false declaration of ownership to a pawn broker, switched identification badges with John W. Proffitt, 20, who was serving an eight-day DUI sentence. Florence was still at large Friday and faced additional felony charges of escape and false impersonation. He is the second inmate to escape from the Tulsa Jail by impersonating another inmate. In November, Brenda Wheeler, 41, used the armband identification bracelet of another inmate to gain release. "CCA put things in place to stop this, and it's continued," said Joe Masek, the Tulsa County contract monitor for the jail. (Tulsa World)

August 14, 2001
A representative of the American Correctional Association was in Tulsa on Monday for a second audit of the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center, a Facility the accrediting group deemed "second-to-none" in March.  Former jail employees Debrah Cartwright, who was an addictions treatment manager, and Shelle Dummer, who was an addictions treatment counselor, said the visit was prompted by documentation that they and other former and current employees sent to the group.  That documentation illustrates the jail's practice of pepper-spraying inmates and restraining certain inmates with leg irons, belly chains and handcuffs during their required recreation hour.  "We point-blank told them if they didn't check it out and see what was going on, that we were going to turn it over to the media," Cartwright said.  (Tulsa World)

August 7, 2001
A second jailer at the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center was arrested Friday in connection with alleged drug smuggling inside the jail, authorities said Monday.  Robert Wayne Taylor, 37, was arrested on a complaint of possession of marijuana inside a correctional facility with the intent to distribute, police said.  (Tulsa World)

August 4, 2001
Federal prosecutors have filed drug charges against a jailer at the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center for allegedly delivering simulated narcotics to an inmate and illegally possessing a firearm that allegedly was also meant for the prisoner.  Edwin M. Vasquez, 47, was charged with attempting to distribute less than 50 grams of a substance that appeared to be methamphetamine as well as possessing a firearm that was not registered to him.  (AP)

August 2, 2001
A Tulsa felon who got 11 unscheduled days of freedom when he was erroneously released from jail in May was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison for a marijuana offense.  Prosecutors filed only a possession-with-intent charge on May 23, for which Donald Abraham Manning was supposed to be held on $45,000 bail.  But the related second complaint was dropped, and a Corrections Corporation of America booking supervisor authorized Manning's release from jail without any bond being posted.  Manning was arrested again June 4 at a Tulsa residence.  While free on the mistaken release, he attended court for a May 31 arraignment, and officials realized he was supposed to still be in jail.  (Tulsa World)

July 28, 2001
Response to a Tulsa Jail inmate's sick call can take up to six days, due largely to a shortage of nurses, according to a medical services audit submitted Friday to the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority.  That situation was made worse this week, when four nurses quit "for personal reasons," Corrections Corporation of America spokesperson Chris Howard said.  No action was taken on the audit at the authority's Friday meeting, where members said they had not had a chance to review its findings.  The Tulsa Jail needs to have an obstetrician-gynecologist on contract to visit the facility at least twice a month for female inmates.  No such doctor has been to the jail in the past year, records show.  The audit also found that the Tulsa Jail was not complying with National Commission on Correctional Health Care standards that require dental exams within 90 days of an inmate's admission.  In addition, jailers have not been responding to inmates' complaints about medical services within the required 15-day period, records show.  (Tulsa World)

July 20, 2001
The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority decided against sanctioning Corrections Corporation of America for the mistaken releases of two inmates in May.  Authority members voted 5-1 Thursday to give the Tulsa Jail operator written notice that a breach occurred and offer the company a 30-day "cure" period during which it would acknowledge the breach and explain any changes that have been made to prevent errors from recurring.  (AP)

July 15, 2001
Nearly three out of four original employees at the Tulsa Jail no longer work at the facility Corrections Corporation of America that began operating less than two years ago.  CCA reported a 72 percent turnover in staff between August 1999 and June 2001.  That means that of the 329 people who went to work for CCA, 327 have departed while 92 have remained on staff.  The facility is also on its third warden since it opened.  Warden Jim Cooke said staffing is higher than it has ever been.  Yet records show that there were 36 overall vacancies at the facility in June 2001, compared to 20 in November 2000.  CCA counts employees still in training and not able to actually work in the facility as staffed positions, a method that county officials say keeps the company within contractual guidelines with the jail authority.  Branham said there are typically 20 to 23 people in training.  Until the jail is fully staffed, Cooke said he has condensed the five-week training period to 3-1/2 weeks in order to get people to work sooner.  The company emphasized that the trainees are still in class the same number of hours.  (Tulsa World)

June 23, 2001
A July 16 preliminary hearing was ordered Friday for a man charged with the April theft of $12, 000 of inmates' money from a safe at the Tulsa County jail operated by the Corrections Corporation of America.  The Tulsa County district attorney's office filed the felony grand larceny charges against Danny Dean Oliver Jr., 21, of Coweta, although corrections corporation declined to press charges.  Oliver, on the advice of his attorney, James M. Caputo, declined to clarify after his arraignment Friday whether he was a corrections company employee or worked for a contractor that provides phone service to inmates.  He reportedly resigned after the incident.  (The Saturday Oklahoman)

June 23, 2001
A decision was deferred on whether to penalize the Tulsa Jail's private operator for two recent bad inmate releases after members of the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority haggled over whether to even discuss Friday's agenda item.  "We know how political it is to the constituents of Tulsa County, whether we address this or don't address this.  I think we can sense that by our urgency here," Jenks Mayor Mike Tinker said.  "But it's also something I want to look at completely before making a decision."  County Commissioners Bob Dick and John Selph are in favor of reducing the authority's monthly payment to CCA by an amount estimated between $6,000 and $7,000.  Selph has said the best way to hold CCA accountable was through the pocketbook.  Dick said CCA has admitted its mistakes and the breach of contract is simply a fact.  Tulsa Mayor Susan Savage said she thinks the determination of a breach is a legal issue.  "I'm interested in a discussion about how a breach is defined, pursuant to the contract," she said.  G. Don Haslam Jr., the authority's legal counsel, said the two bad releases in May were breaches in his opinion.  CCA's opportunity to cure a breach within 30 days is waived when the breach is considered a threat to public safety and when it is repetitive, Haslam said.  (Tulsa World)

June 16, 2001
A former Tulsa Jail inmate filed a tort claim in excess of $250,000 against the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority, alleging that he was denied HIV medications while in jail.  Daniel McClure claims that he was denied treatment when he was in jail on separate occasions -- June 12, 2001, and Nov. 22-25, 2000 -- which has resulted in the progression of his disease.  Authority Chairman John Selph told McClure repeatedly in an earlier authority meeting, which had been staffed with extra sheriff's deputies, to visit with Tulsa County Contract Monitor Joe Masek about his concerns.  "He failed to do that.  At this point, I really don't know if there's any validity to his claim," Selph said.  (Tulsa World)

June 13, 2001
A corrections officer resigned from his job at the Tulsa Jail after jail personnel found Valium in his sock during an employee shakedown last Thursday.  Corrections Corporation of America spokesperson Chris Howard said Ted Roosevelt Crisp, 19, resigned after the pills were discovered.  Crisp had been employed by CCA since Oct. 23.  (Tulsa World)

June 12, 2001
With the philosophy that the best way to hold a private contractor accountable is to hit them in the pocket book, two county commissioners are recommending that the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority withhold a portion of its monthly payment to the Tennessee-based company that operates the Tulsa Jail.  "That, I think, gets their attention,"  authority Chairman John Selph said.  He said the authority's contract with CCA allows the panel to withhold about $620 a day times the number of days the inmate was at large.  Selph said he expects to withhold between $6,000 and $7,000.  "I think it's a fairly modest amount," he said.  Selph said the warden didn't want the commissioners to recommend the fine and took great pains to show them the new procedures he was putting in place.  "All of those things need to be done.  I hope it will correct the problems," Selph said.  "On the other hand, it's about accountability and public safety and doing everything we can to ensure it."  (Tulsa World)

June 10, 2001
The warden of the Tulsa Jail believes two well-publicized mistaken releases at the facility aren't out of line, considering the number of prisoners housed there.  Warden Jim Cooke concedes the incidents are a problem for Corrections Corporation of America, but he doesn't think a county official's recommendation to fine the Nashville, Tenn., company is a good idea.  "Commissioner (Bob) Dick is an elected official of this county," Cooke said.  "He has to do what he thinks is right for the citizens of this county, which I am one.  As for me at CCA, no I don't think that's right."  Andrew Roberts, booking supervisor, who had been with CCA since 1996, claimed that a lack of training in reading court documents played a part in his mistakes.  (AP)

June 7, 2001
Corrections Corporation of America fired a booking supervisor Wednesday saying that not only had he been involved in two recent bad releases but was also involved in the mistaken release of a convicted killer last July.  If CCA wants to prevent future accidental releases, the former booking supervisor suggests the company might want to start by teaching its employees how to do essential parts of the job.  "I was never trained in how to read court documents.  I was self-taught," Andrew Roberts said.  "No one ever gave me any formal training on how to do anything down there."  "Basically, it's what they call being thrown to the wolves."  Roberts says he feels like a scapegoat.  "After speaking with several other employees who have been wrongfully terminated, I probably have a book that you could write," he said.  "I think there was no investigation.  They already decided they were going to terminate me."  (Tulsa World)

June 5, 2001
A Corrections Corporation of America employee faced disciplinary action after another inmate was accidentally released at the Tulsa Jail, officials said Monday.  Donald A. Manning, 30, was arrested May 17 on felony charges of marijuana possession with the intent to distribute and possession of marijuana in the presence of a minor child.  The latter charge was dismissed May 24, but Manning was supposed to be held in lieu of $45,000 bond on the first charge.  A booking supervisor, however, authorized Manning's release and he went free May 25.  Police arrested Manning Monday night.  Marvin Branham, a spokesperson for Nashville, Tenn.-based CCA, said the discovery was made after Manning's appearance at a hearing on Thursday.  On Monday, Branham placed the blame solely on a booking supervisor, who he says was involved in both bad releases.  There have been 11 mistaken releases from the Tulsa Jail since it opened in August 1999, the Tulsa World reported.  (AP)

June 2, 2001
Difficulties were experienced with the Tulsa Jail's security system early Friday morning that made the doors to the housing units to be opened via computer.  Corrections Corporation of America spokesperson Chris Howard said that the doors were shut down for about eight minutes before jail personnel used a backup system of keys to open the doors.  All but two of the unit doors are now working he said.  (Tulsa World)

May 31, 2001
The private operator of the Tulsa Jail would be fined for accidentally releasing an inmate under a recommendation by a Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority member.  "I've reviewed the contract, and I believe we've been very tolerant, and it's time to be more forceful," Bob Dick said Wednesday.  There have been 10 mistaken releases since the jail opened in August 1999.  Nashville-based CCA does not accept blame for many of those releases, and local authorities admit the company could not be blamed for the release earlier this month of man police call the "ponytail bandit."  Blame for four accidental release and two escapes have been attributed to CCA, Tulsa County Contract Monitor Joe Masek said.  Dick said perhaps CCA should take a harder look at employee training and human errors.  In January, the jail's new warden Jim Cooke told authority members that he had implemented a policy that would stop the accidental releases, if correctly followed.  (AP)

May 30, 2001
For the second time this month, an inmate has been erroneously released from the Tulsa Jail.  Clifford Meano, 37, had been bound over for trial on 11 counts of lewd molestation on a minor child after a preliminary hearing Tuesday.  Chris Howard, a spokesperson for Corrections Corporation of America, said two of the original 13 charges against Meano had been dropped Tuesday and that apparently jail workers had interpreted the court documents as meaning all counts had been dropped.  Earlier this month, a man police call the "ponytail bandit" was mistakenly released from jail because of an apparent paperwork error.  The erroneous release was not noticed until a week later.  Since his release, police confirmed that he is suspected of robberies on May 13 and May 21.  Earlier this year, a Texas inmate who had been transported to Tulsa to face drug and stolen vehicle charges was erroneously released from the Tulsa Jail.  Sheriff's Capt. George Haralson said the Jan. 27 mistake was not discovered until April, when the District Attorney's Office was updating its files.  (Tulsa World)

May 25, 2001
A new policy being considered at the Tulsa Jail would force inmates to pay part of their health care.  Oklahoma law allows $8 medical co-payments to be deducted from an inmate's jail account.  Jim Cooke, warden at the Jail run by Corrections Corporation of America, has indicated he would like to start the practice June 1.  Some inmates claim their medical needs are not being met at the jail and that sick calls are ignored.  The corrections company would charge fees to an inmate's commissary account for each "self-initiated" request for medical, dental or psychological treatment.  Fees for X-rays, therapy, lab work and prescription drugs would also be charged to the account.  (AP)

May 20, 2001
A grand jury that will be impaneled June 12 to investigate the 1998 drowning of a Jenks girl will also be required to inspect the Tulsa Jail.  A jail inspection is required by state statute any time there is a grand jury investigation.  The statute requires specifically that the grand jury inquire into the case of every person imprisoned in the jail who has not been charged, that they look at the condition and management of the jail, and also "into the willful and corrupt misconduct in office of public officials of every description in the county."  (Tulsa World)

May 19, 2001
A man police call the "ponytail bandit" was mistakenly released from jail last week due to an apparent error, authorities said.  The May 11 mistaken release of Steven Mark Holley, 42, was discovered Friday.  Chris Howard, spokesperson for Corrections Corporation of America, the private company that operates the Tulsa Jail, said local authorities did not inform the jail that Holley should have been held for federal charges.  However, Assistant District Attorney Mickey Hawkins said the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Marshall's Office and the U.S. Attorney's office were all informed that state charges were dismissed in order to pursue federal charges that authorities hoped would result in a more severe sentence.  "They knew the status, " Hawkins said.  "They were presented with the federal indictment and knew he was in custody.  What happens with their mechanics from there, I can't tell you."  (Tulsa World)

May 13, 2001
Corrections officers who work for Corrections Corporation of America are familiar with life inside the Tulsa Jail, but that's partly because some of them have been on the other side of a lockup.  The Tulsa World compared a CCA list of 348 employees with computerized jail records that date back to 1996 and found that 20 employees have been arrested prior to working for CCA.  Though the majority of arrests were related to traffic offenses, some were arrested for more serious crimes such as burglary, pointing a deadly weapon, resisting an officer, harboring a fugitive from justice, growing marijuana, assault and battery, making obscene phone calls, shoplifting and obtaining merchandise by fraud.  According to a February 2000 internal memo obtained by the Tulsa World, CCA was in violation of its contract with the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority because, according to its personnel department, background checks had not been done on 40 percent of the employees.  (Tulsa World)

May 4, 2001
Debrah Cartwright said she thought it was wonderful when her boss asked her to put together a sales pitch to encourage area judges to start ordering people into the Tulsa Jail's drug addiction treatment program.  But Cartwright said that was before Warden Jim Cooke told her they weren't really going to offer what they proposing, nor was he going to provide any additional counselor training.  Corrections Corporation of America, the private company that operates the jail, simply needed the revenue, she said she was told.  "I asked him if he was asking me to create a sales pitch for all these facets of the program when he had no intention of following through, and he said treatment was not our focus at the time, filling up beds was," Cartwright said.  "He said that right now we need to generate some income."  Cartwright, who was CCA's addictions treatment manager, said she resigned April 24 because she felt it would have been unethical to promote a drug treatment program that the jail had no real intention of offering.  "We were a dog and pony show.  My role turned into...PR.  He wanted the program so he could tell everybody we had it," Cartwright said.  Participants normally underwent 11 hours a day in the program, but currently the home in the dorm-like setting of the drug treatment pod are working nine of those 11 hours in the kitchen, she said.  "He's made it mandatory they go to the kitchen to cook," she said.  "If they're not willing to work in the kitchen, he puts them in 23-hour lockdown."  While they are in the kitchen cooking, Cartwright said her former counselors are working in the pods as counselors, handing out clothing and sheets and serving meals.  The male pod for addiction treatment is closed, and men in the addiction program attend a class for one hour a day, she said.  CCA spokesperson Chris Howard confirmed that the male pod is currently empty.  (Tulsa World) 

May 4, 2001
Charges are expected to be filed Friday in the recent theft of $12,000 from a safe at the Tulsa Jail.  The District Attorney's Office confirmed that it plans to file felony charges against Danny Oliver Jr. for grand larceny.  County officials say that Oliver Jr. worked for a company that contracts to provide inmate phone service at the jail and resigned following the incident.  They said that he is also the son of Danny Oliver, Corrections Corporation of America assistant chief of security and former detention officer for the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office.  But investigating officers said they would turn over the results of their investigation to the District Attorney's Office, regardless of whether or not CCA wanted to press charges.  (Tulsa World)  

April 28, 2001
Despite a decision by Corrections Corporation of America officials not to press charges, Tulsa police say they are continuing their investigation into the theft of inmate money from a safe at the Tulsa Jail earlier this week.  Capt. Ray Nelson said that CCA Warden Jim Cooke had asked the police to investigate after some $12, 000 was discovered missing from a safe in the jail's administrative area Monday morning.  While police were questioning employees, one of them went into Cooke's office and confessed to the theft, Nelson said.  The investigation was temporarily halted when Cooke told police that a jail employee had admitted to taking the money and was going to return it, Nelson said.  "I'm puzzled," said Larry Merchant, the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority's compliance officer over CCA.  "Normally, employers want to have the laws enforced."  Criminal Justice Authority Chairman John Selph said that it should be the district attorney's decision whether or not to file charges.  "It can't be dropped," he said.  Selph said the incident raises questions on jail security.  (Tulsa World)

April 27, 2001
A Texas inmate transported to Tulsa to face local drug and stolen vehicle charges was accidentally released from the Tulsa Jail earlier this year.  Sheriff's Capt. George Haralson said that the Jan. 27 mistake was only discovered this week when the District Attorney's Office was updating its files.  A quick call to Texas authorities revealed that Darrel Ray Heinrichs, 20, had voluntarily turned himself into the Texas Department of Corrections in Huntsville on Feb. 5.  Heinrichs was taken into custody by Tulsa County sheriff's deputies at a Texas Department of Corrections facility in Huntsville and was transported and then booked in the Tulsa Jail on Jan. 5, Haralson said.  Heinrichs faced drug possession and stolen vehicle charges in Tulsa County.  But after Heinrichs received a suspended sentence for his Tulsa County charges, he was released by Corrections Corporation of America, the private company that operates the jail, on Jan. 27 instead of being transported back to Texas to serve out a term for drug possession, Haralson said.  (Tulsa World)

April 26, 2001
Apparently one suspect confessed to the warden about the theft of $12,000.  CCA officials declined to continue a police investigation into the theft of about $12,000 from a safe at the Tulsa Jail after an employee confessed to taking the money, police said.  Tulsa Police Capt. Ray Nelson said police were interviewing several jail employees regarding the theft of inmate money from a safe in the jail's administrative area Sunday or early Monday.  Investigators were considering the possibility of administering polygraph tests when one of the subjects went into Warden Jim Cooke's office and confessed on Monday, he said.  "It just appears a little unusual that you have a public employee that's accused of taking $12,000 that was turned in by the prisoners and not want to pursue it any further," Nelson said.  CCA public information officer Chris Howard said that the company had no comment and would provide no information regarding the theft.  (Tulsa World)

April 6, 2001
Tulsa County jurors imposed a $1,000 fine Thursday upon finding a former Tulsa Jail nurse guilty of preparing false evidence regarding the death of an inmate 3-1/2 years ago.  That verdict carried no prison or jail sentence for Charlene Annette Crawford and does not require her to spend any time on probation.  Crawford, who married last year and is now known as Charlene Phillips, and Troy Desonia were indicted in 1998 by a multi-county grand jury that investigated the death of Charles Edward Guffey.  Crawford and Desonia worked for Wexford Health Services Inc., which had a contract to provide medical services for the old Tulsa Jail and the Adult Detention Center at the time of Guffey's 1997 death.  Guffey, a 39-year-old defendant in a drug case, was found dead in his cell on Oct. 14, 1997, at the detention center.  He died of a perforated ulcer.  The manslaughter count against Crawford was dismissed Monday at the request of prosecutors, who continued to pursue their allegation that she had participated in altering Guffey's medical charts after his death.  Crawford testified Thursday that she had made three late charting entries, but she indicated that she had no intent to deceive or mislead anyone.  (Tulsa World)

March 31, 2001
A labor relations consultant this week reported two more alleged unfair labor practices by Corrections Corporation of America, the Tulsa Jail Operator.  Filed with the National labor Relations Board, which investigates reports of unlawful acts by unions and employers, the first " accuses Warden Jim Cooke of holding mandatory meetings and threatening to fire any employees who signed union cards.  The second charge alleges that CCA called the police department when union organizers were handing out literature at the entrance of the staff parking lot.  Two other charges were filed with the NLRB by Couch: allegations that union practices were videotaped by CCA and than an employee was questioned about his union activities.  (Tulsa World)

March 25, 2001
A union organizer has leveled charges with the National Labor Relations Board against the private company that operates the Tulsa Jail, alleging that union practices were videotaped and that an employee was questioned about his union activities. The Correction Corporation Of America had no comment on the specific complaints, but denies that employees are being threatened with termination for involvement with the Peace Keepers and Security Officers Union, based in California. John Selph, chairman for Tulsa County Justice Authority, said that he is not surprised by union efforts at the jail. He said that information presented to him by Couch includes complaints that employees have expressed all along -- that they are being locked in housing pods with inmates and forced to work double shifts. These are the kinds of issues unions like to be involved in, he said. Union organizers have been passing out literature near the staff parking lot and that is when they say they were videotaped by CCA staff. (World Staff)

March 20, 2001
Corrections officers who work at the privately run Tulsa Jail not happy with their working environment and have asked union officials for help, organizers for the Peace Keepers and Security Officers Union say. Despite at least one call to the police, three union organizers handed out "Let's put it in writing" fliers to employees near the entrance to staff parking at the jail. The flier asks employees who work for the Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America to sign and mail in authorization cards. CCA tells its employees that only the public information officer is allowed to talk to the press. Four employees had no comment when asked about the working environment at the jail, but a few spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they could be fired or that they feared the repercussions. Of course a union is needed at the jail, one employee said. "Nothing's changed. People are forced to work 16 hours at at time," the employees said. Another employees said that some jail workers have been worked up to 19 days consecutive days without a day off. (World Staff  Writer)

March 13, 2001
A former Corrections Corporation of America guard has been sentenced to a one-year jail term for assaulting an inmate. A Tulsa County jury convicted Lemuel Whiteside Jr., on Friday of assaulting and battering David Cooley with a dangerous weapon at the Tulsa Jail last year. He was accused of assaulting Cooley with a boot and a hand-held radio. (AP)

