Shuttered private prisons in Oklahoma are being considered to re-open as immigration detention centers. The primary purpose for companies that operate these private prisons is maximizing shareholder value, not making our communities safe.
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This article was co-authored by Gabriela Ramirez-Perez, Immigration Policy Analyst and Polina Rozhkova, Data Analyst.
In the current administration, more and more immigrants are being funneled to detention centers or being held in other forms of federal Immigration and Customs…
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By:
Cole Allen
October 30, 2024 // Updated: October 30, 2024
OK Policy's Criminal Justice Policy Analyst Cole Allen spoke with lawmakers about how to improve mental health treatment in Oklahoma jails during an Oct. 28, 2024, interim study.
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The state should continue reducing the number of people incarcerated in Oklahoma across the board by extending the early pandemic efforts, like expanding commutations and making permanent efforts that reduce arrests for certain non-violent offenses. These efforts are not only good for Oklahomans and public safety, but they serve the needs of public health as well.
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By:
Damion Shade
September 19, 2020 // Updated: August 21, 2025
Numerous prisons in this state are battling growing outbreaks, but Oklahoma’s policymakers still have time to act.
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By:
Damion Shade
August 25, 2020 // Updated: August 25, 2020
As a result of parole reform, Oklahoma is no longer the prison capital of the world. The state now has the nation’s third highest per capita incarceration rate behind Louisiana and Mississippi.
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Spread of the virus within Oklahoma’s incarceration system will remain an ongoing threat to vulnerable inmates, corrections staff and rural hospitals. Without decisive action from state leaders to reduce its transmission, the virus has very real potential to make both prisons and our communities less safe in the long run.
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As the state grapples with this pandemic, overcrowded and under-resourced jails present enormous risk to rural hospitals and to the state’s most vulnerable communities who are typically jailed at disproportionate rates.
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The COVID-19 crisis is having a terrible impact on prisons and jails across the nation, and Oklahoma’s corrections system desperately needs resources to stave off the risk of an outbreak here as well. Because social distancing is impossible in prisons and jails, those administering these facilities should develop immediate plans for the compassionate release for as many people as possible.
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By:
Dave Hamby
March 27, 2020 // Updated: August 21, 2025
Nine Oklahoma organizations have come together to urge elected officials and state officials to take urgent action to manage the serious threat of a COVID-19 outbreak in Oklahoma Corrections facilities.
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