Logan Layden sat down with our partners over at OETA to discuss the North Fork private prison in Sayre with host Dick Pryor. North Fork provides hundreds of jobs for the small city, which also receives money from the prison’s owner, Corrections Corporation of America. North Fork houses only inmates from California, and officials there say they’re bringing [...]
The North Fork Correctional Facility in Oklahoma is filled with more than 2,000 inmates, all from California. And that’s brought an economic boost to the small town of Sayre. But California is reducing its prison population and recently announced plans to bring its inmates back home. Local business owner Lori Herring moved to Sayre five [...]
About 8,000 people are released from Oklahoma prisons each year, and employment improves an offender’s odds of not returning, criminologists and corrections officials say. State prisons prepare inmates for the workforce through education and jobs skills training, which reduces recidivism and, ultimately, costs to taxpayers. But after years of state budget cuts, prison classrooms have [...]
Oklahoma is a national leader in putting people behind bars, and the state sits near the top of the list in every measure of state prisoners per capita. Explore incarceration in each state with our interactive maps.
Oklahoma prisons are hiring. Being a guard is a full-time job — with benefits. And it’s a gig that comes with some measure of job security. So why do public and private prisons have such a hard time filling positions given the current economy? “It’s a rough life,” James Reed, deputy warden of the R.B. [...]
Oklahoma’s rate of female incarceration is about twice the national average. The state has held on to its number one spot in that category for most of the past two decades. It’s a distinction prison officials would rather not have, but isn’t easy to change. And there are unique challenges faced by women behind bars [...]
In 2005, a task force estimated that alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness and domestic violence cost Oklahoma about $3.4 billion that year, The Oklahoman’s Sonya Colberg reported. The death toll and spending are rising, according to the report. Today, a conservative cost estimate is about $4.3 billion or about $1,150 per Oklahoman, said Michael [...]
StateImpact seeks to inform and engage local communities with broadcast and online news focused on how state government decisions affect your lives.
Learn More »