For the first time since the mid-1990s, Oklahoma is out of the private prison business.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections took control of the Lawton Correctional Facility, a 2,697-bed prison previously owned and operated by the GEO Group, last Friday, July 25. The Legislature authorized the $312 million prison purchase in May. 

As part of the transition, the agency renamed the prison the Red Rock Correctional Center. Most of the staff will stay on, as GEO employees were offered state employment pending a background check. 

Gov. Kevin Stitt, who vetoed a bill in June 2024 to increase the private prison’s per-diem rate, lauded the transition in a statement issued Friday. 

“The private prison in Lawton has had a terrible reputation for years, and now we get to bring that second chance mindset to those in custody in Lawton,” Stitt said. “I look forward to the positive changes that the Department of Corrections will implement there.”

Oklahoma Watch has reported extensively on violence at the facility, including an October 2023 incident in which a prisoner was brutally murdered and placed in a trash can, undetected by staff, for several hours. 

While problems at the prison have been well known for years, several lawmakers said they were caught off guard by the agency’s request to purchase the prison and take over operations. The $312 million price tag, made as a special, one-time appropriation, is more than half of the agency’s budget for fiscal year 2026.

One of the critics of the purchase, Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, will host an interim study this fall on options to modernize Oklahoma’s prison system. An exact date has not been set yet. 

Agency officials told lawmakers the purchase was necessary because The GEO Group refused to negotiate a contract extension, and there’s not enough bed space to redistribute those prisoners across the state. The GEO Group had leverage, as it has opened several immigration detention centers to accommodate the Trump administration’s mass deportation operations. 

Family members of prisoners housed at the facility told Oklahoma Watch in May they’re hopeful the transition will lead to better conditions and program offerings. Private prisons have faced scrutiny for offering fewer programs and recreational opportunities than state-run facilities. x

Have thoughts or questions on this issue or another topic? You can reach me at Kross@Oklahomawatch.org. 

— Keaton Ross

Recommended Reading

• Oklahoma’s Fertility Rate Continues to Decline, Report Finds: The average fertility rate per 1,000 women in Oklahoma dropped by 12.2% since 2011 and is at 59.1 births in 2023, the report found. The downward trend has the potential to create state budget shortfalls, according to the study by the Pew Charitable Trusts. [Oklahoma Voice]
• Recreational marijuana supporters eye new petition campaign in Oklahoma: Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Use must collect nearly 174,000 valid signatures from Aug. 6 to Nov. 4 to reach the ballot. The impact of a new state law cracking down on initiative petition campaigns remains unclear. [The Oklahoman]
• Oklahoma Policy Institute warns against revamping private prisons for immigration detention: The report from the public policy think tank urges state leaders not to reopen closed private prisons for ICE detainees, citing safety concerns and a perverse profit motive. [KOSU]

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