Oklahoma Sets Up More Prisons, To Handle More Incarcerations

The state department of corrections just signed a long term deal to acquire the Sayre Oklahoma prison facility which had been a privately run prison.   The Corrections Corporation of America sweetened the deal by offering the first 18 months rent free. Rather than overhauling the system to be less dependent on incarcerations to battle crime; the state seems to be 'doubling down' to accept an even larger percentage of our population spending long sentences inside prison walls.   Rural lawmakers strongly objected to the plan, but their motivation was more centered around the loss of cheap prison labor to fix their county roads. The plan calls for taking money out of the rural prison labor program in order to pay the rent and operational costs at the North Fork facility in Sayre, OK. ​Read more about it at the Oklahoman.