February 14, 2001
Privately run Corrections Corporation of America is considering a number of options -- including bringing in employees from its other facilities -- in an effort to reduce the number of costly overtime at the Tulsa Jail. Warden Jim Cooke said the biggest contributing factor to the overtime is the number of officers who don't show up for work or call in with flimsy excuses. "It's been a problem since this facility has opened, "Cooke said. "We need to work out some problems here and there. My goal is not to eliminate overtime but to cut it way, way down." In an effort to create adequate staffing, CCA is constantly training new corrections officers. A new class graduates next week, at which time another class will start up. But every time a class graduates, a number of people decide they don't want to do corrections work, CCA spokesman Marvin Branham said. Former CCA corrections officer Robert Nilson, who quit last year, said that the mandatory overtime pits employees against each other when some get to go home and other don't. He also said that supervisors were guilty of showing favoritism. Corrections Officer Keith Cruel, said his complaints about overtime and favoritism stem from the previous leadership at the jail. Tulsa county Contract Monitor Joe Masek said that CCA is actually short by 24 people and that the majority are corrections officer positions. Teresa Wright said she quit last week after CCA took her off day shift and put her on nights, which created a problem with child care. Wright said she was told there would be overtime. "But we weren't told we were going to be locked up like an inmate and not allowed to leave," she said. (Tulsa World)

January 31, 2001
A corrections officer has been terminated following a Saturday beating at the Tulsa Jail that investigators say may have been racially motivated. Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Marvin Branham said that DeAndre Ingram was fired after the incident in which Brandon McKnight, 19, sustained severe trauma to his throat, face and head. Police say the beating nearly killed him. Branham confirmed that Ingram placed Joshua Mack Cudjoe, 24, who is black, in the same holding cell as McKnight, 19, who is white. A CCA corrections officer told a Tulsa police officer that she had warned a fellow corrections officer not to place Cudjoe in the same cell as McKnight because the two had previously argued while waiting in line for prebooking area. Witnesses told police that McKight referred to Cudjoe using obscene racial epithet. Cudjoe said there would be a fight if they were housed in the same cell and used a racial epithet toward McKnight, police said. During a Tuesday meeting in which no CCA representatives were present, committee member Bob Bruening said he had questions regarding arrest statistics and that his phone calls to the jail were never returned. (World Staff)

December 15, 2000
Jail employees responsible for approving release notices apparently failed to notice the date on the form and assumed that the inmate was to be released the day the order was received. (Tulsa World)

December 10, 2000
According to recent reports obtained by the Tulsa World, officers expressed safety concerns about the booking and pre-booking areas and complained of long delays in booking prisoners into the jail. Officers report that it often takes more than two hours to book a prisoner, especially on the weekends. They believe delays are caused because there are not enough CCA employees assigned to booking. A Nov. 18 report by Cpt. Dan Miller states a CCA booking supervisor told him that they were understaffed and that several members of the booking staff had been working 17 to 18 hours straight. "Inside the booking area, there were 25 officers waiting with prisoners," Officer Larry Kinney wrote in another report. "This is one-third of the officers on duty in the entire city on the first shift." Contract monitor Joe Masek said that CCA has not broken its contract regarding how quickly prisoners must be booked. The process is to be completed within 30 minutes, 75 percent of the time. Although the TPD books in the bulk of prisoners at the jail, other law enforcement agencies use the jail as well. He said deputies have found booking a prisoner 30 minutes to over two hours, depending of how busy the CCA is. (Tulsa World, Dec. 10, 2000)

December 2, 2000
Two Corrections officers were placed on paid leave after a federal inmate escaped Thursday morning from the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center. Raye Carnes, a spokeswoman for the Corrections Corporation of America said, "They both are being investigated for counting him in the dorm when he was not in the dorm. They counted the dummy in his cell." Thomas Lynn Weaver, 19, apparently had made a dummy using wadded-up clothing to pass for his body in his cell. "CCA's investigation into the escape has revealed that the inmate made his way into the kitchen by hiding inside a food cart that is brought to the pods during meals, Carnes said." "After the evening meal, he hid in the food cart back into the kitchen, he went form the food cart to the trash cart, Carnes said." When he was captured in downtown Tulsa he had a mask on and a shotgun loaded. (Tulsa World News, Dec. 2, 2000) 

August 11, 2000
Tulsa Police Department is critical of CCA's running the Tulsa Jail causing problems with investigations. (Corrections Professional, August 11, 2000)

July 15, 2000
One guard is fired and three others are disciplined for their connection with the release of a convicted killer who was caught after a cross -county manhunt. (Tulsa World, July 15, 2000)

July 11, 2000
A mistake leads to the release of an 18-year-old being held on murder charges. (AP, July 11, 2000)

Davis Correctional Facility 
Holdenville, Oklahoma
CCA
August 22, 2010 The Oklahoman
More than 2,000 state inmates could be displaced from private prisons if a federal contract to house criminal illegal immigrants is awarded here. The move could cost the state Corrections Department and Oklahoma taxpayers millions of dollars. Corrections Corporation of America officials told state corrections authorities in July they intended to offer three Oklahoma-based prisons to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. They are: Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing, Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville and the empty Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga. "There shouldn't be any surprise when something like this happens," said Justin Jones, state Corrections Department director. "Their product is the incarceration of criminals and it's a for-profit business." If the contract is awarded, it could affect the placement of 1,800 medium security prisoners at Cimarron and Davis, and 360 maximum-security inmates at Davis, corrections officials said. The department is operating with a more than $40 million budget deficit. Federal officials would use the private prisons to house low-security male inmates, primarily criminal illegal immigrants who are Mexican citizens with one year or less to serve. The business of incarceration -- Federal contracts typically pay between $60 and $65 daily per prisoner, Jones said. Oklahoma has one of the lowest reimbursement rates in the country. They range from about $42 for minimum security inmates to about $57 for maximum security. If the prisoners are moved, that could mean an increase of as much as $15 per prisoner, Jones said. Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Steve Owen wouldn't comment on rates discussed with the Federal Bureau of Prisons for the contract. Offers are being accepted from companies in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona and Texas, and would require 3,000 beds, according to a bid request from the bureau. Bids are competitive, often based on geographic needs, Owen said. Earnings increase -- Corrections Corporation of America earlier this month reported their second-quarter earnings had increased nearly two percent in 2010 to $419.4 million from $412 million in 2009. The increase was fueled by a jump in inmate populations and a boost from new contracts with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It notes the opening of a center in Mississippi to house about 2,500 illegal immigrants convicted of crimes and awaiting deportation. "We've openly been marketing our empty prisons," Owen said. "There is a demand and a need for prison services." Corrections Corporation of America is the largest for-profit prison company in the U.S. It currently houses about 75,000 individuals in more than 60 prisons and detention centers in the country, according to information on the company website. It partners with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, states and municipalities. In 2009 financial statements, competitor GEO Group officials reported, "We believe that this federal initiative to target, detain, and deport criminal aliens throughout the country will continue to drive the need for immigration detention beds over the next several years." GEO Group recently bought Cornell Cos., operator of Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton. The company has offered use of the prison for federal inmates as well. This month, officials at the prison announced they would be laying off nearly 300 employees and sending more than 1,700 inmates back to Arizona. No Oklahoma prisoners are housed there. Even county jails are responding to the need for federal bed space. Tulsa County officials entered into an agreement with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in 2007. Garvin County also has an agreement with the agency to house and transport federal detainees. Displaced inmates and jobs -- Jones said if the bid by Corrections Corporation of America is accepted, the most challenging task would be finding room for the nearly 360 maximum-security prisoners being held at Davis. There are not enough open maximum-security beds in the state to keep them there, he said. This might result in prisoners being shipped out of state -- the first time it's happened since the mid-1990s. "Obviously this would be a huge burden to families of those prisoners," he said. "It would also probably cost us more." At the same time state officials worry about prison beds, the question looms about how Oklahoma jobs will be affected. The possibility of jobs returning to the Watonga area is a bright spot. More than 300 Corrections Corporation of America employees lost their jobs when the Diamondback prison closed there in May. More than 2,000 inmates were returned to Arizona. It was the largest employer in the area. Owen said company officials are anxious to get the prison running again. He said he's not sure how employment would be affected at Davis and Cimarron if the bid is accepted. In 2007, nearly 200 Cornell employees at the Great Plains Correctional Center in Hinton lost work after the state Corrections Department and the company failed to come to an agreement about reimbursement rates. The company then negotiated a contract for Arizona inmates.

November 26, 2009 The Oklahoman
A former female correctional officer has been charged with three felony counts of second-degree rape after being accused of having sex with an inmate at a private prison in Holdenville. A warrant for the arrest of ex-correctional officer Michelle Kalinich was issued Nov. 6, but she had not been taken into custody Wednesday, a Hughes County sheriff’s employee said. It is against state law and considered rape for a correctional officer or jailer to have sex with an inmate, even if both are willing participants. Kalinich, 29, of Holdenville, also is accused of one felony count of conspiring to smuggle drugs into the prison for the benefit of the inmate, James Black, 21, of Enid. Black is serving a five-year sentence for second-degree burglary and concealing stolen property. The Corrections Department launched an internal affairs investigation into the relationship between Kalinich and Black in response to a June 8 request for assistance from Davis Correctional Facility officials, records show. Kalinich and Black initially denied any sexual contact "except for kissing,” but Kalinich later acknowledged having sex with the inmate on three occasions, internal affairs investigator Randy Knight said in a sworn affidavit used to justify the issuance of an arrest warrant. "Kalinich admitted she participated in sexual intercourse with Black ... ,” Knight wrote. Kalinich also admitted bringing seven ounces of marijuana, 30 Ecstasy pills and 36 pouches of tobacco into the prison for Black’s benefit, Knight reported. He said Kalinich received three money grams totaling $1,000, and acknowledged receiving an additional $1,000. Kalinich was terminated May 29, said Rebecca Adams, the warden’s secretary. Kalinich worked at the prison about eight months, Knight reported.

October 31, 2009 Oklahoman
Stephanie Sills knew nothing about Wewoka police officer Tony Wilbourn when he pulled her car over to arrest her during the early morning hours of July 19. Had she known more about him, she might have been concerned. At the time of Sills’ arrest, Wilbourn had only been employed by the department a few months and had not yet started police officer’s training at the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training. Wilbourn, 27, was fired by Police Chief Greg Brooks 3½ weeks later for what the chief described as "poor judgment and tact” in dealing with female subjects. Brooks declined to elaborate on the dismissal. Wilbourn denied mistreating women. "I didn’t deal with female subjects in any way different than male subjects,” Wilbourn told The Oklahoman. A criminal records check shows Wilbourn has had a couple of brushes with the law. On July 21 — two days after Sills was arrested — Wilbourn was charged in Okfuskee County with misdemeanor assault and battery. The charge was dismissed about three months later "in the best interest of justice.” A sworn affidavit filed in connection with the case said an employee at Okemah’s Tipton’s Grocery filed a complaint alleging Wilbourn had thrown a ballpoint pen at him, striking him in the face. The employee alleged Wilbourn became angry after the worker tried to stop him from driving off without paying for gas. Wilbourn entered the store and signed a credit card receipt with a pen the employee had given him before throwing the pen at the man, the affidavit said. The investigator said Wilbourn "admits to getting angry and throwing the pen and hitting (the) victim with it.” Wilbourn told The Oklahoman he was off duty at the time and wasn’t trying to steal gasoline. Wilbourn said he usually pays at the pump and had just forgotten to pay. The former officer said he had driven just a few feet and stopped to look up something on his global positioning system when the worker knocked on his window and reminded him he needed to pay. "When I tossed the pen back, I tossed it over my shoulder,” he said. Assistant District Attorney Maxey Parker Reilly said she dismissed the charge because after talking to everybody, she didn’t believe the evidence would support it. "The way I understand it, he threw the pen down at the desk and it bounced up and hit the guy,” Reilly said. Seven years ago, before Wilbourn became a police officer, he served a deferred sentence on a misdemeanor charge of driving under suspension. "I was hurt on the job and unable to pay for a traffic ticket,” Wilbourn said. Wilbourn said he is now working for a private prison in Holdenville.

July 29, 2009 Tulsa World
Private prisons in Oklahoma soon could be housing maximum-security inmates from other states under a new law approved in the waning days of the 2009 legislative session. The language inserted into an omnibus corrections bill changes state policy that previously allowed only minimum- and medium-security inmates from other states to be housed in private prisons. House author Randy Terrill, R-Moore, defended the new law, saying this week that several safeguards were put in place, including a policy that allows the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to review and approve inmates and to ensure the facilities where they will be housed were designed to hold such offenders. But Judith Greene, director of the New York-based criminal justice research institute Justice Strategies, said similar policy changes in other states have had disastrous results. "I think it's a recipe for disaster," said Greene, who has analyzed criminal justice practices and private prisons for years. She said similar efforts by private prisons operating in Ohio and New Mexico in the 1990s resulted in excessive violence against guards and other inmates. "Mostly knifings and a couple of deaths," she said. "There very well should be some concerns (in Oklahoma)." But Terrill said the bill specifically prohibits maximum-security inmates with a history of escape, a felony conviction for rioting, sex offenders or those who have been sentenced to death. Texas, which has four private prisons housing out-of-state inmates, is one of the few states that allows maximum-security inmates. But inmates are screened to weed out anyone with a history of violence or other behavioral problems behind bars before they can be housed there, said Adan Munoz, director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. "We've got enough troublemakers in Texas," he said. Terrill inserted the language late in the session into a bill that authorized the Corrections Department to transfer illegal-immigrant inmates to federal authorities before they finished their sentences in Oklahoma. Terrill said the language surfaced late in the session because it involved intense negotiations among the governor's office, state House and Senate, Corrections Department, the private prison industry and the Oklahoma Public Employees Association.

December 16, 2008 Tulsa World
Taking a tougher approach, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections has withheld more than $589,000 in payments to private prison operators in the past year because of staffing shortages. Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing has had five payments of $40,000 or more withheld since December for failing to fill vacancies within 45 days, including several positions in the medical field. In April, the state withheld $59,191 in payments because 19 positions remained unfilled within 45 days. Among them was a clinical supervisor slot that DOC officials said had been open for 457 days. The Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville also has had about $76,000 in payments withheld since August because of staffing incidents. Both facilities are owned by Corrections Corporation of America, based in Nashville. A company official says it has had difficulty filling medical positions because of a nationwide shortage. In addition to the money it has already withheld, the DOC has another $50,000 in fines pending for November. The DOC has withheld payments to private prisons in 28 instances since last December for failing to fill positions in a timely manner. The department's decision to penalize private prisons financially for contract violations stems from a recommendation made in a performance audit of the Department of Corrections requested last year by the Oklahoma Legislature. "The audit felt like we were giving too many warnings to private prisons and that we needed to start doing more liquidated damages," DOC Director Justin Jones said last week. An official with the Oklahoma Public Employees Association, which sought information on the fines, said the organization is concerned whether private prison contractors are actually fixing the problems, or simply paying the fines. Mark Beutler, director of communications, said Monday that OPEA is sponsoring legislation in the upcoming legislative session that will make contractors more transparent. "We believe contractors should be held more accountable in reporting violations and also in the ways they are spending taxpayers' money," Beutler said. Calling the shortage of medical personnel a problem for prisons, Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Steve Owen said the company is making a good faith effort to fill its medical services vacancies as quickly as possible. Until the positions are filled, Owen said the facilities will hire part-time employees or pay overtime to prevent a drop-off in services. "This is hitting us in the wallet, but it's not costing the taxpayer," Owen said. The state has about 4,540 inmates housed in three private prisons in the state. In addition to the CCA facilities in Cushing and Holdenville, the third private prison that contracts with DOC is the Lawton Correctional Facility. The Lawton facility has had about $23,000 in fines since last December, including about $10,000 that is pending for November. The facility is owned by the GEO Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla. The performance audit, which was released Dec. 31, 2007, said the enforcement of liquidated damages provisions in the state's contract with private prisons was extremely rare and time-consuming. "DOC's process is somewhat cumbersome in that it requires multiple levels of consideration by executive staffs," the audit report said. It called DOC's failure to use liquidated damages effectively "a serious problem with DOC's management process" that has eroded the credibility of the contract monitoring system. In the past, DOC has used more informal sanctions in response to contract breaches, which sometimes resulted in adjustments in a facility's population level. "As system crowding worsens, however, the flexibility to reduce population in response to problems diminishes significantly," the audit reported.

June 30, 2005 Oklahoman
Lockdown at the Davis Correctional Facility was lifted Tuesday, 10 days after concerns about racial tension among inmates triggered heightened security at the private prison. The lockdown was spurred by fistfights and "some mouth talking," said Steve Owen, spokesman for the Corrections Corporation of America, the company that owns the prison.

June 23, 2005 Oklahoman
A private prison has been locked down since Saturday amid heightened concerns statewide about racial tension among inmates.  The lockdown was spurred by individual fistfights and "some mouth talking," said Steve Owen, spokesman for the Corrections Corporation of America, the company that owns the Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville. The largest incident recently was a riot at the Cimarron Correctional Facility, which is owned by Corrections Corporation. Seven inmates have been charged with murder in the stabbing death of inmate Adam Lippert, 32, and the Payne County district attorney said he plans to file murder charges against seven more inmates this week. As many as 65 prisoners in two gangs fought March 22 in a recreational area of the Cushing prison.

Diamondback Correctional Facility
Watonga, Oklahoma
CCA
August 22, 2010 The Oklahoman
More than 2,000 state inmates could be displaced from private prisons if a federal contract to house criminal illegal immigrants is awarded here. The move could cost the state Corrections Department and Oklahoma taxpayers millions of dollars. Corrections Corporation of America officials told state corrections authorities in July they intended to offer three Oklahoma-based prisons to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. They are: Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing, Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville and the empty Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga. "There shouldn't be any surprise when something like this happens," said Justin Jones, state Corrections Department director. "Their product is the incarceration of criminals and it's a for-profit business." If the contract is awarded, it could affect the placement of 1,800 medium security prisoners at Cimarron and Davis, and 360 maximum-security inmates at Davis, corrections officials said. The department is operating with a more than $40 million budget deficit. Federal officials would use the private prisons to house low-security male inmates, primarily criminal illegal immigrants who are Mexican citizens with one year or less to serve. The business of incarceration -- Federal contracts typically pay between $60 and $65 daily per prisoner, Jones said. Oklahoma has one of the lowest reimbursement rates in the country. They range from about $42 for minimum security inmates to about $57 for maximum security. If the prisoners are moved, that could mean an increase of as much as $15 per prisoner, Jones said. Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Steve Owen wouldn't comment on rates discussed with the Federal Bureau of Prisons for the contract. Offers are being accepted from companies in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona and Texas, and would require 3,000 beds, according to a bid request from the bureau. Bids are competitive, often based on geographic needs, Owen said. Earnings increase -- Corrections Corporation of America earlier this month reported their second-quarter earnings had increased nearly two percent in 2010 to $419.4 million from $412 million in 2009. The increase was fueled by a jump in inmate populations and a boost from new contracts with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It notes the opening of a center in Mississippi to house about 2,500 illegal immigrants convicted of crimes and awaiting deportation. "We've openly been marketing our empty prisons," Owen said. "There is a demand and a need for prison services." Corrections Corporation of America is the largest for-profit prison company in the U.S. It currently houses about 75,000 individuals in more than 60 prisons and detention centers in the country, according to information on the company website. It partners with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, states and municipalities. In 2009 financial statements, competitor GEO Group officials reported, "We believe that this federal initiative to target, detain, and deport criminal aliens throughout the country will continue to drive the need for immigration detention beds over the next several years." GEO Group recently bought Cornell Cos., operator of Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton. The company has offered use of the prison for federal inmates as well. This month, officials at the prison announced they would be laying off nearly 300 employees and sending more than 1,700 inmates back to Arizona. No Oklahoma prisoners are housed there. Even county jails are responding to the need for federal bed space. Tulsa County officials entered into an agreement with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in 2007. Garvin County also has an agreement with the agency to house and transport federal detainees. Displaced inmates and jobs -- Jones said if the bid by Corrections Corporation of America is accepted, the most challenging task would be finding room for the nearly 360 maximum-security prisoners being held at Davis. There are not enough open maximum-security beds in the state to keep them there, he said. This might result in prisoners being shipped out of state -- the first time it's happened since the mid-1990s. "Obviously this would be a huge burden to families of those prisoners," he said. "It would also probably cost us more." At the same time state officials worry about prison beds, the question looms about how Oklahoma jobs will be affected. The possibility of jobs returning to the Watonga area is a bright spot. More than 300 Corrections Corporation of America employees lost their jobs when the Diamondback prison closed there in May. More than 2,000 inmates were returned to Arizona. It was the largest employer in the area. Owen said company officials are anxious to get the prison running again. He said he's not sure how employment would be affected at Davis and Cimarron if the bid is accepted. In 2007, nearly 200 Cornell employees at the Great Plains Correctional Center in Hinton lost work after the state Corrections Department and the company failed to come to an agreement about reimbursement rates. The company then negotiated a contract for Arizona inmates.

May 29, 2010 Tulsa World
The closing of the 12-year-old Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga is a cautionary tale about what can happen when a community puts too many eggs in one basket, when a state becomes the penal colony to the nation and when an overabundance of private prisons is encouraged. Diamondback closed on Thursday, leaving 300 employees jobless unless they can find work at another facility. The city is losing the benefits of an $11 million prison payroll, the annual sale of $400,000 of water and sewer services to the facility, and sales tax revenues from purchases made by 2,000 inmates. The inmates are gone, most shipped back to Arizona, which no longer will house inmates in out-of-state facilities. Watonga has a population of 5,600 and a city budget of $2.4 million. The loss is devastating, even if it's temporary. Diamondback's owner, Correction Corp of America, claims that it hopes to reopen the facility. But will that happen? Every state has budget woes and is cutting back. Housing inmates in private prisons might be too pricey an option. The private prison proliferation here began under Gov. Frank Keating in the 1990s. It was a "Field of Dreams" philosophy: Build it and they will come. And, inmates did, shipped by the thousands to new private prisons. Oklahoma itself houses some of its own inmates in private prisons and there's been an unrelenting push by some legislators to use private prisons even more rather than reforming this state's sentencing system. Private prisons are a double-edged sword. They put people to work in small towns but they don't always last forever. And inmates seldom receive the programming they need to break addictions or the retraining for new jobs on the outside. Like it or not, for-profit prisons are more about warehousing and less about rehabilitation. And states pay a pretty penny for housing their overflow inmates in private facilities. We hope for Watonga's sake that Diamondback reopens. In the meantime, this is a lose-lose situation all the way around.

