Prison company proposes $12.9 million plan to keep inmates at Lawton through September

The inmates housed at the Lawton Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility would be moved out of the prison by Sept. 30 under a proposed transition agreement between the GEO Group and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

That proposal ― included in the documents sent this week to lawmakers and corrections officials — has not yet been authorized or approved by the state Corrections Department. The agreement would essentially function as a three-month contract extension between the state and the GEO Group, from July 1 through Sept. 30.

Under the terms of the agreement, the state would pay GEO $4.3 million per month for three months, not to exceed $12.9 million. State officials have not said yet if they would sign the agreement.

The agreement follows an announcement by the GEO Group this week that it was terminating the contract between the Lawton facility and the state, and that state corrections officials would need to find new housing for its high-security inmates.

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, which were sent to a handful of state lawmakers and state Corrections Department officials.

More: Oklahoma prisons in jeopardy after company to terminate contract

"I wanted to make you aware of the termination letter GEO has submitted to DOC regarding the Lawton Correctional Facility, as well as a breach of contract letter for the Hinton Great Plains Facility,” Lee, the GEO Group lobbyist, wrote in a terse email to several state lawmakers and corrections officials. “These two facilities, combined, house close to 4,000 high-security inmates that the state will need to find alternative housing for."

The GEO Group's announcement generated a less-than-cordial response from Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt on Friday. In a posting on X, formerly Twitter, Stitt implied that the company was a "bad vendor."

"This private, for-profit group runs OK's most dangerous prison ― multiple prisoners have died on their watch this year alone," the governor's posting said. "As the businessman governor, I hold bad vendors accountable. GEO hasn't improved, yet ask for millions more in taxpayer funding. Enough is enough."

Kay Thompson, the spokeswoman for the state Corrections Department, said the GEO Group has received a $6.8 million increase in funding.

"Yet, their operations have not improved ― being the most violent prison in Oklahoma ― and continues to lack the standard of care expected by ODOC. Our dissatisfaction with the current state of LCF and GEO’s facility operations has reached a critical point," she said.

What's next for relocating the affected inmates

Thompson said corrections officials "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 did not say if the Corrections Department would agree to the GEO transition agreement. The board's next scheduled meeting is June 26 in Taft.

The GEO Group owns both the Lawton facility and the Great Plains Correctional Center in Hinton. In Hinton, GEO Group leases the facility to the Corrections Department, which operates it.

More: Officials lower number of people injured in 'group disturbance' at Lawton prison to 3, down from 30

The new agreement would require the state Corrections Department to reduce the number of inmates at the Lawton facility to 2,388 on or before July 15 and that the number of inmates "shall be maintained at or below such number through the remaining term" of the agreement. It gives the state the option to purchase or lease the Lawton facility.

The agreement indicates the Lawton facility has a total of 2,626 beds — 2,140 general housing beds and a protective custody housing unit with 248 general beds and 238 restrictive housing beds. Should the population exceed 2,388, the new contract would require the state to pay $10,000 per day for each day the state exceeds the 2,388 level.

The GEO Group's Lawton Correctional and Rehabilitation Center is the last privately operated prison in Oklahoma. The most recent contract between the Corrections Department and the company for Lawton's operation was for a single year, with an ending date of June 30, 2024. The maximum amount paid for the contract year was not to exceed $49,250,000, excluding additional contracted services and the state will not pay for unused beds.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: GEO Group proposes $12.9M extension to house inmates at Lawton