Potential discontinuation of contract between Lawton prison and state announced

A letter of discontinuation sent by The Geo Group, which operates the Lawton Correctional Facility, led to a response by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections calling the facility “… the most violent prison in Oklahoma.”

According to a statement from Oklahoma Department of Corrections Chief of Public Relations Kay Thompson, the department has been engaged in ongoing contract negotiations with The GEO Group. Last Friday, GEO sent the Department of Corrections and Oklahoma Senate leadership a letter of discontinuation for Lawton Correctional Facility.

“It is unclear why they felt our internal negotiations needed to be elevated to a state level,” she stated in the letter.

The GEO Group letter stated it was terminating its contract with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections for the Lawton facility, 8607 SE Flower Mound Road. The company made its announcement in an email from GEO Group lobbyist Tonya Lee and in letters from George Zoley, GEO Group’s executive chairman.

With the announcement, GEO Group stated it would discontinue its contract with the state unless new funding and contract terms could be quickly arranged and approved to provide additional funding to repair damaged equipment as well as infrastructure at the Great Plains facility in Hinton in Caddo County, the second state prison operated by the GEO Group. The two facilities, combined, house 4,000 high-security inmates.

The Constitution has reached out to Lawton Correctional Facility for further comment.

Gov. Kevin Stitt recently vetoed legislation that would have required the Department of Corrections to pay an additional $3 million per year to the GEO Group, according to Thompson’s statement.

“This financial burden is excessive, considering the subpar results,” she stated. “We thank the governor and our legislative partners, particularly Speaker Charles McCall, for standing with the people of Oklahoma.”

GEO Group has received a $6.8 million increase in funding over the past four years, Thompson stated. Over that time, there have been several deaths and assaults in the facility. “Yet, their operations have not improved — being the most violent prison in Oklahoma — and continues to lack the standard of care expected by ODOC,” she stated. “Our dissatisfaction with the current state of LCF and GEO’s facility operations has reached a critical point.”

Thompson stated the ODOC mission is to protect the public and the inmates. This could lead to the rehousing of the over 2,500 inmates elsewhere than at the Lawton facility.

“Therefore, we have cultivated several options to secure a safer location to house our incarcerated population, and we are meeting with the Board of Corrections next week to finalize the plans,” she stated. “We look forward to these new opportunities to care for our inmates and change their lives for the better.”

Further details will be shared with the public as they become available, Thompson stated.