May 28, 2010 Oklahoman
Count this city as one of the only in the world that wants its criminals back. Not back on the streets, but back in the private prison that until Thursday was Watonga's biggest employer. The Diamondback Correctional Facility shipped its last prisoners away Thursday and shut down, leaving a hole in the city economy and more than 300 corrections workers jobless or transferred to private prisons elsewhere. "It hurts,” Mayor Dale Green said. The prison housed about 2,000 inmates from Arizona, but officials there recently opted not to renew contracts with out-of-state prisons housing Arizona prisoners, Diamondback spokeswoman Sandy Clark said. "It was a budget decision,” Clark said. "They had some new beds there, and so they chose to utilize those rather than keep these inmates out of state.” The prison's owner, Corrections Corp. of America, has been searching for a new client for the Diamondback Correctional Facility, which has been open since 1998 and had a payroll of about $11 million, Clark said. "We are going to continue to actively market that facility,” said Steve Owen, a spokesman for Corrections Corp. of America. "They've done an outstanding, professional job under all the contracts we've worked with in the past.” Green said: "Hopefully, in the next six months, we can get some new prisoners in there.” Some former Diamondback workers have transferred to other Corrections Corp. of America prisons, some in Oklahoma. Others, such as Clark, worked their last day Thursday. "I'm from here, so I'm not moving,” Clark said. "We're hoping to secure a contract, so I'm just going to wait and see what happens, and hopefully, we'll be back to work soon.” Green said the prison bought about $400,000 of water and sewer services from Watonga, which has a population of about 5,600 and a city budget of about $2.4 million next fiscal year. The Watonga Chamber of Commerce is bracing for a hit to the city's economy. "It's going to have an effect on our housing market and just our total population count,” said Mary Larson, the chamber's administrative director. "It's hard to figure the trickle down. The employees who lose their income will have less spending dollars, which will affect the sales tax in the community. It's going to be a bit of a snowball.” Sales taxes on prisoner commissary purchases in the prison will also be lost, Larson said. But city officials remain confident that prisoners will return to help keep the city's economy afloat. "Unfortunately, that's not something that goes away, is the need to house prisoners,” Larson said.

March 13, 2010 Enid News and Eagle
The closing of a business and the resulting loss of jobs is never good news, but when it affects more than 300 people, that is serious. Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga will shut its doors within the next 60 days. The private prison’s more than 300 employees will either be out of work or will try to transfer to other Corrections Corporation of America facilities in other cities. Either way, the closing will be a real blow to Watonga’s economy. CCA says it is closing the prison because all of the inmates at Diamondback are from Arizona, and facilities will soon become available there to house the inmates.

March 4, 2010 Enid News and Eagle
Diamondback Correction Facility in Watonga is closing within the next 60 days, due to Arizona ending its private prison contract. Corrections Corporation of America, owner of Diamondback, issued 60-day termination notices to all employees at Diamondback this week in anticipation of closing the facility, which is timed with the departure of the Arizona inmates housed there. Diamondback has more than 300 employees. The payroll of the facility is around $11 million annually. The facility has a capacity of 2,160. The contract is set to expire April 30. Diamondback has been operating in Watonga since November 1998.

January 21, 2010 Corrections Corporation of America
CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) (NYSE: CXW), the nation's largest partnership corrections provider to government agencies, announced today that the proposed budgets by the Arizona Governor and Legislature, released on January 15, 2010, would phase out the utilization of private out-of-state beds. CCA currently has management contracts with Arizona at its 752-bed Huerfano County Correctional Center in Walsenburg, Colorado and at its 2,160-bed Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, Oklahoma. The proposed phase-out of utilizing out-of-state beds is based on Arizona's budget crisis and its desire to utilize additional in-state capacity that will come on-line in 2010. As a result of the budget proposals, there is a significant risk that CCA will lose the opportunity to house offenders from Arizona at its Huerfano and Diamondback facilities during 2010. Our contract with Arizona at Huerfano expires on March 8, 2010, and our contract at Diamondback expires on May 1, 2010. In the event that Arizona should not renew one or both of these contracts, CCA will work with Arizona officials related to the timing of any phase-out of Arizona inmate populations. We would anticipate that such populations would be transferred out within 30 to 60 days following expiration of each management contract. If Arizona removes its offender populations housed at these facilities, CCA will likely close both facilities. During 2009, CCA generated approximately $56.5 million in revenues from both of these contracts.

July 18, 2009 Honolulu Advertiser
An investigation into sex assaults involving Hawai'i and other female inmates at a private Kentucky prison has widened and now includes 19 alleged attacks over the past three years. Honolulu attorney Myles Breiner is representing three Hawai'i women who allege they were sexually assaulted at Otter Creek Correctional Center within the past 12 to 18 months. The most recent sex assault was reported June 23 and allegedly involved a male corrections officer. Meanwhile, Kentucky officials say they have launched an investigation into 16 alleged sex assaults at Otter Creek involving Kentucky women. Some of the allegations date back to 2006. Breiner said he expects more allegations of sex assault involving Hawai'i women to surface during investigations under way by the Hawai'i Department of Public Safety, which sent a team to Otter Creek last week to speak to female inmates from the Islands and look into the allegations. The developments are spurring new discussions about whether the state should end its contract with Otter Creek and bring the 165 Hawai'i women at the privately operated prison back to Hawai'i. State Senate Public Safety Committee Chairman Will Espero, D-20th ('Ewa Beach, Waipahu), said he will hold a public hearing in August on the assault allegations, during which he plans to call on state officials to halt the practice of shipping Hawai'i female inmates to the Mainland. "This might be a good opportunity for (Public Safety Director) Clayton Frank to show some leadership and ... bring the women home," Espero said, adding that he also believes more assault allegations will come to light in the coming months. "We might have heard ... the tip of the iceberg." Tommy Johnson, deputy director of DPS, would not say how many allegations the state is investigating because the cases are ongoing. But he said he was at Otter Creek all last week to speak to Hawai'i women in groups and to talk to some in one-on-one sessions. He also toured the facility and looked at its "operational security." He would not discuss what the Hawai'i female inmates told him in the sessions, saying that "it would be premature and inappropriate to do so." Otter Creek, in Wheelwright, Ky., is operated by Corrections Corporation of America. A spokesman for the company said it is conducting its own investigation into the assault allegations. Hawai'i has had a contract to house female inmates at Otter Creek since October 2005. Breiner said the three Hawai'i women at the prison whom he represents allege they were sexually assaulted within the past 18 months. The most recent assault was reported on June 23, and is under investigation by Kentucky state police, who said it involved a male corrections officer. Kentucky state police spokesman Mike Goble said a detective investigating the June 23 sex assault was also informed of other assault allegations. It's unclear whether those assaults involved Hawai'i women, and Goble said police have not yet decided how to proceed on those allegations. Meanwhile, the Kentucky Department of Corrections said Thursday that it is investigating allegations that 16 Kentucky women were sexually assaulted at Otter Creek as far back as 2006. Spokeswoman Lisa Lamb said the allegations relate to incidents over the past three years. In a statement, she said some of the allegations were previously reported but are being reinvestigated. She also said the department is sharing information with Hawai'i officials and the CCA. Allegations of sexual misconduct involving corrections workers and Hawai'i inmates have surfaced before at Otter Creek and in other private prisons, including in Oklahoma in 2000 and Colorado in 2005. In 2007, a Hawai'i inmate at Otter Creek alleged a corrections officer came to her room and demanded she perform sex acts. The officer was convicted on a misdemeanor. Following the incident, Otter Creek prison officials said they would change their procedures to require that a female correctional officer be paired with a male officer in housing units. Breiner, the Honolulu attorney, said that from his discussions with Hawai'i inmates it doesn't appear that's happening at Otter Creek. He said there are not enough female corrections officers at Otter Creek. He also said that in the wake of the publicity following the allegations, some Hawai'i inmates have expressed concerns about retaliation and he said he's worried about the safety of his clients. The cost of exporting Hawai'i inmates is cheaper than building new facilities or expanding existing ones, but advocates have long criticized the practice because of its impact on families. They point out that many female inmates have kids who suffer during the separation.

September 17, 2007 KITV 4
Another lawsuit has been filed against the mainland prison corporation that houses thousands of Hawaii inmates. This lawsuit claimed the company knowingly hired sexual predators as guards to torment inmates. Convicted car thief Nelson Abiley said he was subjected to repeated homosexual sexual harassment and battery at the Diamondback Prison in Oklahoma. He said Corrections Corp. of America did not respond to his complaints. CCA had a history of hiring predatory homosexuals in order to control inmates, according to the lawsuit. The company has been sued in several cases recently in which inmates beat other inmates.

March 6, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
Monitoring reports by state prison officials describe gang violence, drug dealing and other problems at the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Oklahoma where hundreds of Hawai'i inmates are being held. The situation was so bad that Department of Public Safety officials who visited the privately run prison in September recommended that nearly 800 Hawai'i convicts be removed unless conditions improve. State officials and representatives of prison operator Corrections Corp. of America said last week the situation at Diamondback has improved in recent months, but the critical monitoring reports provide further evidence of troubles with Hawai'i's practice of shipping inmates to Mainland facilities. Just last week, the head of the GRW Corp., which owns the Brush Correctional Facility near Denver, Colo., appeared in Honolulu at the request of state officials to explain sexual misconduct allegations made against prison staff by two Hawai'i women and six other female inmates. The two Hawai'i inmates have been returned to the Islands, and a corrections officers in Colorado has been charged with a felony in the case. In Oklahoma, state monitors' reports from 2003 and 2004 indicate increasing concern about conditions at the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, including drug dealing by gangs, inmate attacks on corrections officers and other inmates, and rising tensions in the prison. The portions of the reports that were released describe inexperienced line staff and supervisors struggling to cope with gang members, including some whom the monitors' believed should have been transferred to prisons designated for more dangerous inmates. The monitors also criticized prolonged use of administrative segregation. The state's contract with CCA requires that disciplinary segregation not exceed 60 days, but Shimoda said some inmates were left in administrative segregation for a year or more. CCA spokesman Steve Owen said the company did not receive copies of the Oct. 22 monitors' report until mid-December. He said the company provided a written response to state officials on Jan. 20 that outlined what it is doing about the problems. Owen declined to release the details of the CCA response, saying that information should come from Hawai'i prison officials. The Department of Public Safety did not answer an Advertiser request last week for a copy of the company's Jan. 20 response. The monitors' reports from 2003 and 2004 show that Hawai'i officials were alarmed about operations at the Oklahoma prison for at least 18 months. Problems cited included alarm that female corrections officers were "falling in love" with Hawai'i inmates, and smuggling drugs into the prison for them. The chief of security at Diamondback told Hawai'i monitors in June 2003 that prison staff believed 2 ounces of crystal methamphetamine were being smuggled into the prison each week. In April 2003, more than one out of every four inmates who underwent drug testing came up positive for drug use, according to the Oct. 17, 2003, report. That same report said six corrections workers had been fired for "inappropriate relationships" with inmates and activity related to drug use within the prison. Monitors' reports also indicated 30 to 40 Hawai'i inmates were involved in a disturbance in one of the prison modules on July 20, 2003. A far more serious disturbance broke out last May 14 when 500 inmates from Arizona rioted for several hours, demolishing fences and battling one another with construction equipment and other improvised weapons. About 100 inmates were injured. An investigation by Arizona corrections officials found that inadequate staffing at Diamondback made it difficult to prevent the disturbance, and Arizona reduced the number of its inmates there from about 1,200 to about 750.

February 9, 2005 KOTV
Hawaii inmates at an Oklahoma prison plan will get to celebrate an ancient Hawaiian festival this weekend. About 100 men at the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga plan to mark Makahiki with chanting, hula, a cleansing ritual and a feast with laulau, fish and poi. Makahiki was an annual period of peace celebrated in ancient Hawaii with sports and religious activities. The festival also honors Lono, the Hawaiian god of agriculture, peace and fertility. The Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the Oklahoma prison, refused to allow the inmates to hold the event two years ago, but a 2003 lawsuit challenged that decision. Attorneys for all sides have met to discuss a possible settlement.

October 27, 2004 KTOK
The company which runs a private prison in Watonga is slapped with more than a dozen lawsuits stemming from a riot at the prison earlier this year.

August 8, 2004
On May 14, more than 500 Arizona inmates rioted at the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, Okla., a private prison where more than 1,200 Arizona inmates were being housed because of overcrowding at state facilities. Inmates fought with recreational and construction equipment and broke through fences and other barriers. The disturbance lasted several hours and dozens of inmates were injured, including two who were hospitalized for weeks. In response, the state is bringing one-third of the inmates at the facility back to Arizona because of concerns about management by Corrections Corporation of America.  The debate over private prisons took prominence during last year's special legislative session, when the state Legislature approved the construction of 1,000 private and 1,000 public beds (now in planning), as well as the temporary lease of out-of-state private prison space. The state currently contracts for about 4,400 beds in private prisons.  Republic reporter Amanda J. Crawford sat down with Arizona Department of Corrections Director Dora Schriro to discuss the riot and other private-prison issues.  QUESTION: What happened to start the riot? ANSWER: There was a precipitating event the day before and that confrontation was not managed adequately. It simmered and then boiled over the next day.  Q: This was a riot that was caused by racial conflicts, right? A: In my opinion, no. It was caused by poor management of the population by the facility. That there was disagreement between inmates in different racial groups is a challenge we always face in the department. But it was the reading of those symptoms and the management of those populations that allowed this thing to kick off and continue.  Q: What do you think the prison's management did wrong?  A: Before the actual melee, there were a number of warning signs that they should have picked up on.  Their staffing was off; they purported to have the correct number of staff but in fact they were double-counting people.  During the situation, there were other problems, not the least of which was failure to provide timely notice to our monitors. Also, they never activated their emergency response - that clearly impacted their ability to contain and then to quell the disturbance. And their supervisors were inadequate . . . in terms of not having the skill to give direction to staff to get the matter under control.  Afterwards, our concerns continued about the inadequacy of the investigation. We got there more than a day ahead of their own team. I was concerned about the way in which the medical assessment was done. But I think most vexing of all is that it was then and, to some extent, continues to be difficult to obtain timely and reliable information.  Q: What actions have you decided to take?  A: I think most significantly thus far was our conclusion very early on that the facility was unable to manage all of the inmates we had sent to them, all of whom are low-medium and medium security inmates only.  It was our determination that we would pull out any of the Level 2 inmates who were not involved in that disturbance. We have been returning inmates in small groups on a weekly basis. Thus far we have transferred back about 300 inmates. In the end we will bring back a total of about 400.  There are other decisions, significant, that are still pending. A great concern to us still is that their corrective action plan is not yet fully implemented and as a result there is a modified lockdown of considerable magnitude that is still in effect today.  Q: Based on this event and incidents at some other of their facilities recently, will you continue to contract with CCA?  A: That remains to be seen. We are at a critical juncture now.   Q: What is the status of the public expansion approved by the Legislature last year?  A: We also had approval to expand state facilities by a total of 1,000 beds. These are going to be Level 1 beds, which is really important for us because it is the first time the department has built minimum-security beds. By building the cheapest beds, which are also the fastest to build, not only do we increase our capacity with the least expenditure, we then move Level 1 inmates to Level 1 beds that automatically frees up more space for Level 2 inmates, where we are still short on space. What we are doing is expanding Perryville, Tucson and Douglas. Our construction will be done this November, and we will begin moving in inmates in December.  (Arizona Republic)

July 30, 2004
Corrections settlement: Watonga expects little fallout WATONGA - A $250,000 settlement on inmate telephone revenue shouldn't change the number of inmates at Diamondback Correctional Facility. Watonga and Corrections Corporation of America officials recently settled a lawsuit the city filed seeking a portion of the revenue from inmate phone calls at the prison.  (The Oklahoman)

July 8, 2004
A May 14 riot at the private Diamondback Correctional Facility raged for more than four hours, much longer than previously stated, a recently released report asserts.  Inmates pushed down fences, used shower rods as battering rams and smashed windows with boards and rubble found among construction materials left in a recreation yard, according to a report by the Arizona Department of Corrections.  Arizona had 1,199 inmates at the prison. The fight involved about 360 Arizona inmates and was limited to their section, which also holds 783 Hawaii inmates, the report states. The prison holds no Oklahoma inmates.  Now Arizona is retrieving 330 inmates about two months earlier than planned because of safety concerns.  The report includes numerous criticisms of the warden and staff, as well as the prison owner, Corrections Corporation of America.  (News Ok)

July 3, 2004
Citing security concerns following a riot at an Oklahoma facility, Arizona is curtailing its transfer of inmates to private, out-of-state prisons.  A first group of 30 prisoners was returned to Arizona and arrived Thursday at the Arizona State Prison Complex here.  Another 300 inmates will be moved back to Arizona by August, prison officials said Friday.  The Arizona Department of Corrections is bringing home low-custody-level inmates who were not involved in the May 14 disturbance at the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, Okla.  More than 400 inmates reportedly fought with baseball bats, fire extinguishers and boards. Two inmates were critically injured.  (AP)

May 16, 2004
Two prisoners were seriously injured and 40 others were hurt after a brawl among inmates from Arizona broke out in a recreation yard of a private prison Friday night. The prison remained on lockdown Saturday as officials at the Diamondback Correctional Facility investigated the incident. The fight started at about 8:15 p.m. Friday among inmates from Arizona. The Diamondback Correctional Facility houses about 2,050 prisoners from Arizona and Hawaii. Arizona inmates account for 1,199 of the inmates. (AP)

June 17, 2003
Officials here aren't sure what kind of economic effect the indefinite closure of a private prison will have on the town's economy.  Corrections Corporation of America on Friday announced that it planned to consolidate its Sayre operations with the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga.  The 225 employees at North Fork received a written, 60-day notice of their termination before the public announcement was made after the stock market closed Friday.  The Watonga facility has 2,160 beds and is a medium-security prison.  Officials cited the long-distance telephone rates of the prison's 989 inmates contracted from Wisconsin as one of the reasons for the closure.  "Inmates' families were getting these outrageous telephone bills," said Bill Clausius, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. "CCA has a contract with us that is not facility-specific, but in that contract we have certain requirements about phone rates.  "We had spoken with CCA about this on several occasions, but nothing was ever done concerning their vendors. So they've decided to move the inmates to another facility."  Steve Owen, a CCA spokesman, confirmed his company's contractual obligations with the state of Wisconsin is to provide reasonable long-distance phone rates for its inmates.  "I can't quote you those rates (in Sayre) off the top of my head, but they were substantially higher than our contract permits," Owen said.  In Wisconsin, prisons must use telephone vendors who charge no more than $1.25 for each call and 22 cents for each additional minute, Clausius said. He didn't know what SBC Communications had been charging the prison in Sayre, but he said it was well above Wisconsin's contract requirements.  CCA officials said they will work to identify other opportunities to reopen North Fork and bring staff and operations back to the Sayre facility.  (AP)

December 27, 2001
Prosecutors filed charges Thursday against four men accused of plotting to rob and possibly kill an Enid doctor.   Dustin Cox, 21, Corey Best, 20, and Chris Pembrook, 21, made their first court appearances on attempted grand larceny and conspiracy charges.   Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Jami Cox, 24, brother of Dustin Cox.   Garfield County Sheriff Bill Winchester said more people could be involved in a burglary ring that spawned the plot.   The three were arrested Saturday after an attempt to steal an automated teller machine from the Bank of Kremlin in Drummond.   According to an affidavit, an informant told a Garfield County sheriff's investigator that the four men were planning to rob Dr. Ross Vanhooser because they had heard he had $2 million in a safe in his house and that they would kill him if necessary. Pembrook, who had worked at Watonga's private prison since Oct. 15, was fired Tuesday, Assistant Warden Jim Keith said. Winchester said Pembrook was a prison guard. (AP)

August 15, 1999
A disturbance started when correctional officers attempted to stop two inmates from climbing a fence separating two recreation areas. 25 inmates went on a rampage, and $400,000 in damage from fire, smoke, and water resulted from 12 separate fires that were set.

Dominion Correctional Services
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
December 31, 2005 Journal Sentinel
Lobbyist Bill Broydrick testified in 2002 about how Chuck Chvala, the former Senate majority leader, solicited lobbyists and their clients for contributions. With Chvala scheduled to begin a nine-month jail sentence on Feb. 13 after pleading guilty to two felony corruption charges, Broydrick was recently shown a summary of his then-secret 2002 testimony about how the former Senate majority leader solicited lobbyists and their clients for contributions. Prosecutors say another group that got what it wanted was Dominion Asset Services, which built a prison in Stanley that it was trying to sell to the state. Dominion officials wrote one check for $50,000 on June 1, 2001, and another for $75,000 on July 1, 2001, to Independent Citizens for Democracy-Issues Inc., court records show. ICD-Issues was the group Chvala set up to get "soft money" donations from corporations - companies barred by state law from giving directly to state candidates and their campaign committees. On July 25, 2001, Chvala and Republicans brokered a final budget that included $79.9 million to buy the Stanley prison. Assembly Republicans long supported the purchase of the Stanley prison, but they were unable to get the deal through the Legislature because of Chvala's opposition to the deal. "And then, suddenly and surprisingly, he allowed it to go through," said Rep. Scott Jensen (R-Town of Brookfield), who was speaker of the Assembly at the time. Dominion built the prison even though state law bars private companies from operating prisons. The state could have used the law to negotiate a lower price because only the state and federal governments could buy the facility, critics said at the time. Jensen defended the purchase decision, saying it helped move prisoners held out of state closer to their families while creating jobs in Stanley, near Eau Claire. Around that time, Dominion employees gave $500 to Jensen and $500 to Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah), who offered the budget amendment to purchase the prison. Employees also gave $4,000 to then-Gov. Scott McCallum, a Republican, and $9,600 to Senate Democrats. After the state bought the prison, it delayed its opening for almost a year, after the state determined it would cost more to run the state facility than to keep inmates in out-of-state facilities.

