Lawmakers to tour Davis prison

OKLAHOMA CITY – Members of the House Public Safety and Judiciary Subcommittee and a state senator will tour the Davis Correctional Center today as part of an ongoing review of the state’s prison needs and the potential role of private prisons.

“Due to the revenue shortfall, the great challenge of the coming legislative session will be to balance the budget while preserving core functions of government, including public safety,” said state Rep. Randy Terrill, chairman of the appropriations subcommittee on public safety and judiciary.

“To prepare for that process, we have been touring several Oklahoma prisons and visiting with corrections officials to obtain a ground-level view of the system.”

“Balancing the state budget is more than just an accounting exercise,” said state Sen. Anthony Sykes, a Moore Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and Judiciary.

“A poorly designed balanced budget that doesn’t preserve public safety would be a disaster. That’s why we are gathering as much direct data as possible to determine how to best manage our prison system without furloughs or early release of violent criminals during this period of declining revenues.”

Terrill noted the Davis Correctional Center, located near Holdenville and owned by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), is unique because it is the only private prison in Oklahoma that houses maximum security prisoners. Currently, the Davis Correctional Center holds about 354 maximum-security inmates (out of 1,598 total inmates) and the facility has up to 360 more maximum security beds available.

Terrill said those extra beds could be crucial in the near future.

“The Durrant study made clear that our maximum security infrastructure is the area of greatest need in our prison system,” Terrill said.

“That makes the extra capacity at the Davis prison a potentially valuable asset when developing long-term public prison policy.”

Due to declining revenue, all state agencies are in the process of reducing expenditures and the Department of Corrections recently announced that will include proportional cuts to private prison contracts.

“Given the revenue shortfall, it is important that we meet with CCA officials to discuss the budget situation and how it will impact their operations,” Sykes said.

Terrill and Sykes said lawmakers will also visit the nearby Davis work center to visit with Department of Corrections’ employees at that facility.