By Justin Allen Rose
Published: Jun. 25, 2024 at 4:28 PM CDT
LAWTON, Okla. (KAUZ) - Lawton Correctional Facility (LCF), the last private prison in the state of Oklahoma, could be soon closing its doors after contract negotiations broke down with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (ODOC), leaving many to wonder what will happen to both the current inmates and workers making a living at the facility.
ODOCsent out a statement yesterdayafter GEO Group, the organization that owns and operates LCF, informed them and the Oklahoma Senate that they will not renew their contract which ends on June 30.
This would cause the state to have the need to find new beds for the over 2,000 inmates currently housed at LCF. The state would have three months to do so.
The discontinuation letter sent by GEO Group came after Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt vetoed legislation that would have given GEO an additional $3 million per year to help operate the facility.
ODOC thanked the governor for his veto action saying the $3 million per year increase is excessive considering the group’s “subpar” results. The department called LCF the most violent prison in the state within the statement.
The GEO Group responded with their own statement the same day.
“In recent years, wage inflation and staffing shortages, following the COVID pandemic, have negatively impacted staff recruitment and retention at all state correctional facilities,” GEO Group said in the statement. “Unfortunately, the recent veto of funding that was approved by the Oklahoma State Legislature will only exacerbate our significant challenges. Upon extensive consideration of the current funding levels and resources relative to the present service requirements, we have determined that we are no longer willing to manage the 2,600-bed Lawton Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility without changes to financial and operational terms.”
The recent string of violent incidents
Reports of violence have been a common theme coming out of LCF in recent years. One of the more recent violent incidents took place May 10.
While GEO Group called the incident a “group disturbance,” the chair of the House Criminal Justice and Corrections committee called it a “mini-riot.”
The deadly incident left two inmates dead after a human error allowed two security threat groups to intermingle.
“If you think this one can’t get way worse,” said Justin Humphrey, House Criminal Justice and Corrections committee chair. “It can get much, much worse than this right here. There can be massive carnage.”
Just a month later on June 10, anotherinmate on inmate assaulttook place at LCF, leading to four inmates being taken to the hospital.
“The health and safety of all those in our care has always been our number one priority, and we have zero tolerance for any acts of violence,” read a GEO Group statement sent to 7News after the incident.
However, one of the most brutal displays of violence took place at the facility in October 2023.
Raymond Bailey, 45, was serving out at least part of a 40-year sentence in LCF for a second-degree murder charge out of Oklahoma County.
Bailey wasfound deadon Oct. 26, 2023, after being gagged, tied up, beaten and stabbed several times throughout the day without any medical interventions.
It was reported that Bailey was found dead in the bottom of a trash can.
After an administrative and criminal investigation, three employees were fired in connection to Bailey’s death.
“Initial review indicates multiple ODOC and GEO policies were violated during the early morning hours of Oct. 26., including not properly conducting counts,” read an ODOC statement sent to 7News.
A medium security correctional facility
Despite what seems to feel like a constant string of violent instances at LCF, the facility is described as a “2626-bed adult male medium correctional facility” in the most recent contract between GEO and ODOC.
Another line within the contract states, “The security level of the Facility will be medium at all times.”
The definition of medium security is a security level that offers a moderate to high degree of physical restraint and detection as defined by DOC policy.
Most Oklahoma inmates enter the system as a level two medium-security inmate, according to Kay Thompson, chief of communications for ODOC. An inmate’s level and security classification can change after a case manager reviews them.
A review of an inmate’s level is done monthly and their security classification is conducted every 120 days.
The security classification is a points-based system that factors in age, crime and behavior. An inmate could go up or down in security level based on those and other factors.
If an inmate is given eight or fewer points they are designated as minimum security and inmates getting anywhere between nine and 16 points are deemed medium security. Those scoring 17 points or more are to be considered maximum security.
Inmates are assigned points based on:
- Severity of Convictions on Current Incarceration
- Escape History
- Number of Active Disciplinary Convictions
- Most Serious Disciplinary Convictions from the date of the assessment
- Assigned Program Participation
- Adjustment
- Current Age
There are some criteria that could affect where an inmate is placed such as how much time they have left to serve and the number of “escape points” earned.
For the housing of inmates, ODOC pays GEO a per diem of $50.18 for medium security beds and $56.88 for protective custody beds. However, the maximum paid to GEO by ODOC cannot exceed $49,250,000 a year unless the per diem rates are adjusted.
In April, one Oklahoma judge said there is a daily cost of $66.49 per day to house one inmate in the Oklahoma County jail.
Gov. Stitt could have signed a bill this session which would have increased the per diem rates for private prisons in the state, but decided to veto the measure instead.
The proposed legislation would have increased the per diem rates to $53.31 per day for medium security inmates and $60.01 for protective custody inmates. The measure was authored by Rep. Trey Caldwell (R-63), amongst three other members of the legislature.
The governor’s press team also sent a statement yesterday after both ODOC and GEO Group sent statements of their own.
“The Governor and ODOC leadership have been in discussions to ensure that Oklahomans, including those incarcerated in state prisons, are safe,” said Meyer Siegfried, press secretary for Gov. Stitt. “After those discussions, it became clear that the private prison run by Geo was not keeping prisoners safe, which put all Oklahomans at risk. The State is quickly working on a plan to safely transfer prisoners, as needed, and discuss other arrangements.”
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