January 01, 2001
Top state democratic Party officials said Wednesday that because of  "new revelations," they will ask for state and federal investigations into some $240,000 in cash gifts to Gov. Frank Keating. Meanwhile, it was learned Wednesday that a meeting Keating set up between his benefactor Jack Dryfus and Department of Corrections director James Saffle was not the first the governor had arranged so the wealthy financier could make a pitch for the drug Dilantin to state prison officials. Dryfus considers Dilantin  a wonder drug and wanted it used on prison inmates. Keating arranged for him to meet with federal prison officials when Keating was an official in the Reagan administration. Saffle has said that he met with Dryfus at Keating's request. But he said never acted on Dryfus' proposal. Larry fields who proceeded Saffle as director and who was forced out of office by Keating, confirmed Wednesday that he also met with Dryfus at Keating's request. Fields, who is now an officer in a private  prison corporation, said the initial meeting took place in the governor's office at the Capitol. "Keating was just there at the start," Fields said. "He introduced us, and then he left to go to another meeting." Fields said he was attending a meeting in New York City. Fields was corrections director from 1993 to 1997. Although he had a good reputation and generally was well-liked by lawmakers, he ultimately resigned as director under pressure from Keating. Fields is now President of Dominion Correctional Services. (Tulsa World)

Grady County Jail
Grady, Oklahoma
Civigenics, Cornell, Emerald
September 2, 2003
Grady County’s jail construction fiasco is disgraceful, but not prosecutable, a grand jury declared Friday.  The panel offered sharp criticism — but no indictments — of current and former county officials and the Missouri jail architect who promoted the use of revenue bonds to build the jail.  Architect Lawrence Goldberg presented an “inaccurate and overly opportunistic” feasibility study based on revenue projections “that did not exist or were unrealistic,” the grand jury’s 16-page report reads.  The report says the grand jury was committed to investigating possible criminal wrongdoing and “to address the culprit” if any was found.  While the 12 grand jurors uncovered nothing criminal, they did find that a “lack of attention to detail, lack of attention to overall project plans, the lack of leadership and the lack of a sound business plan” led to the county’s current financial crisis.  The Grady County Industrial Authority issued $12.65 million in 30-year revenue bonds in 1999 for construction of a four-story, 190-bed jail and a 62-bed work release center for low-security prisoners.  Goldberg’s construction cost estimate was too low, and his revenue projections for the jail were far higher than the county realized. That prompted the industrial authority to issue another $4.9 million in revenue bonds in 2001.  Even with the extra money, the jail wasn’t finished as designed. The fourth floor, designed to hold contract prisoners, has no cells. It is being used for storage. Prisoners intended to be housed there instead are kept at the old county jail, which the state jail inspector wants to close.  The jail’s financial woes might force the county to turn over possession to a private prison company. Under that arrangement, the county would lease beds and hope to get a reduced rate. The private vendor would pay the bond debt.  (The Oklahoman)

July 16, 2003
An Oklahoma grand jury will launch a criminal investigation of a Grady County jail project financed with two revenue bond issues worth over $16 million after voters rejected a sales tax to service the debt three times, according to the district attorney.  The investigation centers on the original revenue projections used to sell the project to the Grady County Industrial Authority, a nonprofit issuer that leases the jail to another public entity called the Grady County Justice Authority. The Grady County Sheriff's Office runs the jail under a letter agreement with the Justice Authority.  District attorney Robert E. "Gene" Christian said he expects to impanel the grand jury the end of this month to investigate the source of revenue projections, which states that inmate per diem fees would be adequate to cover the debt service and jail operations. Completed six months ago, the jail is not generating enough revenue to cover the debt service, though it appears a default on the bonds can be avoided, officials said. The next payment is due in November.  In addition to the investigation of criminal charges, Oklahoma grand juries can recommend the ouster of public officials, said Bret Burns, assistant district attorney in Grady County.  "The revenue that was promised has not materialized and is not nearly enough to pay for the bonds," Christian said. "If the original figures were not accurate, then who made the misrepresentation? I think the voters want to know that."  Jail architect Lawrence Goldberg said last week that he had a role in the projections but insisted the revenues would have been adequate to service the debt before the economy weakened. Goldberg said the state began housing fewer inmates in county jails due to budget constraints, reducing the jail's income in per diem fees.  Goldberg also blamed political infighting in the county for problems that forced a second bond issue after the first $12.6 million of revenue bonds appeared inadequate to complete the project. The first bond issue was insured by MBIA Insurance Corp., while the second issue carried no insurance.  Since a report about the Grady County jail's problems appeared in The Bond Buyer last week, Goldberg said he has lost funding for a potential jail deal in Logan County. That project was expected to be underwritten by Kirkpatrick Pettis, but Goldberg yesterday said bankers from that firm say their investors have pulled out of the deal.  Officials from Kirkpatrick Pettis were not available for comment before press time yesterday.  Current Grady County Sheriff Kieran McMullen, who has been in charge of the jail less than four months, called the web of jail contracts for Grady County "one of the most bizarre arrangements I've ever seen," adding that the original figures used to build the project "totally unrealistic."  An official with Little Rock-based American Municipal Securities in Little Rock, which underwrote the second bond deal, declined comment but indicated that a solution is in the works. The underwriter for the first bond deal, Miller & Schroeder Financial Inc., has since gone out of business.  Mike Haider, contracts specialist for the justice authority, said the revenue estimates were obviously incorrect from the outset.  "Some of the figures they used in their proposals were totally false," he said. "They were counting on $85 per day for a federal bed. Back during the time when everything was being planned, a bed for a federal inmate was going for $38 to $40 per day. Where they got their numbers, I don't know. I've worked in the private prison industry for 12 years and I've never seen per diems that high."  County officials were scheduled to meet with MBIA officials last night to discuss options for avoiding a default.  (The Bond Buyer)

July 15, 2003
Three private prison companies have expressed interest in leasing Grady County's financially troubled jail, the county's jail authority learned Monday night.  It was the authority's first meeting since voters overwhelmingly rejected a sales tax proposal aimed at keeping the county from defaulting on revenue bonds used to build the jail.  Sheriff Kieran McMullen, a member of the jail authority, told other members his office has been in contact with Civigenics of Marlborough, Mass.; Emerald Correctional Services of Shreveport, La.; and Cornell Corrections of Houston, which runs an 812-bed private prison at Hinton.  Authority members picked a two- man committee to look at alternatives, including a lease agreement.  "I think it needs to be a fast turnaround," McMullen said.  The Grady County Jail, which opened in November, was built much larger than needed on the idea that the county would make its monthly revenue bond payments through contracts to house state and federal inmates.  The county's jail and minimum-security annex can hold 330 prisoners. The current population is just fewer than 300, which includes 95 inmates from Oklahoma County waiting to be transferred to prison, at $24 a day per inmate, and 62 state inmates on contract with the state Corrections Department, at $31 a day.  While the county is making about $126,000 a month from those contracts, it's not nearly enough to pay the $117,000-a- month bond payments plus $100,000 a month in payroll and $65,000 a month in other operating expenses, McMullen said.  The original bond issue was for $12.65 million. When design and construction problems arose, a second bond issue for $4.9 million was necessary.  The county's industrial authority, which issued the revenue bonds, is in danger of defaulting. The county has $368,000 to make its bond payment due Nov. 1, but after that the future is cloudy.  (The Oklahoman)

Great Plains Correctional Facility
Hinton, Oklahoma
GEO Group (bought Cornell)
September 1, 2010 Phoenix New Times
An Arizona prison inmate, being housed in a private prison in Hinton, Oklahoma, is dead after apparently taking the easy way out, rather than completing his sentence. Officials at the Arizona Department of Corrections tell New Times inmate Patrick Ross was found dead in his cell around 7:50 a.m. yesterday. Responding Medical teams tried to revive Ross but were unsuccessful. DOC officials wouldn't say how Ross killed himself only saying he died "after apparently committing suicide." Ross was serving a 13-year sentence -- at a private prison run by Cornell Companies -- for an armed robbery he committed in Maricopa County. Ross began his sentence in December 2009 and ended it -- apparently on his own terms -- yesterday. DOC is investigating the death.

August 22, 2010 The Oklahoman
More than 2,000 state inmates could be displaced from private prisons if a federal contract to house criminal illegal immigrants is awarded here. The move could cost the state Corrections Department and Oklahoma taxpayers millions of dollars. Corrections Corporation of America officials told state corrections authorities in July they intended to offer three Oklahoma-based prisons to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. They are: Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing, Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville and the empty Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga. "There shouldn't be any surprise when something like this happens," said Justin Jones, state Corrections Department director. "Their product is the incarceration of criminals and it's a for-profit business." If the contract is awarded, it could affect the placement of 1,800 medium security prisoners at Cimarron and Davis, and 360 maximum-security inmates at Davis, corrections officials said. The department is operating with a more than $40 million budget deficit. Federal officials would use the private prisons to house low-security male inmates, primarily criminal illegal immigrants who are Mexican citizens with one year or less to serve. The business of incarceration -- Federal contracts typically pay between $60 and $65 daily per prisoner, Jones said. Oklahoma has one of the lowest reimbursement rates in the country. They range from about $42 for minimum security inmates to about $57 for maximum security. If the prisoners are moved, that could mean an increase of as much as $15 per prisoner, Jones said. Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Steve Owen wouldn't comment on rates discussed with the Federal Bureau of Prisons for the contract. Offers are being accepted from companies in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona and Texas, and would require 3,000 beds, according to a bid request from the bureau. Bids are competitive, often based on geographic needs, Owen said. Earnings increase -- Corrections Corporation of America earlier this month reported their second-quarter earnings had increased nearly two percent in 2010 to $419.4 million from $412 million in 2009. The increase was fueled by a jump in inmate populations and a boost from new contracts with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It notes the opening of a center in Mississippi to house about 2,500 illegal immigrants convicted of crimes and awaiting deportation. "We've openly been marketing our empty prisons," Owen said. "There is a demand and a need for prison services." Corrections Corporation of America is the largest for-profit prison company in the U.S. It currently houses about 75,000 individuals in more than 60 prisons and detention centers in the country, according to information on the company website. It partners with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, states and municipalities. In 2009 financial statements, competitor GEO Group officials reported, "We believe that this federal initiative to target, detain, and deport criminal aliens throughout the country will continue to drive the need for immigration detention beds over the next several years." GEO Group recently bought Cornell Cos., operator of Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton. The company has offered use of the prison for federal inmates as well. This month, officials at the prison announced they would be laying off nearly 300 employees and sending more than 1,700 inmates back to Arizona. No Oklahoma prisoners are housed there. Even county jails are responding to the need for federal bed space. Tulsa County officials entered into an agreement with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in 2007. Garvin County also has an agreement with the agency to house and transport federal detainees. Displaced inmates and jobs -- Jones said if the bid by Corrections Corporation of America is accepted, the most challenging task would be finding room for the nearly 360 maximum-security prisoners being held at Davis. There are not enough open maximum-security beds in the state to keep them there, he said. This might result in prisoners being shipped out of state -- the first time it's happened since the mid-1990s. "Obviously this would be a huge burden to families of those prisoners," he said. "It would also probably cost us more." At the same time state officials worry about prison beds, the question looms about how Oklahoma jobs will be affected. The possibility of jobs returning to the Watonga area is a bright spot. More than 300 Corrections Corporation of America employees lost their jobs when the Diamondback prison closed there in May. More than 2,000 inmates were returned to Arizona. It was the largest employer in the area. Owen said company officials are anxious to get the prison running again. He said he's not sure how employment would be affected at Davis and Cimarron if the bid is accepted. In 2007, nearly 200 Cornell employees at the Great Plains Correctional Center in Hinton lost work after the state Corrections Department and the company failed to come to an agreement about reimbursement rates. The company then negotiated a contract for Arizona inmates.

August 11, 2010 Tulsa World
Arizona is pulling more than 1,700 of its inmates from the Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton. Arizona has recently added 4,000 beds to its existing prisons to increase capacity, Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Barrett Marson said Tuesday. In addition, the state's contract for space at Great Plains is nearing an end, he said. The Great Plains private prison is owned by the Hinton Economic Development Authority and operated by Houston-based Cornell Cos. Cornell Cos. was previously in the process of merging with GEO, based in Boca Raton, Fla. GEO operates the Lawton Correctional Facility. The Arizona inmates are expected to be removed in the coming months, said Charles Seigel, Cornell Cos. spokesman. The company has known for several months that Arizona was considering the move, he said. The Great Plains Correctional Facility has 272 employees with an annual payroll of $9.1 million. "We are going to be without inmates for the moment," Seigel said. "We are working to try to find another customer to use it." Until then, employees will be laid off, he said. Hinton has a population of just under 3,000, said Dave Flezickey, a Hinton Economic Development Authority spokesman. The prison is one of the town's largest employers. Cornell and Corrections Corporation of America have told the Federal Bureau of Prisons that they are interested in housing criminal illegal aliens at Great Plains and three other private prisons in the state. The inmates would be low-security males who are predominantly Mexican citizens with one year or less left to serve. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections does not have the funds to contract to house state inmates at the two Oklahoma private prisons from which Arizona has removed inmates, said DOC Director Justin Jones. Arizona also removed inmates from Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga this spring. "Obviously, I would not rule it out, but that decision will have to be made through the legislative process," Jones said. He said the private prison industry is a speculative market. "It is not immune to recession and trends in sentencing and crime," Jones said. "A lot of states have gone back and applied research to their sentencing practices, which results in sentences that are more evidence-based, and that obviously affects a market that relies upon incarceration."

August 6, 2010 Market Watch
Cornell Companies, Inc. announced today that it has received notification from the Arizona Department of Corrections of its election not to renew its contract at Cornell's 2,048 bed Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton, Oklahoma, which is scheduled to expire on September 12, 2010. The Company will be working with Arizona in the coming days to determine the schedule for the transfer of inmates, which the Company expects to complete in 2010. As a result of this notification, Cornell intends to continue marketing the facility to other customers. Cornell's previous 2010 guidance assumed that the Arizona DOC would maintain its use of the Great Plains facility at its present level through the end of the year. In May 2010, Cornell reported that the ultimate resolution of Arizona's usage of the facility would likely depend on the timing of Arizona's budget process and may not occur until the third quarter of 2010. In light of the contract termination, Cornell is withdrawing its prior annual financial guidance.

February 26, 2010 AP
Cornell Cos. Inc.'s sales and profit will decline if the state of Arizona removes inmates from the company's Oklahoma prison, an analyst said as he downgraded the prison operator's shares. First Analysis Securities analyst Todd Van Fleet downgraded the Houston company to "equal weight" from "overweight." The January budget proposals from Arizona's governor and legislature would phase out the use of private out-of-state beds. Arizona is struggling to close budget shortfalls. Van Fleet said there was less than a 25 percent chance that Cornell would be able to persuade legislators to keep Arizona inmates in the company's Oklahoma prison. The loss of the Arizona prisoners which could cut into Cornell's annual earnings by 35 cents to 45 cents per share. Van Fleet cut his estimate for 2010 profit to $1.09 per share from $1.69 per share, and his 2010 sales estimate to $398 million from $440.6 million. On Wednesday, when it released fourth-quarter earnings, Cornell predicted it would make $1.31 to $1.41 per share in 2010. The guidance assumed that Cornell would continue to keep all its Arizona inmates for the rest of the year. The contract for the Arizona prisoners ends in mid-September, Van Fleet said. Cornell shares slipped 13 cents to $18.61 in midday trading. They have dropped about 25 percent since Arizona proposed its budget in mid-January.

October 9, 2007 The Oklahoman
A convicted murderer who kidnapped and assaulted two woman after his January escape from a private prison told investigators he has been rattling the prison fences for five years to see whether any guards would respond. None ever did, convicted murderer Charles McDaniels told investigators, according to a report by the state Department of Corrections' Office of Internal Affairs. McDaniels and another inmate, Tony Ellison, cut through a Great Plains Correctional Facility fence with wire cutters on Jan. 22, kidnapped a Hinton woman and then an Oklahoma City woman, tying both up in the second woman's Oklahoma City home. The escapees also are accused of committing a rash of home invasions in the Tulsa area before they were captured 36 hours after their escape. McDaniels later told investigators the prison tower was usually unmanned and that razor wire surrounding the perimeter fence was insufficient, according to the Internal Affairs report. On Nov. 15, two months before the escape, prison officials received a security audit from state officials that criticized such areas as "inmate count procedures, perimeter fencing, camera placement, and perimeter security,” according to an April 6 letter to prison officials from Ed Evans, associate director of field operations for the corrections department. The letter also noted that on Jan. 18, the state agency determined "additional corrective action was needed due to the prison's inadequate responses regarding the perimeter fencing.” McDaniels and Ellison escaped four days later. Ellison was found hanged in a Tulsa County jail cell after his capture. State officials assessed the prison damages of $60,625 for non-performance between Nov. 15, and Feb. 19, when the prison's second plan of action was accepted by the agency. "I'm not sure we really had enough time to fix all the deficiencies before the escapes,” said Charles Siegel, a spokesman for Cornell Cos. Inc., which operates the medium-security prison for the Hinton Economic Development Authority. "But I know we fixed most of them.” Cornell paid the state agency the damage assessment, Siegel said. Eldon McCumber, the Hinton authority's chairman, called the fines "extreme.” "To me, it looked like one employee didn't do their job,” McCumber said. "It was a human error.” McDaniels told investigators he and Ellison began cutting the fence at 12:30 p.m. during a recreation break. When the period was over, they entered the prison and came out with another group on recreation break. McDaniels said he was surprised that the perimeter officer was not more observant, according to the Office of Internal Affairs report. "If they had just been driving around, they would have seen us,” he told investigators. McDaniels said he and Ellison went back and forth through the cut fence about three times before taking off and stopping at the first available house just east of the prison. The report also said a 4 p.m. inmate count revealed two missing prisoners, but two more counts were taken before the prison's emergency response team was deployed at 5:30 p.m. At the time of the escape, McDaniels was serving a life sentence for the 1988 murder of a Tulsa taxi driver. Ellison was serving time for burglary, motor vehicle theft and escape convictions. Authorities eventually cornered and arrested the two inmates in Tulsa, but not until after 36-hour crime spree that included the kidnapping of Hinton resident June Heldermon, 71, and Oklahoma City resident Teresa Mannix, 74. The women were left alive and bound in Mannix's home. They struggled to free themselves and then called police. McDaniels is serving a second life sentence at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester because of the kidnappings. He still faces charges for the Tulsa burglaries. Back in business -- The Hinton prison closed in April after a contract dispute with the Department of Corrections. It recently reopened. The prison houses 225 inmates and is receiving about 80 more each week from Arizona, Siegel said. The prison is expected to return to its 900-inmate capacity by late November, he said. Siegel said Cornell has spent more than $600,000 on "state-of-the-art” security, including additional perimeter fencing and sensor devices. Siegel declined to be more specific for security reasons. Vonda Weathers, Heldermon's daughter, isn't buying Cornell's new security pitch. "I'm still scared,” said Weathers, who can see the prison's lights from her home seven miles away. "I work at a restaurant in downtown Hinton, and I won't feel any safer. They said they had good security back then.”

May 4, 2007 KOLD TV
A private prison in Oklahoma will reopen later this summer after getting a contract to keep two-thousand inmates from Arizona. Houston-based Cornell Companies owns the Great Plains Correctional Facility and has agreed to a one-year deal with the Arizona Department of Corrections with four one-year options to follow. The prison in Hinton, Oklahoma was shut down and nearly 200 workers laid off earlier this year after the Oklahoma Department of Corrections pulled out the last of its more than 800 inmates. The prison is currently equipped with 812 beds and the contract calls for it to open with 916 beds. The prison is to expand to hold the two- thousand inmates by the fourth quarter of next year. The first inmates are expected in August or September.

April 7, 2007 The Oklahoman
The last of the Great Plains Correctional Facility's nearly 200 employees clocked out of work Friday, leaving the 9-year-old prison empty and a Caddo County town of 1,400 people wondering what will happen next. "This is devastating,” said Eldon McCumber, chairman of the Hinton Economic Development Authority (HEDA) board. "This is going to have a big impact on the community, especially HEDA. ..... "But we're working daily to get an inmate contract. Employees, meanwhile, shared their frustrations with each other Thursday at a farewell barbeque. No one in attendance would speak publicly about being laid off. "I think they're afraid they won't be hired back when the prison reopens,” said Linda Maize, whose husband, Michael, is the prison's hospital administrator. Maize and her husband expressed concern over employees who are already experiencing hardships, especially couples where both spouses were employed at the prison. "You always hear about how most of us are just one paycheck away from being homeless,” Linda Maize said. "Well, we just got our last paycheck.” Skeleton crew remains: By Friday, only a skeleton crew of 10 employees remained to man the prison and its surrounding grounds. "It's a pretty sad deal,” said Michael Maize, who has worked at the prison for four years. "There was a group of people who clung on, hoping something would happen. There was a family-type atmosphere there because we all watched each other's backs ..... "The hardest part was watching your friends lose their jobs one-by-one, and wondering when your number was going to come up. That was tough because we all knew it was coming.” The Hinton authority, which financed the $37.2 million prison a decade ago, leases the facility to Houston-based Cornell Companies for $100,000 annually and receives an additional $25,000 per month from inmate per diems. Cornell purchased the prison in 1998, and then deeded the property back to the Hinton authority under the present lease agreement. Since then McCumber said the authority has used revenue from the prison to build the Sugar Creek Canyon Golf Course, spruce up local school properties, and leverage other business projects. But those days suddenly seem like a distant memory. "Dollar-wise, we're pretty much down to nothing,” McCumber said. "We're cash-strapped, although we still have a lot of money invested in properties.”

April 4, 2007 AP
A convicted killer who allegedly escaped from a private prison and abducted a Caddo County woman will stand trial. Special District Judge David Stephens made his decision yesterday at the end of Charles McDaniels' preliminary hearing. The 35-year-old McDaniels is accused of fleeing the Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton on January 22nd with another inmate. The pair allegedly broke into 71-year-old June Heldermon's home and drove her and her vehicle into Oklahoma City. It's there where authorities allege McDaniels and fellow escapee Tony Ellison broke into the home of 74-year-old Teresa Mannix, tied up her and Heldermon and left in Mannix's vehicle. The men were captured in Tulsa after a 36-hour manhunt. Ellison later hanged himself in his Tulsa jail cell.

