The Oklahoma Department of Corrections has figured out how to spend more than $2 million on transparency without producing any.
Since October, state correctional officers have been wearing body cameras — 1,069 of them, courtesy of a pair of contracts with Axon Technologies. When former executive director Steven Harpe announced the rollout last year, he talked about protecting everyone and promoting transparency. Then he enacted a policy ensuring nobody outside law enforcement would ever see the footage.
The agency’s general counsel says releasing recordings could compromise security by showing facility layouts. That’s a legitimate concern. It’s also conveniently broad enough to apply to just about any recording from anywhere inside a prison. And it ignores the fact that other agencies routinely redact or blur sensitive images.
Here’s what makes this particularly grating: Every other public safety agency in Oklahoma that uses body cameras — police departments, sheriff’s offices, the Highway Patrol — releases footage as required by the Open Records Act. Those recordings have documented everything from excessive force to hostage situations. The statute says recordings from equipment attached to law enforcement officers shall be available for public inspection.
ODOC is not clearly defined as a law enforcement agency, though it began conducting CLEET academy training in February 2024. But even if that’s technically true, it’s a hell of a way to sidestep accountability for an agency that controls the lives of more than 22,000 Oklahomans.
Independent journalist Deon Osborne requested footage from a September incident at Great Plains Correctional Facility. The agency confirmed it fired Lt. Cameron Carter for unprofessional behavior toward a prisoner. But it wouldn’t show what happened. Osborne’s request was denied.
This isn’t ODOC’s first dance with transparency resistance. The agency also refuses to release incident reports for prisoner deaths and violent incidents, despite those being designated as public documents. The Frontier is suing over that in Oklahoma County District Court.
Cynthia Butler has been pushing for body cameras since her friend Amanda Lane died at Mabel Bassett in 2022. The medical examiner called it suicide. Butler isn’t so sure. Without footage, questions like that just hang there.
“There are a lot of things that go on in there that the public is not aware of,” Butler said.
Read Keaton Ross’s full story at oklahomawatch.org.
More worth reading:
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More than a month after a Payne County court gave “youthful offender” status to Jesse Mack Butler, the prosecutor in the rape and assault case has issued a statement trying to explain what happened. [The Oklahoman ▲]
Smithfield Exempted from Chinese Ownership Ban
Smithfield Foods, owned by China’s WH Group, is not affected by Oklahoma’s restrictions on Chinese farmland ownership and continues to raise hogs on roughly 2,575 acres in the northwest part of the state. [Investigate Midwest]
WSJ: Thunder Might Be the Best Ever
The Oklahoma City Thunder aren’t merely matching all-time great teams like Michael Jordan’s Bulls and Stephen Curry’s Warriors. They’re on pace to blow right past them. [WSJ]
▲=Possible paywall
On this day in 1965, Oklahoma astronaut Thomas Stafford and his copilot achieved the first successful space rendezvous when their Gemini 6 spacecraft came within one foot of the Gemini 7 spacecraft.
Ciao for now,
Ted Streuli
Executive Director, Oklahoma Watch
tstreuli@oklahomawatch.org
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