More prisons resume normal operations
Nine prisons and the minimum units of four prisons have returned to normal operations, nearly a month after gang fights at six prisons within a 24-hour period forced a statewide lockdown.
The Department of Corrections announced Friday that normal operations, including visitation, have resumed at Jackie Brannon, Eddie Warrior, Mabel Bassett, Kate Barnard, Jess Dunn, Bill Johnson, John Lilley, William S. Key and Howard McLeod correctional centers, as well as at the minimum-security units of Lexington, Dick Conner, Mack Alford and James Crabtree correctional centers.
The Corrections Department has reinstated visitation this weekend at the medium-security units of Joseph Harp, James Crabtree and Lexington correctional centers, as well as the medium security units at Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
The lockdown remains in effect at North Fork, Jim E. Hamilton and Northeast Oklahoma correctional centers, as well as atprivately run Cimarron, Davis and Lawton correctional facilities. It also remains in effect for the medium-security components of Dick Conner and Mack Alford correctional centers.
Jim E. Hamilton Correctional Center in Le Flore County had been allowed to return to normal daytime operations earlier this month but was put back on lockdown a couple days later “due to concerning intelligence,” Corrections Department officials reported.
Thirty- six i nmates were injured and one, Chad Burns at Dick Conner Correctional Center, died as a result of gang fights in six prisons the weekend of Sept. 14. In response, the Department of Corrections implemented a statewide lockdown on Sept. 15 and canceled visitation at all facilities. In the weeks since, officials have been easing restrictions at some facilities as they've determine it's safe to do so.
"An extended lockdown like this is difficult for our staff and inmates," Scott Crow, interim director of the Department of Corrections stated in a news release. "Their well-being is of utmost importance. That's why we will work doubly hard over the coming days to closely monitor inmates' status to ensure other incidents don't develop due to the strain of the lockdown."