March 20, 2007 Oklahoman
The Great Plains Correctional Facility will close indefinitely "the first week of April,” leaving some 190 employees at the private prison without work, a company spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday. "The decision to close came down to contract negotiations with DOC (state Department of Corrections),” said Christine Parker, a spokeswoman for the Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. Only 290 state inmates remain at the private prison from a population that was once 800 as recent as October. State corrections spokesman Jerry Massie said the remaining inmates are scheduled to be moved no later than April 6. State guards began relocating inmates after prison officials announced they would not renew their state contract in October. Parker said the decision came after months of negotiations. The bulk of Hinton's inmates were sent to the Lawton Correctional Facility, a private prison that recently underwent a $23 million, 600-bed expansion. "Basically, they (prison official) were telling us they were losing money,” Massie said. "We were paying other private prisons in the state anywhere from $40 to $45 a day per bed. They were getting around $47 a day per bed. "So they were getting more than anyone else.” In January, the private prison came under scrutiny when a convicted murderer and another fugitive escaped and kidnapped two elderly women. Authorities arrested both fugitives in Tulsa County, but only after a 36-hour manhunt that stretched 150 miles. Both women lived to tell their frightful story. At the time, a contract extension with the state was being discussed. Massie later said the extension wasn't necessary. "The closure has nothing to do with the escapes,” Parker said. "We had already decided not to renew our contract with DOC by then.”

February 11, 2007 AP
More than two-thirds of convicted killers in Oklahoma are not incarcerated at the state's most secure prisons, but instead are housed in state-run and private medium-security facilities, according to a published report. Fewer than 400 first-degree murderers, including the men on death row, are at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, according to records for Jan. 23. Another 117 are at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center, a women's prison, The Sunday Oklahoman reported. ``Inmates can earn their way down,'' Corrections Department Director Justin Jones said. ``I think it's OK. ... For us, medium security is considered high security.'' The issue arose after convicted killer Charles McDaniels and fellow inmate Tony Ellison escaped from the Great Plains Correctional Facility after cutting holes in fences. The pair abducted a woman, drove her and her vehicle to Oklahoma City and assaulted and robbed another woman before taking off in her vehicle. They eventually were apprehended in Tulsa, where Ellison hanged himself at the jail, authorities said. McDaniels and 65 others with first-degree murder convictions were held at the medium-security private prison in Hinton. ``I had been told that they didn't have murderers there ... that it was just for burglary and assault and so forth,'' said June Heldermon, 71, who lived near the prison and was kidnapped Jan. 22, allegedly by the escapees. Heldermon is seeing a counselor over her ordeal and is staying with her daughter. ``I've got to get rid of that house,'' she said. ``I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm just not about to go back up there and live. ... No way! One time's enough for me.''

January 29, 2007 The Oklahoman
A private prison that recently ended its contract with the state has notified nearly 200 employees that the prison may close. The Great Plains Correctional Facility sent notices to its employees last week telling them their jobs could be terminated within 60 days. Warden Sam Calbone said the prison is required by law to notify employees of a possible termination in advance but hopes the prison won't have to close. "We're hopefully optimistic right now that it won't come to that,” Calbone said. Prison officials and the state Corrections Department in July were in disagreement over how much the state should pay to keep inmates there. In October, the prison told state officials they had 180 days to relocate about 800 inmates being held at the prison. At the time of the announcement, company officials said they were pursuing a contract with other, undisclosed agencies for the use of the prison space. State corrections officials learned in October the prison was negotiating with other states, possibly California, which recently agreed to pay private prisons in Watonga and Sayre $63 per day to house about 500 California inmates. Oklahoma pays the Hinton prison about $47 per day per inmate.

January 25, 2007 KTUL
About 150 employees at the Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton have been told the prison will be closing in March. A spokeswoman for Cornell Corrections says workers were given a 60-day notice of the closure last Friday. Spokeswoman Christine Parker says the contract between the state of Oklahoma and Cornell expired in July, and the two parties couldn't reach a new contract. She says the 530 inmates housed there are being transferred to other facilities. The facility has operated in Hinton since 1998. The closing is not connected to the escape of two inmates on Monday. The two men are accused of embarking on a crime spree before they were captured Wednesday in Tulsa. One of the two escapees killed himself this morning in a Tulsa jail.

January 25, 2007 AP
One of two men who escaped from a prison and was suspected of going on a crime spree before being recaptured hanged himself in jail Thursday and apparently had a suicide pact with the other escaped inmate, sheriff's officials said. Tony Ellison, 23, was found hanging from a bed sheet tied to a light fixture at 8:35 a.m., 20 minutes after a routine check of his cell, the Tulsa County sheriff's office said. Ellison and the other escaped inmate, Charles McDaniels, discussed their plans to kill themselves in letters found in their cells, Undersheriff Brian Edwards said. McDaniels, 35, was immediately placed on a suicide watch. "We were very surprised when we uncovered this plot between the two of them," Edwards said, adding that Ellison had not seemed despondent and had not been on a suicide watch. "If a person is very determined, it is very difficult to keep them from hurting themselves," Edwards said.

January 24, 2007 Texarkana Gazette
Authorities captured two escaped inmates, including a convicted killer, Wednesday morning after a nearly 40-hour search. Capt. Chris West of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Charles McDaniels, 35, and Tony Ellison, 23, were captured in a central Tulsa neighborhood at about 3 a.m. The men led authorities on a short car chase after investigators closed in on the home where they were hiding, West said. The men crashed the car and then fled on foot before they were arrested. There were no injuries. "We feel very satisfied that it ended like it did tonight," West said. McDaniels and Ellison escaped from the medium-security Great Plains Correctional Center in Hinton, 50 miles west of Oklahoma City, on Monday by cutting through a fence in a recreation yard, said Jerry Massie, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. Massie said he wasn't sure how they could have done this without guards seeing them. He said there are no towers at the prison, but guards would monitor the perimeter of the facility. No cutting implement had been found Tuesday, Massie said. Houston-based Cornell Cos., the private operator of the prison, offered a $25,000 reward Tuesday for information leading to the capture of the inmates, who are believed to have escaped at 3:24 p.m. Monday when an electronic perimeter system sounded a series of alarms at the prison's control room. Officials confirmed the prisoners were missing during a 4 p.m. head count and placed the facility on lockdown. Authorities believe the pair broke into a Hinton residence, abducted a woman and drove her and her vehicle into Oklahoma City, where they broke into a northwest-side home. Oklahoma City police Capt. Steve McCool said the men then tied up the women. He said the women were somehow able to call police for help, but he didn't have exact details. One of the women was punched and may have a broken nose, McCool said. The escapees were able to get in the house by asking to use a telephone. They pushed their way in when the woman tried to hand a phone to them. The two women were identified by police Tuesday as Wanza "June" Heldermon of Hinton, and Teresa Mannix of Oklahoma City. McCool said Heldermon may have been abducted to buy the men some time. "They probably did it in an effort to give themselves a head start from law enforcement," he said. "Then they tie them up, all in an effort to give them a head start." McDaniels had been at Great Plains since 2001, and Ellison had been there since October, Massie said. The facility holds 531 men, and the Department of Corrections had been lowering the population because the contract with Cornell was not renewed and is set to expire in April, Massie said. In a statement, Cornell said all prison personnel were at their assigned posts and all security systems were functioning properly. The company said it does not know what type of tool was used to cut through two security fences topped with razor wire, but all prison tools and equipment were accounted for. The prison also has two rows of razor wire between the fences, which are monitored by an electronic system.

January 23, 2007 Tulsa World
Two men, including one who was a teenager when he killed a Tulsa cab driver, escaped from a southwestern Oklahoma private prison Monday and allegedly abducted one woman and broke into the home of another, authorities said. Officials at the Great Plains Correctional Center in Hinton noticed that Charles Marcel McDaniels, 35, and Tony L. Ellison, 23, were missing after a 4 p.m. head count, according to a statement from the prison's parent company, Cornell Cos. Authorities think the pair broke into a Hinton residence, abducted a woman and drove her in her vehicle to Oklahoma City, where they broke into another home, Oklahoma City Police Sgt. Keith Vance said. "They took the first victim into the house, left her there along with the second victim, but stole her (the latter victim's) car," he said. Vance did not release the victims' names. He said the condition of the Oklahoma City woman, who was seen in television footage being carried from the house on a stretcher, wasn't immediately known. The other woman has returned to Hinton, he said. The prison was locked down while the escape is investigated, Great Plains officials said.

October 24, 2006 Enid News
The old saying, “crime doesn’t pay,” might apply to criminals, but not to operators of private prisons. Officials at Hinton’s Great Plains Correctional Facility recently announced they would evict 800 state inmates housed there under contract with Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections. Cornell Cos. Inc., the Houston company that has owned the medium-security prison since 1998, is evicting the DOC prisoners, according to a spokeswoman, to consider “other business opportunities.” In other words, there are entities that will pay Cornell Cos. Inc. more per head for housing prisoners than the Oklahoma DOC can presently afford. State Corrections Director Justin Jones said the Hinton prison had been negotiating a better deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, who are offering a better rate. California, which has declared an emergency due to prison overcrowding, reportedly is prepared to pay between $71 and $80 per day per prisoner to house the Golden State’s bad guys in private prisons. The state of Oklahoma, which will pay just more than $45 per day per inmate, can’t compete. You can’t blame Cornell Cos. Inc. They are a private business and, as such, are entitled to charge whatever they chooses for their services. The problem is, the state doesn’t have much room to house the 800 inmates Cornell is booting from its cells. The state has just 180 days to find someplace to put the evicted prisoners, but the state’s prisons are 98 percent full, meaning there’s little or no room for inmates at the inn. Even many county jails, which currently house more than 1,350 DOC prisoners, are at or near capacity. Such is the case with Garfield County Detention Center. So what is Oklahoma to do? Spend more money. The state either needs more prison beds, or must boost its per-diem rate for housing prisoners, or both. The DOC already has asked for a $193 million bond issue to help pay for a new 1,400-bed medium-security prison, 750 maximum security beds and other renovations. Sen. Cal Hobson, D-Lexington, thinks the state should pay for new prison space with money from the state “rainy day” fund, which he said currently contains nearly $500 million. Whether from a bond issue or from rainy day funds, the state must spend money to tackle this problem. Our police and courts are doing a good job of catching and convicting criminals, our prison system must make provisions to house them. This incident clearly illustrates the point DOC can’t count on private prisons to help solve the prison overcrowding problem.

October 12, 2006  The Oklahoman
About 800 Oklahoma inmates will be kicked out of the private prison that houses them, state Corrections Department officials learned Wednesday. The state received notice Wednesday from Cornell Corrections, the private company that runs the Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton, corrections spokesman Jerry Massie said. The state will have 180 days to find new housing for about 800 inmates who currently are incarcerated in Hinton. The state has relied on the private prison for more than six years to handle part of its growing problem with prison overcrowding. State-owned prisons are essentially full, running about 98 percent of capacity. Before Wednesday's development, all public and private prisons in the state were projected to be out of space by next year. "This is just going to make a bad situation worse," Massie said. Cornell's contract with the state expired in July, and both parties weren't able to agree on terms for a new contract, leaving the company open to seek a new tenant, said Christine Parker, spokeswoman for Cornell. "We are in the process of considering other business opportunities," Parker said. State Corrections Director Justin Jones said last week the Hinton prison had been negotiating a better deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, who offered a better rate. "You're dealing with a private business here, and they are in it to make money and answer to shareholders," Jones said. "Our mission is public safety, and the ideologies don't always line up."

October 6, 2006 The Oklahoman
The state Corrections Department might lose its contract with a private prison that houses 800 inmates, the agency's director said. Federal immigration officials have been negotiating a contract with the Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton that would offer more favorable terms than those offered by the state, which pays $44 per day for each inmate housed there, state Corrections Director Justin Jones said. Officials for Cornell Corrections, the company that runs the prison, did not respond to inquiries Thursday from The Oklahoman. Carl Rusnok, regional spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said only that "we contract with a number of facilities around the country." U.S. Rep. John Sullivan, R-Tulsa, who has called for an increased presence by the federal agency in Oklahoma, said the agency is looking to better serve Oklahoma's immigration enforcement needs. "Any increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence in Oklahoma is a positive step for our state," Sullivan said in a statement. Jones said his agency already has executed its option to renew the contract. Leasing that space to anyone else should not be allowed under the contract, he said. Jones said corrections officials will challenge any contract with the prison that undercuts the department's holdings there.

September 16, 2006 The Gazette
The Colorado Department of Corrections is preparing to send as many as 1,000 inmates out of state — probably to two private lockups in Oklahoma — to alleviate crowding in state prisons. Alison Morgan, head of the DOC’s private-prison monitoring unit, would not discuss the department’s timetable for moving the inmates. Last month, she visited two Oklahoma prisons, the Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton and the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, and she is in negotiations with the companies that run them. “Going out of state is inevitable,” she said Friday. The DOC has been warning lawmakers for months that it will soon run out of space, the result of longer sentences, a growing population and a multiyear budget crisis that canceled building projects. New private prisons to hold 3,776 inmates have been approved, and officials this year expressed optimism to the General Assembly that they could handle the state’s caseload by double-bunking inmates and finding unused space until the new prisons are built. It will be the first time since the mid-1990s that Colorado has sent a large number of inmates out of state. In 2004, 121 high-security inmates with gang affiliations were sent to a prison in Mississippi, but officials brought them back a year later after they were involved in a riot there.

July 24, 2006 Oklahoman
All five inmates who were hospitalized after an altercation Friday in a Caddo County prison have been treated and returned to jail, according to a statement from Cornell Companies Inc., the prison's private owner. Shortly before 7 p.m. Friday, between 25 and 30 inmates started a disturbance at the Great Plaines Correctional Facility that resulted in the injuries, the statement says. Five inmates were injured and taken to area hospitals in the incident, according to the statement. Earlier reports indicated seven inmates were injured and four hospitalized. All injuries were minor, the statement notes. The prison remained on lockdown Saturday. The medium security prison for men can house 766 inmates, according to the Web site of the prison's Houston-based owner. In 2005, the prison was the site of a prisoner fight that ended in the death of an inmate. And in 2000, the prison's owner was fined $304,000 for alleged security breaches that led to an inmate's escape.

July 21, 2006 KOCO 5
A disturbance was reported Friday among inmates at a private prison in Caddo County. A fight broke out among a group of inmates about 6:30 p.m. at the Great Plains Correctional Facility at Hinton, Caddo County Sheriff Gene Cain said. Cain said six or seven inmates were transported by ambulance to a hospital in El Reno. The severity of the injuries was not immediately known but they did not appear to be life threatening, Cain said. The sheriff said authorities do not know what started the fight. Capt. Stuart Meyer of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said troopers were notified of a disturbance at the private prison but that details - including how many inmates were involved and whether anyone was hurt - were not immediately known. "We've been told there was a disturbance there. But they have not requested any assistance from the highway patrol," Meyer said. Jerry Massie, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, said a fight was reported in one housing unit at the prison, which houses about 250 minimum and medium security inmates. But Massie did not know the severity of the incident. A spokesman for the Hinton Police Department who asked not to be identified said the prison was in lockdown at 10 p.m. and that all inmates were back in their cells. Prison authorities refused to release any information. An unidentified operator who answered the telephone at the prison told an Associated Press reporter to call back during normal business hours and talk to someone else. The disturbance is not the first at the facility. Inmate Pedro Posadas, 32, was killed on March 4, 2005, in a fight with another inmate at the private prison. The prison, owned by Cornell Corrections Inc. of Houston, was fined by the Department of Corrections in May 2000 for alleged security breaches that allowed an inmate to escape the month before. The $304,000 penalty was at the time the largest ever assessed against an Oklahoma private prison.

November 15, 2005 AP
Members of a public trust at Hinton were duped by a Georgia man into spending more than $7.5 million on a cocoa butter plant that was doomed from the start, state Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan said Tuesday. According to a special audit by McMahan's office, members of the Hinton Economic Development Authority were not informed about patent problems tied to a method of extracting cocoa butter utilizing liquefied gas. McMahan said a conflict of interest appears to exist because several members of the trust authority that approved the project also became minority owners of the cocoa butter extracting plant. Ken Doughty, vice chairman, lost $1.8 million in the deal, auditors said. They said the other board members got a share of ownership through promissory notes. Trust members were led to believe that Hinton streets would "be paved with gold" from profits on the plant, McMahan said. "Basically, the authority's board members were duped into believing in an individual, who in my opinion, deliberately made - and received payments on - promises he knew would not be kept," the state official said, identifying the developer as Donald R. Hall of Savannah, Ga. McMahan said Hall apparently contacted Hinton officials after they advertised on the Internet, seeking economic development opportunities for the town in western Oklahoma. He said the trust backed the project with part of an $18 million windfall from the sale of a private prison.

July 14, 2004 
An appeals court Tuesday agreed with two Oklahoma private prison inmates, who served as their own attorneys, that prison officials erred in disciplining them.  The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that prison officials, who revoked 365 days of earned credits from Timothy Gamble and 180 days of earned credits from Kenneth Popejoy, must restore the credits.  Gamble and Popejoy were inmates at Great Plains Correctional Facility. Officials there, who ruled the inmates violated the law that governs inmates' use of their own funds to pay for photocopying, misinterpreted the law, the judges concluded.  (News OK)

September 7, 2001
Although a private prison company might profit from inmate labor, the company is not held to the terms of the Fair Labor Standards Act and does not have to pay inmates minimum wage, an appeals court ruled.  Cornell said the FLSA definition of employee did not extend to inmates working in prison, even if the prison was a profit-making entity.  Cornell asked the courts to grant summary judgment in the case.  The trial court granted Cornell's motion, saying that the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Franks v. Oklahoma State Industries expressly said prisoners enjoy no FLSA protections.  The court concluded that Washington was not an employee because his relationship with the prison, and therefore with Cornell, arose from his status as an inmate, not an employee.  (Corrections Professional)

April 18, 2000
Gordon Flud, serving three life terms for assault and battery with intent to kill and kidnapping avoided the razor wire and escaped from Cornell’s medium security prison. After the last escape 16 months ago, corrections officials made recommendations to Cornell to improve security, but some of those security improvements were not made. The escapee was filmed by video cameras during the escape, but no one saw Flud on the camera. Cornell’s warden said that the guards are involved in other duties besides watching those monitors. (The Daily Oklahoman, 5/18/00)

December, 1998
A convicted child molester with a history of escape climbed over the fence and out of Cornell’s private prison. He was captured five days later in San Bernardino, CA. Cornell reported that the escape occurred a full day after it happened. (Tulsa World, December 13, 1999)

Lawton Correctional Facility
Lawton, Oklahoma
GEO Group (formerly know as Wackenhut Corrections)
December 1, 2009 The Oklahoman
Investigators are trying to determine if a prison attack Saturday may be tied to a series of coordinated prison fights that took place a week earlier between Hispanic and American Indian prisoners. In the latest attack, Lawton police said Saturday that two inmates at the Lawton Correctional Center were attacked by two other inmates wielding homemade hatchets and knives. The injured inmates were taken by ambulance to a Lawton hospital, and one of the men required surgery. The private prison is owned by Florida-based GEO Group Inc., which on Monday referred questions to Lawton police. Calls to Lawton police detectives Monday were not returned. A Lawton television station reported that two American Indian inmates attacked two Hispanic inmates. Last week, Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel said he had heard the initial prison gang fights stemmed from the arrest of an American Indian man accused of shooting, stabbing and burning three women and a Hispanic man at a southwest Oklahoma City house on Nov. 9.

November 30, 2009 AP
Two inmates are recovering after a weekend attack at a private prison in Lawton. Lawton police say the two inmates were attacked Saturday by two other inmates wielding homemade hatchets and knives at the Lawton Correctional Center. Both were transported by ambulance to a Lawton hospital, where one of the victims required surgery. The prison is owned by Florida-based GEO Group, Inc., and a GEO spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. After the attack, police say GEO officers locked down all inmates and secured the crime scene. Police say the attack was captured on videotape, which was taken as evidence.

November 6, 2009 Oklahoman
A three-time convicted drug trafficker was arrested early Friday after using a fake court document to hoodwink the Lawton Correction Facility into releasing him from prison. Richard Lynn Dopp, 47, was sleeping at his mother’s rural Ottawa County home around 2:30 a.m. when he was taken into custody and returned to the Corrections Department, said Ottawa County District Attorney Eddie Wyant. He was released from the Lawton Correction Facility, a private prison, on Oct. 5 after the prison received a fraudulent modified judgment and sentence report. “Unbelievable – Unbelievable,” Wyant said of the prisoner’s plan. The bogus document indicates Wyant attended the July 27 court hearing where Dopp’s life sentence with no chance of parole was modified to 10 years and a $25,000 fine forgiven. The document also has an Ottawa County District Court file stamp dated Aug. 11. No copy of the document was ever filed in Ottawa County District Court, Wyant said. Wyant did not attend the meeting and was the first person to notice Dopp’s game when Corrections Department officials sent out a notice listing Dopp as being released from prison. Wyant learned the sham legal document was fraudulently signed July 27 by Bruce David Gambill.

July 24, 2009 Oklahoman
Prison inmate Richard Hayes, 59, of Ada died Tuesday after guards found him unresponsive in his cell at the Lawton Correctional Facility, officials said. Lawton police Capt. Rusty Wright said Hayes died about 7 a.m. at a local hospital. The cause of Hayes’ death was still under investigation Thursday. Wright said officers found possible drug overdose indications.

February 14, 2009 AP
Lawton police are investigating the death of an inmate at private prison there. The man was found hanging in his cell at the Lawton Correctional Center just before 10 p.m. Friday. The prison is operated by the GEO Group Inc. Lawton police did not immediately release the inmate's name and age.

