StateImpact Oklahoma on OETA: Private Prison, Public Policy

• Joe Wertz
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  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.

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 their prisoners home.

What this means for Sayre, economically, is unclear.