Legislator seeks to end Board of Corrections
A top Republican legislator wants to eliminate the state Board of Corrections after a former board member allegedly overstepped his authority.
Sen. Roger Thompson, R-Okemah, pre filed legislation to get rid of the nine-member board first formed roughly 50 years ago.
In mid-September, gang-related inmate fights broke out at six state prisons, leading the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to lock down the prisons for days.
Behind the scenes,
then-interim director Scott Crow and other corrections officials were discussing how to handle the situation. That's when a board member tried to step in, Thompson said.
“We had a board member in that control room trying to give orders and trying to be in charge, and we're dealing with public safety,” he said. “We can keep the people safe without board members actually trying to interfere.”
Thompson declined to name the individual.
ODOC spokesman Matt Elliott declined to elaborate on the incident, but said that person no longer serve son the board. A staff shakeup in October resulted in several members leaving the board.
Besides the specific incident, Thompson said the board i sun nec essary. He pointed to the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, which doesn' t have aboard. Gov. Kevin St it th as Secretary of Public Safety Chip K eating working with Public Safety Commissioner John Scully, whom the governor appointed.
Thompson, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he trusts the governor, K eating and Crow, whom St itt appointed in December to become ODOC director, can handle any public safety concerns that arise.
“We had an incident that happened, we don't need it to happen again, and I just don't feel like we need a board there,” he said.
Elliott declined to comment on Thompson' s Senate Bill 1172. The bill will be up for consideration during the legislative session that begins Feb. 3.
Formed in 1967, the Board of Corrections was expanded from seven to nine members last year when legislators gave Stitt the power to hire and fire the ODOC director. Currently, the gov ernor gets to appoint five members of t he board; the Senate pro tem and the House speaker each get to appoint two members.