December 16, 2008 Tulsa World
Taking a tougher approach, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections has withheld more than $589,000 in payments to private prison operators in the past year because of staffing shortages. Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing has had five payments of $40,000 or more withheld since December for failing to fill vacancies within 45 days, including several positions in the medical field. In April, the state withheld $59,191 in payments because 19 positions remained unfilled within 45 days. Among them was a clinical supervisor slot that DOC officials said had been open for 457 days. The Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville also has had about $76,000 in payments withheld since August because of staffing incidents. Both facilities are owned by Corrections Corporation of America, based in Nashville. A company official says it has had difficulty filling medical positions because of a nationwide shortage. In addition to the money it has already withheld, the DOC has another $50,000 in fines pending for November. The DOC has withheld payments to private prisons in 28 instances since last December for failing to fill positions in a timely manner. The department's decision to penalize private prisons financially for contract violations stems from a recommendation made in a performance audit of the Department of Corrections requested last year by the Oklahoma Legislature. "The audit felt like we were giving too many warnings to private prisons and that we needed to start doing more liquidated damages," DOC Director Justin Jones said last week. An official with the Oklahoma Public Employees Association, which sought information on the fines, said the organization is concerned whether private prison contractors are actually fixing the problems, or simply paying the fines. Mark Beutler, director of communications, said Monday that OPEA is sponsoring legislation in the upcoming legislative session that will make contractors more transparent. "We believe contractors should be held more accountable in reporting violations and also in the ways they are spending taxpayers' money," Beutler said. Calling the shortage of medical personnel a problem for prisons, Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Steve Owen said the company is making a good faith effort to fill its medical services vacancies as quickly as possible. Until the positions are filled, Owen said the facilities will hire part-time employees or pay overtime to prevent a drop-off in services. "This is hitting us in the wallet, but it's not costing the taxpayer," Owen said. The state has about 4,540 inmates housed in three private prisons in the state. In addition to the CCA facilities in Cushing and Holdenville, the third private prison that contracts with DOC is the Lawton Correctional Facility. The Lawton facility has had about $23,000 in fines since last December, including about $10,000 that is pending for November. The facility is owned by the GEO Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla. The performance audit, which was released Dec. 31, 2007, said the enforcement of liquidated damages provisions in the state's contract with private prisons was extremely rare and time-consuming. "DOC's process is somewhat cumbersome in that it requires multiple levels of consideration by executive staffs," the audit report said. It called DOC's failure to use liquidated damages effectively "a serious problem with DOC's management process" that has eroded the credibility of the contract monitoring system. In the past, DOC has used more informal sanctions in response to contract breaches, which sometimes resulted in adjustments in a facility's population level. "As system crowding worsens, however, the flexibility to reduce population in response to problems diminishes significantly," the audit reported.

August 5, 2008 AP
A second inmate has been charged with murder in the September 2007 beating death of another prisoner at a private prison in Lawton. Prosecutors upgraded a conspiracy charge against 50-year-old James Hamilton to first-degree murder in the death of 44-year-old Darrell Myers at the Lawton Correctional Facility. Inmate Charles Snail pleaded guilty to murder in the case and was sentenced last week to life in prison. An affidavit in the case says another inmate heard the 40-year-old Snail and Hamilton plotting to kill Myers in order to be transferred to another prison. The affidavit says Hamilton told investigators he was present during the killing but did not take part in it.

August 1, 2008 AP
A prison inmate has been handed a life sentence for the 2007 slaying of his cell mate at a private prison in Lawton. Charles W. Snail was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison with the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to one count of first-degree murder. Smith was charged with killing Darrell Myers in September 2007 at the Lawton Correctional Facility. Myers died of blunt force trauma to the head. At the time, the 40-year-old Snail was serving a five-year sentence for escape. Another man, 50-year-old James Hamilton, is charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the killing. Court records show Myers died of blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

July 29, 2008 KSWO
Cell phones are increasing in number, and in addition to teens being ardent users, prisoners are trying to get their hands on them. Most prisons and jails prohibit cell phones, which officials consider contraband since cell phones enable inmates to potentially commit crimes on the street - even when incarcerated. Prisons across the country - including the Lawton Correctional Facility of GEO Group - say that they are confiscating cell phones at an alarming rate. Some inmates have cell phones because they would like to keep in touch with family and friends, while others use them to continue their criminal activity, which can lead to inmates harming each other, prison guards, and former victims. Warden of Lawton's GEO Correctional Facility, David Miller, says it isn't hard for inmates to get cell phones. "Often times we'll find a cell phone because a victim will call and say, ‘I just heard from this person.' In a correctional facility, anytime you open a door there's a chance there's something not authorized coming through." It is a possibility that those who enter the building could be bringing contraband along with them - anyone from visitors to corrupt staff. "They're subject to disciplinary charges, and also, during the last legislative session, it was made where it is a misdemeanor now to bring in or possess a cell phone in a correctional facility without authorization," says Miller.

January 1, 2008 AP
An inmate at a private prison in Lawton took a dentist and a dental assistant hostage with a homemade knife during a brief standoff before surrendering to authorities. Lawton police were called to the GEO Correctional Facility in south Lawton about 10:45 a.m. Monday after inmate Frank Elliott took the pair hostage. No injuries were reported, and police reported the prison's hostage negotiation team was able to talk Elliott into releasing the hostages and surrendering. Lawton police reported Elliott was taken into custody and transferred to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Prison records show the 49-year-old Elliott is serving a life sentence for a first-degree murder conviction out of Pottawatomie County. Elliott has previous convictions for escape, embezzlement and failure to return rented property. Warden David Miller said Tuesday the incident was being investigated by the Lawton Police Department and declined further comment.

September 28, 2007 The Oklahoman
Prison officials are investigating the second homicide this week to occur behind prison walls. Darrell Myers, 44, was found dead inside his cell Wednesday night at the Lawton Correctional Facility, said Jerry Massie, Department of Corrections spokesman. Lawton police are investigating the death at the private prison as a homicide, Massie said. Myers is the sixth Oklahoma inmate to be killed behind prison walls this year, including another death Monday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Myers died of a blunt force injury to the head and was serving a 15-year sentence for a rape conviction.

March 20, 2007 The Oklahoman
The Great Plains Correctional Facility will close indefinitely "the first week of April,” leaving some 190 employees at the private prison without work, a company spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday. "The decision to close came down to contract negotiations with DOC (state Department of Corrections),” said Christine Parker, a spokeswoman for the Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. Only 290 state inmates remain at the private prison from a population that was once 800 as recent as October. State corrections spokesman Jerry Massie said the remaining inmates are scheduled to be moved no later than April 6. State guards began relocating inmates after prison officials announced they would not renew their state contract in October. Parker said the decision came after months of negotiations. The bulk of Hinton's inmates were sent to the Lawton Correctional Facility, a private prison that recently underwent a $23 million, 600-bed expansion. "Basically, they (prison official) were telling us they were losing money,” Massie said. "We were paying other private prisons in the state anywhere from $40 to $45 a day per bed. They were getting around $47 a day per bed. "So they were getting more than anyone else.” In January, the private prison came under scrutiny when a convicted murderer and another fugitive escaped and kidnapped two elderly women. Authorities arrested both fugitives in Tulsa County, but only after a 36-hour manhunt that stretched 150 miles. Both women lived to tell their frightful story. At the time, a contract extension with the state was being discussed. Massie later said the extension wasn't necessary. "The closure has nothing to do with the escapes,” Parker said. "We had already decided not to renew our contract with DOC by then.”

November 28, 2006 The Oklahoman
The parents of two Oklahoma prison inmates joined their sons as convicted felons Monday after pleading guilty to conspiracy in Oklahoma County District Court in Oklahoma City. Alfred Gene Anderson, 68, and Patricia Kaye Johnson, 62, will be on supervised probation for the next three years after admitting their roles in a scheme to smuggle drugs into a private prison in Lawton. They were among five people indicted in February by a state grand jury. Anderson and Johnson allegedly gathered more than $140,000 from the families of other inmates between November 1998 and October 2004, according to the indictment. Anderson allegedly bribed a prison guard a dozen times to get drugs for his stepson, Darrin Marcel Brewer, who was serving time on drug convictions out of Garfield County, the indictment states. Brewer, 39, pleaded guilty last month to all charges in the 15-count indictment. He was sentenced to an additional 10 years in prison. Charges are pending against Brewer's wife, LaShanda Annette Ross Brewer, and associate Carlene Misner, who are due in court Friday.

October 31, 2006 The Oklahoman
An inmate was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday in Oklahoma County District Court after pleading guilty to participating in a ring that smuggled and sold illegal drugs inside the Lawton Correctional Facility. Inmate Darrin Marcel Brewer, 39, sold drugs to other inmates, who bought the drugs on credit, according to a state grand jury indictment returned in February. Inmates who purchased drugs would have relatives or friends make payments to Brewer's wife and other associates outside the prison, the grand jury alleged. A guard allegedly was bribed to smuggle drugs inside the prison, and LaShanda Brewer allegedly concealed nearly $60,000 in payments from drug sales. Brewer was serving time for drug convictions out of Garfield County when the smuggling occurred. Four alleged co-conspirators were indicted along with Brewer. They included his wife, LaShanda Brewer, 31; stepfather Alfred Gene Anderson, 68; and associates Patricia Kaye Johnson, 64, and Carlene Misner, 53. They waived their rights to preliminary hearings Monday. Attorney General Drew Edmondson's office assists the state's multicounty grand jury and conducted the investigation in cooperation with the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Oklahoma Corrections Department.

October 26, 2006 The Oklahoman
Police detectives presented evidence Wednesday to Comanche County District Attorney Robert Schulte, accusing two prison gang members of killing a fellow Lawton Correctional Facility inmate in his cell. Schulte said he will delay filing charges to see the results of further investigation. Investigators identified inmates Brandon James Horne and Michael Sean Rose as the two men who allegedly killed Charles A. Willingham in his cell Monday, according to a Lawton Police Department statement. Willingham, 53, died at the Southwestern Medical Center emergency room. He was serving 20 years in the private prison for lewd molestation. "There is no sense of urgency here since the suspects are already incarcerated," Schulte said. "So the investigation will continue." Detectives said Horne and Rose were known members of the Aryan Brotherhood, a gang notorious for extorting protection money from sex offenders. Two witnesses told investigators Horne and Rose entered Willingham's cell to either extort money from him or rob him of his belongings. The witnesses claim when Willingham refused to pay them $100, he was knocked to the ground and stomped to death.

October 25, 2006 KSWO
The inmate killed at the Lawton Correctional Facility yesterday afternoon has been identified. Lawton police identified him as 53-year-old Charles A. Willingham, who was serving time for lewd molestation and a felony firearm conviction. Willingham was pronounced dead at Southwestern Medical Center yesterday afternoon. "It was apparent to CSI personnel and the examiner both that this was more than likely a homicide, " said Captain John DeBoard, the Criminal Investigation Division Commander for the Lawton Police Department. "His injuries to his upper body and head are consistent with a beating. At this point police do not have an official cause of death or manner, but that's what we're suspecting at this point." DeBoard said the official cause of death will need to be determined by the State Medical Examiner. Meanwhile CSI personnel from LPD are processing the evidence gathered at the scene and a team of detectives have begun their investigation. DeBoard said detectives will interview some 300 inmates who had access to the victim and, in addition, will begin reviewing video surveillance and interviewing prison staff responsible for the cell block. Willingham's death is the first suspected murder at the prison since January 2005 when Robert Cooper strangled his cellmate, Ronald Sites, to death. Cooper was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced in April of this year. During Cooper's trial allegations were made against LCF employees and the prison itself. "A prison shouldn't be a Holiday Inn, but there are basic human rights even people in prison are entitled to and I have some concern," said District Judge Alan McCall at Cooper's trial in April 2006. Judge McCall was so stunned by Robert Cooper's allegations of drug dealing and corruption inside the prison that he called on Oklahoma's Attorney General to form a multi-county grand jury. Today, a spokesman for the Attorney General said they have received Judge McCall's information and they are following up on that information. The next multi-county grand jury is set to be convened on November 7th, but there's no word if Cooper's allegations will make the bill.

September 29, 2006 Tulsa World
All of the jail and prison space in the state will be taken in the coming months, the Board of Corrections was told Thursday. Although statistics show the state system is at 97.96 percent of capacity, it is technically full because some beds have to be reserved for inmates who can't have a cellmate, for administrative segregation and for offenders in transit, said Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Justin Jones. "Anytime we get over 97 percent, we are full," Jones said. Another 1,193 state inmates are backed up in county jails awaiting transfer into the state system. But Oklahoma is not alone in facing a space crunch. California needs 25,000 beds right away, Jones said. "They called us as courtesy to say they would be shopping in our state," he said. The Board of Corrections is seeking a supplemental appropriation of slightly more than $47 million to get through the current fiscal year, said Jim Harris, DOC chief financial officer. The bulk of the funds, nearly $34 million, would be to cover contract beds, Harris said. Another $5.8 million would add 600 contract beds at the Lawton Correctional Facility, a private prison operated by the GEO Corp.

September 25, 2006 Yahoo.com
The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE: GEO - News; "GEO") announced today the opening of the 600-bed expansion to the Lawton Correctional Facility (the "Facility") located in Lawton, Oklahoma. As a result of the expansion, the Facility which houses Oklahoma inmates now has a new contract capacity of 2,518 beds, representing the largest correctional facility in the state of Oklahoma.

February 5, 2006 The Oklahoman
An inmate, his wife and stepfather and two others have been indicted for their alleged roles in a drug-smuggling ring at the Lawton Correctional Facility. The inmate, Darrin Brewer, 38; his wife, Lashanda Brewer, 31; stepfather Alfred Gene Anderson, 67; Patricia Kaye Johnson, 63; and Carlene Misner, 52, were indicted last week. They are charged with conspiracy, concealing drug money, bribery and racketeering. The indictment became public Friday. State grand jurors allege the accused bribed a guard a dozen times to smuggle drugs to Darrin Brewer to sell to other inmates at the private prison. Grand jurors allege relatives and friends of the drug users paid Lashanda Brewer and others. Lashanda Brewer allegedly concealed almost $60,000 in payments from the drug sales.

December 22, 2005 The Oklahoman
A former inmate at a private prison and his wife have been charged for their alleged involvement in a drug-smuggling ring. Darrin Marcel Brewer, 38, and LaShanda Annette Brewer, 31, were indicted by the state grand jury last week. The indictment was made public Wednesday. Grand jurors allege Darrin Brewer sold smuggled drugs and other contraband goods to inmates at the Lawton Correctional Center. Grand jurors allege inmates arranged for friends or relatives to pay LaShanda Brewer.

October 28, 2005 The Oklahoman
The warden of a Lawton private prison testified Thursday before Oklahoma's multicounty grand jury as jurors resumed their probe of a large drug-smuggling ring that operated inside the prison. David Miller, warden of the Lawton Correctional Facility, declined to discuss his testimony, but said he had done nothing wrong. Grand jury testimony is closed to the public. Grand jurors also heard from some inmates who were taken back and forth in shackles and under guard. Law enforcement authorities revealed last June they had uncovered a drug-smuggling ring providing inmates inside the prison with marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. Officials tracked more than $200,000 coming from 14 states that was used to buy the drugs, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control said at the time. At least 100 inmates were suspected of being customers. Former correctional officer Michael McClain was accused of being the main supplier. He resigned in February. The Lawton Correctional Facility houses about 1,900 inmates. About one in five were convicted of drug crimes.

June 23, 2005 The Oklahoman
A new grand jury spent parts of Tuesday and Wednesday hearing secret testimony about a possible prison drug smuggling ring. No indictments have been handed down. Grand jurors return Aug. 9-11. The state's 10th multicounty grand jury is looking into an alleged drug ring at the Lawton Correctional Facility. The private prison houses about 1,900 inmates. Investigators have identified one guard as involved.

June 20, 2005 The Association Press State & Local Wire
A drug-smuggling ring that provided inmates at a private prison with marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroine will be the focus of a multi-county grand jury investigation that begins Tuesday.  Officials have tracked more than $200,000 coming from 14 states used to buy the drugs for inmates at the Lawton Correctional Facility, said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control. At least 100 inmates are suspected customers.  Inmates and their families organized the shipments and a guard suspected of helping run the operation brought the drugs from Oklahoma City, according to court records.  Former correctional officer Michael McClain is accused of being the main supplier.  "He could get whatever they wanted as long as they paid," Woodward said.  McClain resigned in February, said Pablo Paez, a spokesman for Geo Group Inc., which owns the private prison. The prison houses about 1,900 medium- and minimum-security inmates. About one in five were convicted of drug crimes.  Inmate Darrin Brewer, 38, told investigators he was facilitating drug deals while incarcerated in Lawton, Tim Coppick, an investigator with the Department of Corrections, wrote in a warrant filed in Oklahoma County. Brewer is on parole after serving time for trafficking and delivering narcotics.  Brewer said he orchestrated the operation by using a cell phone McClain smuggled into the prison. Inmates are not allowed to have cell phones.  Investigators uncovered a similar scheme last year at the Cimarron Correctional Facility, a private prison in Cushing. That prison is owned by Corrections Corporation of America. Five people, including a guard, were charged.

 February 1, 2005 News OK
A man serving life in prison for murder is the main suspect in the strangling death of his cell mate, police said Monday. The Lawton Police Department is investigating the death of Ronald Stanley Sites, 48, at the Lawton Correctional Facility. The facility is a private prison run by the Geo Group Inc. Sites' roommate, 32- year-old Robert M. Cooper, was in the locked cell with Sites and is the main suspect, Wright said.

February 13, 2004
A deputy warden at a Lawton prison resigned Thursday, a day after being arrested on child pornography charges.  Ronald Jay Champion, 51, is charged with possession of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, possession with the intent to distribute child pornography and violating the state computer crimes act. Champion has been deputy warden at the corporate-owned Lawton Correctional Facility.  "Mr. Champion, as of today (Thursday), has resigned from the company as deputy warden," said Pablo Paez, spokesman for the prison's owner, Geo Group Inc.  According to a court affidavit, undercover police in Irving, Texas, began an online dialogue in December with a user with the Internet profile name "Golden1567." The user name has been linked to a computer used at Champion's home, court records state.  In their correspondence, Golden1567 sent the Texas officer images consistent with child pornography. He also told the officer that he'd recently had sex with an 11-year-old girl, the affidavit states.  Irving police contacted Oklahoma authorities.  The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation obtained a search warrant for Champion's Piedmont home and seized a computer that had several pornographic images, the affidavit states.  Champion provided the OSBI oral and written confessions to possessing the illicit material, according to the affidavit.  OSBI spokeswoman Jessica Brown said Champion is a former prison administrator for the state Corrections Department. He is free on $40,000 bail.  (The Oklahoman)

February 12, 2004
A prison administrator from Piedmont is free on bail after turning himself in to law enforcement Wednesday.  Canadian County prosecutors filed four felony charges related to child pornography against Ronald Jay Champion, 51.  Champion is an assistant warden at the Lawton Correctional Facility. He was released Wednesday afternoon from Canadian County jail after posting $40,000 bail, sheriff's department Capt. Cyndi Rogers said.  (The Oklahoman)

June 28, 2003
An inmate who was critically injured in an attack earlier this week died Friday from his injuries, Lawton police report.  Samuel J. Fidler, 20, died about noon Friday after suffering numerous head, neck and facial injuries. His death has been ruled a homicide, Lawton police Capt. William Mathis said.  Fidler was an inmate at the Lawton Correctional Facility, a private prison that houses medium- and minimum- security Oklahoma inmates.  A correctional officer found Fidler beaten and unconscious in his cell Wednesday. An ambulance was called and he was taken to a Lawton hospital.  Two units at the prison were locked down after the attack.  Fidler, serving a sentence for lewd molestation out of Oklahoma County, had been at the prison only 20 hours when he was attacked, Mathis said.  No suspects have been named by police, and investigators haven't said how Fidler's wounds were inflicted. Police suspect more than one person carried out the attack.  Fidler's body was taken to Oklahoma City for an autopsy. Investigators hope to have a cause of death and a motive for the attack identified soon, Mathis said.  He said he thinks police can present evidence for charges to prosecutors next week.  (The Oklahoman)

June 27, 2003
An inmate at the Lawton Correctional Facility was on life support Thursday after being severely beaten, officials said.  Two units of the medium- security, privately run prison were still on lockdown after the Wednesday attack, said Dean Caldwell, prison spokesman.  A correctional officer found Samuel J. Fidler, 20, beaten and unconscious in his cell Wednesday afternoon. An ambulance was called and he was taken to a Lawton hospital, Caldwell said.  Fidler was last reported to be in critical condition and on life support, Caldwell said. He'd suffered numerous wounds to his head, face and neck, according to the state Department of Corrections.  Lawton police Capt. William Mathis said Fidler was attacked by more than one inmate, but wouldn't say how he was attacked, who the attackers were or whether a weapon was found.  Police haven't determined a motive for the attack.  Fidler was sent to the Lawton prison in January 2002. He is serving a 61/2-year sentence for lewd molestation out of Oklahoma County.  The prison, owned by Wackenhut Corrections Corp., houses 1,883 medium- and minimum- security Oklahoma inmates.  (The Oklahoman)

Norman School Board
Norman, Oklahoma
Sodexho
November 5, 2002
Sodexho Management will lay off employees to accommodate a request by Norman Public School Officials to lower the district's custodial contract by $100,000.  The Norman School Board will approve or disapprove the Sodexho contract at $:30 p.m. today.  With the layoffs, Sodexho has agreed to provide fewer nonessential custodial duties.  Four custodial positions will be eliminated for an approximate savings of $64,000.  Cleanings at middle schools will be reduced four hours per evening.  Norman's two high schools will receive eight hours less of evening cleaning, with classrooms being cleaned every other day.  Absent evening employees will not be replaced or substituted, and overtime will not be used.  Norman Finance Director Brenda Burkett said when the district contracted with Sodexho for its custodial services in  the mid-1990s, the district's custodians were transferred to the company.  All custodians within the school district became Sodexho employees.  (The Oklahoman)

North Fork Correctional Facility
Sayre, Oklahoma
CCA
July 11, 2009 KLEW TV
The Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) announced that it has completed the transport of 188 inmates from an Oklahoma prison to Idaho, signaling an end to the department’s four-year practice of renting out-of-state beds to ease overcrowding. “This is a milestone for the department and something the people of Idaho can truly celebrate,” said IDOC Director Brent Reinke, in a news release from the department. “We’re saving taxpayer dollars, and in the long run, making our communities safer.” IDOC said the return of the inmates is made possible, in part, by the opening of 628 new beds at Idaho Correctional Center (ICC). It will cost $40.00 a day to house one inmate at ICC versus $61.53 at North Fork Correctional Facility (NFCF) in Sayre, Oklahoma. As a result, IDOC will save $1.4 million in Fiscal Year 2010.

June 22, 2009 AP
Another batch of Idaho prisoners has returned to the state after spending time in an Oklahoma prison. Officials with the Idaho Department of Corrections says another 68 inmates have been transferred back to Idaho from a private prison in Sayre, Okla. Two buses with the prisoners arrived in Boise Monday. The latest shipment leaves the department with just 120 inmates housed in out-of-state lockups. Those inmates are slated to return to Idaho by the end of the summer. Idaho has been relying on out-of-state prisons in Oklahoma and Texas to house inmates for several years. But the state has been able to bring many back in the last year due to a declining prison population and the creation of new prison beds at the Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise.

March 25, 2009 AP
The legislative budget-writing committee on Tuesday approved a plan to cut the Idaho Department of Correction 2010 budget by almost $30 million, in part by bringing home the last Idaho inmates housed in other states. Idaho began shipping inmates out of state, most recently starting in 2005, after a federal judge ruled that overcrowded conditions here were dehumanizing. Since then, the state has built 628 beds at the Idaho Correctional Center in Boise and bolstered drug court programs and treatment to try to slow prison growth. By next spring, more than 1,000 new beds will be available in prisons across the state. Over the last eight months, the state has transferred 380 inmates back to Idaho prisons. As of February, Idaho had more than 7,226 people incarcerated. Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke said Tuesday that with the overcrowding issues resolved, Idaho can bring the last 318 prisoners home by August. The inmates are currently at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla.

October 30, 2008 Magic Valley Times-News
An Idaho Department of Correction Virtual Prison Program inmate was charged a week ago with the second-degree murder of another Idaho inmate for an alleged attack at a private prison in Sayre, Okla. Inmate Aren Dean Wight, 31, allegedly struck or hit Idaho inmate David Drashner in Drashner's cell at Northfork Correctional Facility run by Corrections Corporation of America on June 25. He was charged Oct. 22 in Beckham County District Court in Oklahoma. Oklahoma law enforcement authorities allege Drashner's death resulted from a non-premeditated attack. He was pronounced dead later that night at a Sayre hospital. Drashner was found on the floor of his cell, according to the only June IDOC press release issued concerning him. Drashner was allegedly attacked twice after he told Wight and another inmate to "act like adults" and not yell at a female corrections officer, Oklahoma court records show. Wight's cellmate allegedly told police Wight was "thumping" on Drashner, and he heard a "thud" come from Drashner's cell, according to Oklahoma court records. Drashner died from a right subdural hematoma - intracranial bleeding caused from an injury to the right side of the skull - Oklahoma court records show. About an hour and a half elapsed between when Wight went into Drashner's cell and when officers found him on the ground. Video from the privately run facility shows Wight went into Drashner's cell at about 6:07 p.m. Drashner was found by authorities at 7:35 p.m., Oklahoma Court records show. Wight also allegedly gave Drashner a bloody nose earlier on the same day at 3:15 p.m., according to Oklahoma court records. DOC didn't issue a press release about the charges. "We rely on the local jurisdiction to announce that," said Jeff Ray, IDOC spokesman. IDOC also didn't tell Drashner's wife, Pam Drashner, of Nampa, that anyone was officially charged with killing her husband, she said. "They forgot about me," Drashner said about IDOC. "They haven't called me back." Ray said he doesn't know if IDOC routinely informs spouses of murdered inmates when other inmates have been charged. Wight is doing time for burglary, robbery, aggravated battery and grand theft crimes out of Bannock and Bingham counties, and is next eligible for parole in 2012, according to IDOC online offender information. IDOC put Drashner in Oklahoma in September 2007. He was doing 12 to 20 years for a fourth DUI conviction out of Canyon County. Pam Drashner, like other family members of out-of-state inmates, wants the state to stop shipping prisoners out of Idaho. "I honestly believe if Dave was still here in Idaho he'd still be alive," she said. "I think anytime you move someone it's going to cause a lot of anxiety and stress for everybody." An IDOC Virtual Prison Program official was in Oklahoma "performing assessments" when Drashner, died and also helped investigate.

October 1, 2008 AP
For a decade, Idaho has been shipping some of its prisoners to out-of-state prisons, dealing with its ever-burgeoning inmate population by renting beds in faraway facilities. But now some groups of prisoners are being brought back home. Idaho Department of Correction officials are crediting declining crime rates, improved oversight during probation, better community programs and increased communication between correction officials and the state's parole board. The number of Idaho inmates has more than doubled since 1996, reaching a high of 7,467 in May. But in the months since then, the population has declined to 7,293 -- opening up enough space that 80 inmates housed in the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla., and at Bill Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas, could be bused back to the Idaho State Correctional Institution near Boise. The inmates arrived Monday night. Idaho Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke hailed their arrival as one of the benefits the system was reaping after years of work. "It's more about having the right inmates at the right place at the right time," Reinke said. "People are communicating better and we're working together better than we were in the past."

September 26, 2008 Magic Valley Times-News
An Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation official on Thursday confirmed that an Idaho inmate was murdered in the custody of a privately-run prison in Sayre, and they're eyeing a suspect. The suspect's name, however, isn't being released without an arrest or charges, said OSBI Spokeswoman Jessica Brown. Brown said she doesn't know when that may happen. Idaho Virtual Prison Inmate David Drashner, 51, of Nampa, was found lying on the floor of his cell in June at the Northfork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla. He was in prison for drunken driving and is one of three Idaho inmates who have died in the custody of private lockups in other states since March 2007. He was the first this year. On Aug. 18, Twin Falls native Randall McCullough, 37, apparently killed himself at the Bill Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas. IDOC has said they're waiting on results from his autopsy. Sex-offender Scott Noble Payne, 43, killed himself in March 2007 at a Geo lockup in Dickens, Texas. The Littlefield lockup is run by Geo Group Inc., and the Sayre facility is run by Corrections Corporation of America. CCA also runs the state-owned Idaho Correctional Center in Boise. Almost 10 percent of Idaho's prisoner population is doing time at lockups outside Idaho under contracts with private prison operators, because there's not enough room for them here. Idaho Department of Correction developed the Virtual Prison Program last year to monitor out-of-state inmates and contracts. Its role in the investigation isn't clear. "IDOC is cooperating with the investigation, but I do not know precisely what the department is doing," said IDOC Spokesman Jeff Ray in an e-mail. Ray wouldn't say if a suspect has been identified in connection to Drashner's death. "That's best left to the authorities in Oklahoma who are conducting the criminal investigation," he said in an e-mail. Drashner's widow, Pam, said she's happy there's a suspect in her husband's death. "I'm really glad they found the person, but it still doesn't bring Dave back. I just want some sort of justice to happen," she said. "If he was here in Idaho he would have never been killed." Other family of Idaho Virtual Prison inmates have also said they think Idaho should stop sending prisoners to other states, because they can't visit as easily.

September 21, 2008 Times-News
Pam Drashner visited her husband every weekend in prison, until she was turned away one day because he wasn't there. He had been quietly transferred from Boise to a private prison in Sayre, Okla. She never saw him again. In July, she went to the Post Office to pick up his ashes, mailed home in a box. He died of a traumatic brain injury in Oklahoma, allegedly assaulted by another inmate. David Drashner was one of hundreds of male inmates Idaho authorities have sent to private prisons in other states. About 10 percent of Idaho's inmates are now out-of-state. The Department of Correction say they want to bring them all home, they simply have no place to put them. Drashner, who was convicted of repeat drunken driving, is one of three Idaho inmates who have died in the custody of private lockups in other states since March 2007, and was the first this year. On Aug. 18, Twin Falls native Randall McCullough, 37, apparently killed himself at the Bill Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas. McCullough, serving time for robbery, was found dead in his cell. IDOC officials say he left a note, though autopsy results are pending. His family says he shouldn't have been in Texas at all. "Idaho should step up to the plate and bring their prisoners home," said his sister, Laurie Williams. Out of Idaho -- Idaho has so many prisoners scattered around the country that the IDOC last year developed the Virtual Prison Program, assigning 12 officers to monitor the distant prisons. In 2007 Idaho sent 429 inmates to Texas and Oklahoma. This year; more than 700 - and by one estimate it could soon hit 1,000. But officials say they don't know exactly how many inmates may hit the road in coming months. The number may actually fall due to an unexpected drop in total prisoner head-count, a turnabout attributed to a drop in sentencings, increased paroles and better success rates for probationers. The state will also have about 1,300 more beds in Idaho, thanks to additions at existing prisons. State officials say bringing inmates back is a priority. "If there was any way to not have inmates out-of-state it would be far, far better," said IDOC Director Brent Reinke, a former Twin Falls County commissioner, noting higher costs to the state and inconvenience to inmate families. Still, there's no end in sight for virtual prisons, which have few fans in state government. "I do think sending inmates out-of-state is counter-productive," said Rep. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, a member of the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee. LeFavour favors treatment facilities over prisons. "We try to make it (sending inmates out-of-state) a last resort, but I don't think we're doing enough." Even lawmakers who favor buying more cells would like to avoid virtual lockups. "It's more productive to be in-state," said Sen. Denton Darrington, R-Declo, chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee, who said he would support a new Idaho prison modeled after the state-owned but privately run Idaho Correctional Center (ICC). "We don't want to stay out-of-state unless we have to ��- It's undesirable." A decade of movement -- Idaho has shipped inmates elsewhere for more than a decade, though in some years they were all brought home when beds became available at four of Idaho's state prisons. The 1,500-bed ICC - a state-owned lockup built and run by CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) - also opened in 2000. But that wasn't enough: "It will be years before a substantial increase in prison capacity will allow IDOC to bring inmates back," the agency said in April. In 2005, former IDOC director Tom Beauclair warned lawmakers that "if we delay building the next prison, we'll have to remain out-of-state longer with more inmates," according to an IDOC press release. That year inmates were taken to a Minnesota prison operated by CCA, where Idaho paid $5 per inmate, per day more than it costs to keep inmates in its own prisons. "This move creates burdens for our state fiscally, and can harden our prison system, but it's what we must do," IDOC said at the time. "Our ability to stretch the system is over." Attempts to add to that system have largely failed. Earlier this year Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter asked lawmakers for $191 million in bond authority to buy a new 1,500-bed lockup. The Legislature rejected his request, but did approve those 1,300 new beds at existing facilities. Reinke said IDOC won't ask for a new prison when the next Legislative session convenes in January. With a slow economy and a drop in inmate numbers, it's not the time to push for a new prison, he said. Still, recent projections for IDOC show that without more prison beds here, 43 percent of all Idaho inmates could be sent out-of-state in 2017. "It's a lot of money to go out-of-state," Darrington said. Different cultures -- One of eight prisons in Idaho is run by a private company, as are those housing Idaho inmates in Texas and Oklahoma. The Bill Clayton Detention Center in Texas is operated by the Geo Group Inc., which is managing or developing 64 lockups in the U.S., Australia and South Africa. The North-Fork Correctional Facility in Oklahoma is owned and operated by CCA, which also has the contract to run the Idaho Correction Center. CCA houses almost 75,000 inmates and detainees in 66 facilities under various state and federal contracts. Critics of private prisons say the operators boost profits by skimping on programs, staff, and services. Idaho authorities acknowledge the prisons make money, but consider them well-run. "Private prisons are just that - business run," Idaho Virtual Prison Program Warden Randy Blades told the Times-News. "It doesn't mean out-of-sight, or out-of-mind." Yet even Reinke added that "I think there's a difference. Do we want there to be? No." The Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations (APCTO) says on its Web site that its members "deliver reduced costs, high quality, and enhanced accountability." Falling short? Thomas Aragon, a convicted thief from Nampa, was shipped to three different Texas prisons in two years. He said prisons there did little to rehabilitate him, though he's up for parole next year. "I'm a five-time felon, all grand theft and possession of stolen property," said Aragon, by telephone from the ICC. "Apparently I have a problem and need to find out why I steal. The judge said I needed counseling and that I'd get it, and I have yet to get any." State officials said virtual prisons have a different culture, but are adapting to Idaho standards. "We're taking the footprint of Idaho and putting it into facilities out-of-state," Blades said. Aragon, 39, says more programs are available in Idaho compared to the Texas facilities where he was. Like Aragon, almost 70 percent of Idaho inmates sent to prison in 2006 and 2007 were recidivists - repeat IDOC offenders - according agency annual reports. GEO and CCA referred questions about recidivism to APCTO, which says only that its members reduce the rate of growth of public spending. Aragon said there weren't enough case-workers, teachers, programs, recreational activities and jobs in Texas. Comparisons between public and private prisons are made difficult because private companies didn't readily offer numbers for profits, recidivism, salaries and inmate-officer ratios. During recent visits to the Bill Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas - where about 371 Idaho inmates are now held - state inspectors found there wasn't a legal aid staffer to give inmates access to courts, as required by the state contract. Virtual Prison monitors also agreed with Aragon's assessment: "No programs are offered at the facility," a state official wrote in a recently redacted Idaho Virtual Prison report obtained by the Times-News. "Most jobs have to do with keeping the facility clean and appear to be less meaningful. This creates a shortage of productive time with the inmates. "Overall, recreational activities are very sparse within the facility ��- Informal attempts have been made to encourage the facility to increase offender activities that would in the long run ease some of the boredom that IDOC inmates are experiencing," according to a Virtual Prison report. The prison has since made improvements, the state said. Only one inmate case manager worked at Bill Clayton during a recent state visit, but the facility did increase recreation time and implemented in-cell hobby craft programs, Virtual Prison reports show. Other inmate complaints have grown from the way they have been sent to the prisons. Inmates describe a horrific bus ride from Idaho to Oklahoma in April in complaints collected by the American Civil Liberties Union in Boise. The inmates say they endured painful and injurious wrist and ankle shackling, dangerous driving, infrequent access to an unsanitary restroom and dehydration during the almost 30-hour trip. "We're still receiving a lot of complaints, some of them are based on retaliatory transfers," said ACLU lawyer Lea Cooper. IDOC officials acknowledge that they have also received complaints about access to restrooms during the long bus rides, but they maintain that most of the inmates want to go out-of-state. Many are sex offenders who prefer the anonymity associated with being out-of-state, they said. Unanswered questions -- Three deaths of Idaho interstate inmates in 18 months have left families concerned that even more prisoners will come home in ashes. "We're very disturbed about...the rate of Idaho prisoner deaths for out-of-state inmates," Cooper said. It was the razor-blade suicide of sex-offender Scott Noble Payne, 43, in March 2007 at a Geo lockup in Dickens, Texas that caught the attention of state officials. Noble's death prompted Idaho to pull all its inmates from the Geo prison. State officials found the facility was in terrible condition, but they continue to work with Geo, which houses 371 Idaho inmates in Littlefield, Texas, where McCullough apparently killed himself. Noble allegedly escaped before he was caught and killed himself. Inmate Aragon said he as there, and that Noble was hog-tied and groaned in pain while guards warned other inmates they would face the same if they tried to escape. Private prison operators don't have to tell governments everything about the deaths at facilities they run. The state isn't allowed access to Geo's mortality and morbidity reports under terms of a contract. Idaho sent additional inmates to the Corrections Corporation of America-run Oklahoma prison after Drashner's husband died in June. IDOC officials said an Idaho official was inspecting the facility when he was found. IDOC has offered few details about the death. "The murder happened in Oklahoma," said IDOC spokesman Jeff Ray, adding it will be up to Oklahoma authorities to charge. Drashner said her husband had a pending civil case in Idaho and shouldn't have been shipped out-of-state. She says Idaho and Oklahoma authorities told her David was assaulted by another inmate after he verbally defended an officer at the Oklahoma prison. Officers realized something was wrong when he didn't stand up for a count, Drashner said. "He was healthy. He wouldn't have been killed over here," she said.

July 19, 2008 The Oklahoman
The North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre was on lockdown after a fight Friday morning.  Officials at the 2,599-bed private prison said a fight broke out among inmates about 5:30 a.m. Friday in the dining hall. Six inmates were seen for slight abrasions.

May 24, 2008 The News Tribune
Four Washington prison inmates who were shipped out of state because of overcrowding are under investigation for allegedly assaulting prison workers in Oklahoma on Thursday. The attacks took place at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Oklahoma, a private prison run by the Corrections Corporation of America. Washington has 304 of its inmates serving time in that prison, part of the 1,160 total number of inmates who are now out of state, said Washington prison official Gary Bohon. A prison officer and sergeant were injured, treated at a hospital and released, said a CCA spokeswoman. The four offenders were placed in segregation. Washington also has offenders housed in Arizona and Minnesota to prevent overcrowding in Washington’s 15 prisons, where the population is more than 17,000, including work-release centers. Washington’s Department of Corrections plans to bring back a small number of offenders in the next six to eight weeks, Bohon said. And the state remains on track to bring back all of the out-of-state inmates by the end of 2009. That’s when a bigger prison at Coyote Ridge in Eastern Washington is expected to be fully operational. Bohon said the four inmates could be sent back to Washington or could face local charges as a result of the attacks.

February 22, 2008 The Denver Channel
The Colorado Department of Corrections has sent two investigators to an Oklahoma prison to probe whether correctional officers staged ‘ultimate fights’ among prisoners and rewarded the fight's winner with a cell phone, corrections sources told CALL7 Investigators. The DOC inspector general's staff traveled this week to the privately owned North Folk Correctional Facility at Sayre, Okla., about 130 miles west of Oklahoma City, to investigate the complaint of ‘ultimate fighting,’ sources said. It was unclear Friday whether the details of the complaint have been substantiated. DOC Executive Director Ari Zavaras, in a phone conversation with CALL7 Investigator Tony Kovaleski, confirmed investigators were sent out to Oklahoma. "There is an ongoing investigation and we do not comment until the investigation is complete," he told Kovaleski. The facility is owned and operated by the Corrections Corporation of America and houses about 480 Colorado inmates on a contract basis. CCA also owns the Crowley County Correctional Facility, which came under DOC scrutiny in 2004 after a riot. The DOC report criticized the "lack of responsiveness" by private prison operators to state corrections officials. CCA also owns about 70 facilities nationwide, including four in Colorado. The Colorado facilities are Bent County Correctional Facility, Huerfano County Correctional Center, Kit Carson Correctional Center and the facility in Crowley County. DOC spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti declined to confirm any details but said introducing a cell phone into a correctional facility is a federal offense if it happened. CCA spokesman declined comment and directed questions to Sanguinetti.

February 19, 2008 Casper Star-Tribune
A state investigation determined Wyoming had no policies in place last year to track violence against inmates being housed in out-of-state prisons. The probe also found that the beating of a state inmate by other inmates at a private prison last year in Oklahoma was not thoroughly investigated. The investigation by Maj. William Moore of the Wyoming Department of Corrections found "no WDOC Policy, Procedure or Directive is in place that requires the tracking and compliance of out of state incidents to ensure that these incident (sic) are properly tracked for compliance." The investigative report, completed last fall, was recently obtained by The Associated Press under the state's public records law. The investigation was launched after an inmate was beaten last April at the private Northfork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla. Wyoming houses 375 inmates there and has paid Corrections Corporation of America nearly $12.5 million from June 2006 through December 2007 for their housing and medical care. An investigator with Corrections Corporation of America, which owns the Oklahoma prison, looked into the inmate beating and concluded there was "no institutional deficiency that may have contributed to the inmate on inmate assault." The inmate, whose name was redacted from documents released to The AP, sustained injuries in the beating and was airlifted to Oklahoma City for treatment. He later returned to the prison that day. In his report, Moore found the CCA prison investigator "conducted the most rudimentary of investigations regarding this incident and what little was accomplished focused only on the assault." Attempts to reach a spokesperson at the Oklahoma prison were unsuccessful. An official with the Wyoming Department of Corrections said the agency has taken steps to boost its monitoring of out-of-state inmates since last year's report. Wyoming has a full-time contract monitor at the Oklahoma prison and routinely sends investigative teams to the prison to look into inmate complaints, said Steve Lindly, deputy director of the Department of Corrections. Lindly said he doesn't doubt that Moore's report was accurate when it was written last year. But Lindly said state corrections officials were already independently coming to the conclusion that more oversight of out of state inmates was necessary. Lindly said his department is satisfied the Oklahoma prison now is meeting its obligation to ensure Wyoming inmates are protected from assault at the Oklahoma prison. "The warden has been responsive to our insistence that we meet the standard," Lindly said. Stephen Pevar, an ACLU lawyer, said he remains concerned about the safety of Wyoming inmates at the Oklahoma prison. His lawsuit forced security improvements at the state penitentiary in Rawlins. Last summer, U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer of Cheyenne ended five years of federal oversight of the Rawlins prison, which stemmed from the ACLU's lawsuit. The lawsuit was called the Skinner case, named after inmate Brad Skinner who was beaten by three other inmates in 1999. Although conditions have improved in Rawlins, Pevar said he's received complaints about assaults against Wyoming inmates at the Oklahoma prison. "All I can confirm is that there have been a number of very egregious assaults at these facilities to which Wyoming is sending its prisoners," Pevar said. There have been 14 confirmed inmate-on-inmate assaults last year involving Wyoming prisoners at the Oklahoma facility, according to Melinda Brazzale, spokeswoman for the Wyoming Department of Corrections. There were 65 assaults in 2007 at the Rawlins state prison, which holds about 644 inmates, Brazzale said. Pevar said he's written to the Wyoming Attorney General's office about the state's contract with CCA. He said he's told the state that it must insist on standards limiting inmate violence, just as it requires inmates to be given adequate food, shelter and medical care. Pevar said believes the state needs to ensure Wyoming prisoners, "will be adequately protected from assault, and that the same procedures that the court held in the Skinner case were constitutionally required should likewise be adopted in these facilities that house Wyoming prisoners. And it's clear to me that they're not." Pevar also said he doesn't feel Wyoming is doing an adequate job investigating "the sufficiency of the facilities to which Wyoming is sending its prisoners." "Those facilities are doing some things that I don't think would be acceptable in Wyoming," Pevar said. Lindly said it was clear the CCA investigations into inmate violence were not as thorough as the investigations Wyoming's own staff members would conduct and noted the state is building a 700-bed prison in Torrington that will allow the department to house all its inmates in state. "We're comfortable with the process right now," Lindly said. "It's not as good as having them under your own wing, which is why we're having another prison built."

October 28, 2007 The Daily Sentinel
Nearly 400 Colorado inmates being held at a Sayre, Okla., private prison have sued their prison warden in an attempt to return to Colorado. In a lawsuit filed earlier this year, 34-year-old inmate Jeremy G. Gardner, a convicted thief, argues because his crime was committed in Colorado and he was convicted in Colorado, he should be imprisoned in Colorado. According to Beckham County, Okla., District Court records, at least 380 Colorado inmates have joined in his lawsuit against North Fork Correctional Facility Warden Fred Figueroa, filing nearly identical complaints with the county court between May 14 and Oct. 19. Colorado transferred 480 inmates, including Grand Junction man Stephen Dallas Peck, to the private prison in December 2006 and January 2007. Inmates’ families have since complained that the move was not only unfair but also hindered their abilities to help rehabilitate their relatives. Peck’s complaint, which mirrors that of his peers, argued he has committed no crimes in Oklahoma; therefore, he “has been deprived of all constitutional due process rights.” Peck argues that the contract the Colorado Department of Corrections entered into with the Corrections Corporation of America is illegal, and therefore moot. “(Figueroa) should be ordered to release the petitioner … due to his complete lack of authority to detain him,” Peck’s complaint states. Officials from the North Fork Correctional Facility could not be reached for comment last week. Beckham County Associate District Judge Doug Haught consolidated the inmates’ cases last week into a single case, “because the petitioners are located at the same confinement facility, and because of the similarity of claims, the court finds that consolidation is appropriate.” Colorado Department of Corrections Director Ari Zavaras, Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, and Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, are scheduled to visit the Oklahoma prison today and Monday. King and McFadyen have expressed interest in bringing Peck and his peer inmates home to Colorado. “With proper oversight, a private prison is a way of leveraging tax dollars, a way of having adequate bed space and so forth,” King said. “From a policy standpoint, that adequate supervision part, in my mind, means that those prisons are in Colorado, not in Oklahoma.”

October 15, 2007 Daily Sentinel
It has been months since Roger Peck has seen his son. A year ago, Peck and his wife, Millicent, twice a month were driving more than 400 miles from Grand Junction to see their son, 47-year-old Stephen Dallas Peck, at the Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs. But when Peck and 479 other inmates were relocated in December and January to the privately owned North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla., those visits ended. “It’s almost impossible for us to get to Oklahoma, and I’m sure we’re more capable than a lot of people that have loved ones in prison,” Roger Peck said. The retired couple said their contact with their son, who was sentenced in early 2004 to 18 years in prison for felony theft and methamphetamine possession, has become relegated to brief collect calls twice a month. The Colorado Department of Correction’s decision to ship its healthiest and best behaved inmates more than 300 miles southeast of Colorado’s closest prison in Trinidad, the Pecks said, is “completely opposite” the state’s goal of promoting prisoner wellness and reducing recidivism. “They skimmed the cream to start with. They took inmates who were in relatively good health and have no violent history and were not in there for violent crime,” Roger Peck said. “So they took the cream of the crop, so to speak, and sent them to this facility whose sole purpose in life is making money.” Without their support, the Pecks said, they fear how well their son will cope with his methamphetamine addiction, which also landed him in prison in 1997. Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, said in an attempt to address some of the Peck family’s concerns, he and Colorado Department of Corrections Director Ari Zavaras are going to visit the North Fork Correctional Facility at the end of this month. King said after he met the Peck family earlier this year, he began to wonder if Colorado was abandoning its oversight responsibilities by shipping felons out of state. “I had some real concerns about us giving up our ability, in some ways, to have oversight of these people that are Colorado citizens,” King said. “Granted they’re felons, but they’re our felons, and we have a responsibility to make sure they’re doing their time in a safe environment.” King said “outsourcing our felons” removes them from the support network of friends and family they need to transition from their criminal lifestyles and addictions back to living normal lives. Zavaras said from a purely financial standpoint, private prisons — the six in Colorado and the North Fork Correctional Facility — are a cost-effective way to deal with Colorado’s exploding corrections population. According to Department of Corrections statistics, Colorado’s inmate population has nearly doubled over the past decade, from 13,242 inmates in 2006 to 22,424 inmates this year. Nearly 5,000 of Colorado’s inmates reside in private prisons. Zavaras said sending prisoners outside Colorado is neither ideal nor fair to the inmates, but it is necessary. “Managing prisoners out of state, quite frankly, is very, very difficult for us,” Zavaras said. “If we would have had in-state beds, we wouldn’t be out of state. We’re only there as a last resort.” He said there are plans to expand two existing private, in-state prisons. As soon as those expansions are completed, he said, “We will bring them back.” Zavaras said he plans to scrutinize the Sayre, Okla., prison during his and King’s Oct. 28 and Oct. 29 visits. He said during that time he will not only speak with Colorado inmates but look into the concerns of inmates’ families. Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, said that ideally Colorado would pull out of private prisons, whose missions are directly contrary to reducing recidivism. McFadyen, who has 12 state and federal prisons in her southern Colorado House district, said private facilities have no reason to attempt to reintegrate felons back into society. She said private facilities see felons as possible repeat customers, so they have no incentive to decrease recidivism. Removing inmates from Colorado, she said, is an even better way for private prisons to maintain demand for their beds. “Sending an inmate out of state is almost guaranteeing they’ll come back in the system because of the lack of support,” McFadyen said. “I don’t know how an inmate succeeds when they have no support from home.”

April 1, 2007 Denver Post
If Joe Nacchio ends up in the slammer, he'd better hope it's not one run by Corrections Corporation of America, though Qwest retirees just might feel particular glee at the thought of his working most of a day to pay for a roll of toilet paper. About 480 inmates from Colorado have been transferred to CCA's North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla., since December, and they're finding that hard time is a lot harder in a prison run for profit. The inmates, all culled from state prisons based on their release dates, records for compliance and nonviolent prison histories, have been rewarded for their good behavior with lousy food, fewer visits from family members, limited access to phones, delays in mail service, a lack of access to Colorado law books and prices in the prison canteen that have been jacked up in some cases to three times those in Colorado institutions. "It seems like minor stuff to people outside of prison, but it's created a real powder keg," said Christie Donner, executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. Parents of inmates housed at Sayre have reported that a boycott of the commissary was organized as a prison protest, and when a guard was perceived to be harassing an inmate at lunch recently, the entire room stood in solidarity. They worry that tensions could erupt into a riot similar to what happened at the CCA prison in Crowley County in 2004. "The guys are really upset," said Tracy Masuga, whose son was transferred to Sayre in December. Among the recent price hikes at the canteen were: peanut butter that sold for $1.48 in January now going for $2.34, AIM toothpaste jumping from $1.45 to $2.23, raisin bran going from $2.99 to $4.75, and a 25-watt light bulb going from $1.20 to $3.69. In Colorado state prisons, peanut butter is $1.80, AIM toothpaste 95 cents, and banana nut granola (the closest thing to raisin bran on the commissary list) is $2.11. Toilet paper sells for 70 cents a roll in Sayre compared with 44 cents at state-run prisons. "This might not seem like much, but we're talking about people who make literally a dollar a day," said Ann Aber, an attorney with the Colorado Public Defender's office. "It's arbitrary and inexplicable exercises of power like this that can create a really incendiary situation." Alison Morgan, chief of private prisons for the Department of Corrections, said a team from Colorado visited the Sayre facility this month and talked to about 200 inmates. Complaints about the price hikes were rampant, she said, but she insisted that the prisoners' concerns were being addressed. "The warden is looking at the commissary list and has reduced prices for about 40 items, including the price of light bulbs," she said. Steve Owen, spokesman for CCA, said that after a brief drop in purchases from the canteen around March 9, sales have returned to normal. Gary Golder, director of prisons for the DOC, said CDs of Colorado statutes are on order for use in the Sayre prison library, but delivery by the vendor has been delayed. Problems with phones, mail service and other issues will be resolved, Morgan said. As for the food, which was described as inedible by inmates two months ago and resulted in many of them reporting significant weight loss, Morgan describes it now as "fabulous." "The previous food-service manager was fired." State Rep. Buffie McFadyen said she has heard some of the complaints, and while she is concerned, focusing on things like commissary prices and phone service ignores the larger issue. "They shouldn't be there at all," said the Democrat from Pueblo West. "Sending inmates out of state is almost guaranteeing a 100 percent recidivism rate," said McFadyen, who has eight state prisons in her district. "We're taking the inmates with the best track records within our system and punishing them by sending them out of state away from their families. When inmates don't have that support system in place to help them re-enter society, it almost guarantees failure." McFadyen said this is all part of the private-prison system's business plan. "High recidivism rates ensure profits for their stockholders," she said. "There's no incentive to do what's best for inmates. They profit by having them come back into the system." Owen called such criticism "completely false." "We invest a great deal in innovative programs to rehabilitate inmates," he said. "We consider ourselves professionals." CCA receives $54 per day per Colorado inmate. The cost to keep comparable inmates in state institutions is $77 per day, Morgan said. Even at 30 percent less per inmate, CCA has delivered impressive profits to shareholders. The company racked up $105.2 million in net income in 2006. How do they do it? "The private-prison industry makes its money out of bodies and souls," McFadyen said.

September 16, 2006 The Gazette
The Colorado Department of Corrections is preparing to send as many as 1,000 inmates out of state — probably to two private lockups in Oklahoma — to alleviate crowding in state prisons. Alison Morgan, head of the DOC’s private-prison monitoring unit, would not discuss the department’s timetable for moving the inmates. Last month, she visited two Oklahoma prisons, the Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton and the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, and she is in negotiations with the companies that run them. “Going out of state is inevitable,” she said Friday. The DOC has been warning lawmakers for months that it will soon run out of space, the result of longer sentences, a growing population and a multiyear budget crisis that canceled building projects. New private prisons to hold 3,776 inmates have been approved, and officials this year expressed optimism to the General Assembly that they could handle the state’s caseload by double-bunking inmates and finding unused space until the new prisons are built. It will be the first time since the mid-1990s that Colorado has sent a large number of inmates out of state. In 2004, 121 high-security inmates with gang affiliations were sent to a prison in Mississippi, but officials brought them back a year later after they were involved in a riot there.

October 13, 2003 Nearly 1,000 criminals were hauled away from here this summer, all of them incarcerated convicts, never to return. It pained nearly everyone to see them go. The exodus from this remote western Oklahoma town took with it about 225 jobs and a third of the government's revenues after a furor over the cost of inmates' phone calls led to the closing of a prison. "It's a huge blow," said Elaine Barker, the city clerk. With the prisoners gone, the operating budget this year has been chopped by a third to $2.7 million, Ms. Barker said. Plans for a new City Hall have been halted indefinitely. The city has put off renovating an old building for the Police and Fire Departments and constructing a 60-unit apartment complex to relieve the acute housing shortage. Hiring has stopped. One of five water department jobs has been cut. With nothing to build, the city construction manager has been let go. The job of economic development director has been eliminated. The city had budgeted for a full-time treasurer to succeed the part-time treasurer, who retired, but now Ms. Barker has inherited those duties. After a heady run of rebuilding and face-lifting, Sayre, about 120 miles west of Oklahoma City, is at a dead stop, all because of the collapse of its primary economic engine: a five-year-old, $35 million, red-roofed, gray-walled, privately run medium-security prison, the North Fork Correctional Facility. Over the summer, the prison management company, the Corrections Corporation of America, sent the 989 inmates, all from Wisconsin, to another of its facilities, 100 miles northeast of Sayre. Now the state-of-the-art prison in Sayre languishes in its prairie-grass setting. Sayre's travails arose from the loss of commissions it had received on prisoners' collect, long-distance telephone calls home to Wisconsin. Their families each paid about $22 for 20 minutes. Sayre collected up to 42 percent, and the contractor, AT&T, took the rest. For the fiscal year that ended in June, Sayre's share amounted to $656,000, close to the entire city budget in the years just before the prison opened. "We got ourselves into a situation where we were unable to control the outcome," Jack W. Ivester, the mayor and a lawyer, said. "Looking back, there were a couple of road signs that we missed." Sayre, population 4,114 before the inmates left, is one of about 200 rural communities in the nation, many ravaged by population declines and the loss of farms, factories and mines, that brought in prisons to bolster their economies during the 1990's. Swallowing fears about the proximity of criminals, the towns tapped into a growing population of prisoners and a shortage of prisons in many states. "To my mind," Jack McKennon, the city manager of Sayre, said two years ago while the town prospered, "there's no more recession-proof form of economic development." But in some states, growth in the number of prisoners has stalled, and some are opening new prisons so they won't have to send inmates elsewhere. Burned, Mr. McKennon says now, "It's just like a manufacturing plant that says they're going to move to China or Mexico." For a couple of years, Wisconsin pressed the corrections company, based in Nashville, for lower telephone rates. But the company, which had no say about the contract that would not expire until next November, deferred to Sayre and AT&T. City officials say that they tried to renegotiate it but that AT&T declined. "The rates we charge are no higher in Oklahoma than anywhere else," a spokesman for AT&T, Kerry Hibbs, said. The corrections company, faced with losing its contract to house the Wisconsin prisoners, moved the men to its prison in Watonga, Okla., where it holds the telephone contract and can meet the Wisconsin limit of about $8 for a 20-minute call. Sayre officials said that six and seven years ago, during the discussions about building a prison, no one — not they, the corrections company or the state of Wisconsin — raised doubts about charging inmates much higher rates than consumers pay. The fees were high, Ms. Barker said, "but in defense of the city, the contract was in place when Wisconsin signed the contract with C.C.A. to house their prisoners here." Still, Mayor Ivester said, "when Wisconsin prisoners went to Sayre, we started getting complaints." "When we received those complaints," he continued, "we conveyed them to AT&T, and that's where I think the problem was. AT&T was inflexible. On two occasions, the city went to AT&T and said, `You need to accommodate the rates with the complaints from Wisconsin.' "In both cases we were rebuffed," the mayor said. "The answer was no. A third time we went to C.C.A. and said, `We've tried. You talk to them.' C.C.A. experienced the same inflexibility we did." Bill Clausius, the spokesman for the Wisconsin prison department, said the state repeatedly pressed the corrections company to bring rates down to $1.25 to connect and 22 cents per minute, well below the Sayre rate of $3.95 to connect and 89 cents a minute. Mr. Hibbs at AT&T said: "We find it hard to believe that they would shut down the prison over telephone rates. We had no interest in shutting the prison down." Ms. Barker said, "AT&T wanted us to buy out the contract for a price of $850,000, which was way above our means." With the corrections company looking more and more determined to move the men, AT&T let Sayre out of the contract in late June at no cost to the city and washed its hands of further business here. In a statement then, AT&T said, "We wish Sayre well in finding a new phone service provider for its prison and hope that the facility and accompanying jobs will be saved." But by then Wisconsin and the corrections company had had enough, and the vans to Watonga were rolling. "Everyone tried to get those rates lowered," said Louise Green, vice president for marketing at the corrections company. "It was not done." Sayre and the corrections company, both with big stakes in the prison here, are seeking a new customer. Once they have one, Sayre could resume collecting water and sewer fees from the prison and a sales tax from the prison commissary but much less from the telephone calls. To avoid another closing, Ms. Barker said, "we're negotiating with different phone companies, and we've got some really nice proposals." Mostly, though, they would be nicer for prisoners. "It would cut our income tremendously," she said. (The New York Times)

August 15, 2003
The challenge of keeping a $17.5 million Grady County, Okla., jail out of default could become tougher now that a private prison in Sayre, 80 miles to the west, has fallen vacant.   The two detention facilities -- one built with public funds, the other private -- are expected to compete for the same inmates, including federal prisoners who bring higher daily payments for beds.   "In theory, we are in competition, not only with other companies but our public counterparts," said Steve Owen, spokesman for the Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America, owner of the North Fork Detention Facility in Sayre. The North Fork facility, specifically built by CCA to house inmates from Wisconsin, was forced to close last week over a long-distance telephone rate dispute. Wisconsin officials say charges for long-distance service for the 989 inmates exceeded costs spelled out in the contract between CCA and the state.   With a skeleton crew of 13 maintaining North Fork, CCA moved the Wisconsin inmates to another of its Oklahoma facilities, called Diamondback, in Watonga. While Sayre officials look for a more affordable long-distance provider, Owen said prospects for returning Wisconsin inmates to the facility are slim.   Instead, the facility will either be used for other state and federal inmates or sold to another operator.   "The company experienced its share of heartburn in speculative facilities back in the '80s and '90s," Owen said. "This management wants to take a more responsible approach."   In Chickasha, meanwhile, accountants are recommending a 20% cut in the Grady County budget to cover debt service on the 330-bed jail, which has become the subject of a grand jury investigation. (The Bond Buyer)

June 22, 2003
The immediate future looks bleak for Sayre's North Fork private prison, scheduled to close in two months over inmate phone rates.   Insiders say it's too late to work out a deal for the prison owner to keep its inmates there, and the state of Oklahoma doesn't have the money to buy the prison.  Meanwhile, the city is stuck in a five-year contract for inmate phone calls it made with AT&T, even if the prison owner, Corrections Corporation of America, moves inmates to Sayre from another state.  "This is very devastating," said Rick Moody, a captain at the prison. "We're just hoping and praying something is done."  The prison, filled exclusively with Wisconsin inmates, is the city's biggest employer. The inmates' telephone calls generate funding for the city, and the prison paid $449,000 in property taxes to the county in 2002.  Sayre negotiated for the prison's telephone rights six years ago and remains locked in a contract with AT&T that ends in November 2004. Under the agreement, Sayre received a monthly commission on revenue collected by AT&T on collect calls made by inmates. City records show those monthly commission checks have ranged from $15,000 to $92,000 in the past year.  The problem came in November, when Wisconsin renewed its contract to keep 989 inmates at the prison. Wisconsin law prohibits prisons from charging inmates more than $1.25 for a call connection fee plus 22 cents for each minute. But AT&T and Sayre had agreed to a connection charge of $3.95 and 89 cents per minute -- rates that far exceed the Wisconsin cap.  Now the city is stuck with the five-year telephone contract.  By Aug. 11, the prison's 989 inmates -- all contracted with the state of Wisconsin -- are scheduled for transfer to Corrections Corporation's 2,160-bed medium security Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga.  "We haven't given up hope," said Larry Kirkland, a North Fork prison spokesman. "We are pursuing other avenues to receive other inmates. As long as there's time, we're not going to give up hope."  But the transfer of inmates appears to be ahead of schedule.  "I spoke with (North Fork) Warden Jody Bradley recently," said state Sen. Gilmer Capps, D- Snyder. "He assured me that the Wisconsin inmates were gone."  Capps since has turned to Ron Ward, director of the Oklahoma Corrections Department, for assistance.  "I asked him if he had any inmates he could move to Sayre, but he hasn't been able to find the numbers," Capps said. "I hate to see us lose those employees."  As for any possible attempt by the state to purchase North Fork, Capps said not to count on it, given Oklahoma's sluggish economy.  "I don't think the state is interested at this time," Capps said.  State corrections spokesman Jerry Massie cut to the heart of the matter: "We're about $20 million short as it is right now."  Corrections Corporation of America spent $34.5 million to build the prison in 1998. Its market value now, according to county tax rolls, is $42.7 million, Beckham County Assessor Loretta Hill said.  Sayre Mayor Jack Ivester thinks about the 225 jobs' reported $6 million annual payroll that will vanish with the closure and wonders whether the situation can be salvaged, even at this late date.  "All I know is the city is going to pursue every option available to us to try to save the prison," he said.  He said he talks to Corrections Corporation representatives every day and has been trying to set up a meeting. But so far, no date has been finalized.  An obvious hurdle for Sayre is its contract with AT&T. The contract does not have a buyout clause or a penalty specified for breaking it. AT&T offered to let Sayre get out of its contract for $850,000, city Attorney Kent Whinery said. He said the city can't afford that much.  "The city council is going to have to make some tough decisions," Whinery said in regard to a potential buyout.  AT&T would not discuss whether the company offered to lower its charges for inmate telephone calls.  Company spokesman Kerry Hibbs said he couldn't go into details because the negotiations are private.  Meanwhile, the scramble for inmates looks grim. Forty-one of 50 states showed an increase in prison populations between July 1, 2001, and June 30, 2002, according to recent figures by the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. But, as in Oklahoma, money is tight in other states.  "The inmates are out there," said a prison official who asked to remain anonymous. "But who has the money?"  Steve Owen, a Corrections Corporation of America spokesman, said eventually a customer will be located and North Fork will reopen.  "We're eager to put people back to work there," Owen said.  State Rep. Purcy Walker, D- Elk City, said he hopes so.  "It's a nice facility," Walker said.  "I can't see where CCA would be satisfied with just a little more than four years of use out there to the point where they would be willing to just move off and leave it. I would find that hard to believe.  "They say they will come back. I guess we'll just have to take their word."  (The Oklahoman)

June 22, 2003
Most inmates in Oklahoma appear to be paying less per phone call than those at the ill- fated North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre.  Corrections Corporation of America announced recently that it would close the prison because its Wisconsin prisoners were paying too much for phone calls.  Prisoners there pay a $3.95 connection fee and an 89-cent charge for each additional minute.  Inmates in state-run prisons pay a range of fees depending upon the area's provider, AT&T or SBC Communications. They pay a $3 service charge, up to 33 cents for the first minute and up to 31 cents for each additional minute for AT&T calls. SBC calls cost up to $3.90 to connect and up to 55 cents for the first minute and then up to 47 cents. Rates depend upon the distance called and time of day.  If AT&T uses subcontractor T-Netix at the facility, connect charges range from $2.15 to $5.15 and per-minute charges range from 41 cents to 89 cents.  Inmates' families complain frequently about the cost of calls, state Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie said. However, phone and prison officials point out that rates are less of an issue for state-run prisons because they hold mostly Oklahoma prisoners who are less likely to be calling farther away.  The state agency requires that private prisons have comparable phone rates to those at state-run prisons. Massie said the department checks those rates in audits each year. Private prisons in Holdenville and Cushing are the same as those in Department of Corrections facilities, according to department documents.  The phone calls have long been a moneymaker for the department, private prisons and the towns that do business with private prisons.  (News Ok)

May 5, 2003
Wisconsin prison officials will travel to a privately run prison in Oklahoma today to investigate a disturbance Monday that resulted in minor injuries to a guard and about $12,000 damage to a prison kitchen.  The North Fork Correctional Institution in Sayre, Okla., still was on "lockdown" Wednesday, as prison officials tried to sort out what happened, said Steve Owen, a spokesman for the Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America.  CCA houses 1,199 Wisconsin prisoners at North Fork under contract with the state.  The incident, which lasted three hours, began around 6 p.m. in a recreation yard as prisoners were moving to a dining hall.  About 146 prisoners were in the dining hall, but Owen didn't say how many may have been involved.  (Wisconsin State Journal)

July 17, 2000
Fifteen guards and one inmate were injured after a 20-minute fight broke-out between Wisconsin inmates.  Six of the guards were sent to the hospital. Teargas was needed to break up the fight and inmates were in lock-down. (The Dallas Morning News and AP, July 18, 2000)

March 19, 1999
A dispute between a Wisconsin inmate and a correctional officer in the dining hall spread to other inmates, including inmates in a housing unit. Gas was used to control the inmates. All inmates in the facility are from WI.

Oklahoma
CCA 
August 28, 2002
An Oklahoma corrections company has agreed to pay more than $152,000 in back wages to 96 women denied employment because of their gender. Corrections Corporation of America agreed to pay the women back wages after a U.S. Department of Labor audit showed female applicants, who were equally or better qualified than men hired, were rejected.  (AP)