OSP 1973 riot negotiators helped free hostages

Jul. 29—Sam Utterback expected a typical day at the Texas Department store where he worked on July 27, 1973.

Before the day ended though he received an unexpected phone call. A member of the Oklahoma National Guard, Utterback's unit was being deployed to help quell a riot that had broken out at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Events would take another unexpected turn once Utterback arrived in McAlester.

He would do more than serve alongside his fellow Guardsmen. Utterback learned he would serve as one of the chief negotiators trying to free 23 Oklahoma Department of Corrections employees who the rioting inmates held hostage.

Unbeknownst to him at the time, one of the hostages he would help free was Darryl Rhoads.

An ODOC employee who operated the prison's print shop, Rhoads served in the same Oklahoma National Guard outfit as Utterback.

Utterback spoke during a recent event held at the Tannehill Museum to remember the 50th anniversary of the riot that began on July 27, 1993, at OSP in McAlester. Speakers at the event included Oklahoma National Guard historian Claudia K. Bullard.

As soon as Utterback arrived at the museum, Rhoads welcomed him with a hug.

Utterback credited three McAlester men with joining in the negotiations during the negotiation team's ultimately successful efforts to see all of the hostages freed: the Rev. Wade Watts, Bo "Miller" Newman and Harold Washington.

During the riot, rumors ran wildly among rioting inmates that Oklahoma National Guard and Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers would join with correctional officers and Oklahoma law enforcement officers to enter the prison in an attempt to rescue the hostages.

That nearly happened.

"Oklahoma National Guard troops were lined up in the (prison) rodeo arena," Utterback said. Their next step was to go inside the prison and rescue the inmates by force.

The rescue was called off minutes before guardsmen were to forcibly enter the prison.

They later learned that may have been for the best. Utterback said inmates on an upper level had a 55-gallon drum filled with gasoline they could have poured down below. They also had matches.

As negotiations continued, members of the negotiating team dealt primarily with an inmate representative Utterback identified as Danny Kuykendall.

"He was intelligent and well-spoken," Utterback said.

Inmate demands included amnesty for the ringleaders of the riot. They also wanted to speak with then-Oklahoma Gov. David Hall regarding prison conditions and wanted the media present when authorities regained control of the facility.

As some demands were met, inmates began freeing some of the hostages.

As the first hostage came out, Utterback felt startled to recognize Rhoads, a member of the same Oklahoma National Guard outfit with which he served.

"I didn't know he was even in there," Utterback said. "He was not only a member of my company and platoon, but in my 10-man squad."

While being held hostage, Rhoads said he suggested to inmates that they should get the Oklahoma National Guard involved in the hostage negotiations. Rhoads said he knew some of the guardsmen personally and had confidence in their abilities — although he did not know at the time Utterback would be involved.

Rhoads did not want to see the Oklahoma National Guard enter the prison and try to remove the hostages by force — and it wasn't only out of a concern that the hostages might be killed by friendly fire from the troopers' guns or killed by vengeful inmates.

He didn't want to see the guardsmen turn their firearms on their fellow Oklahomans who were serving time at OSP.

"We didn't want another Kent State," Rhoads said, referring to May 4, 1970, when Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on war protesters at Kent State college in Ohio, killing four students and injuring others.

Rhoads did want to see his fellow guardsmen do something similar in Oklahoma.

"They were going to be firing on their fellow Americans," Rhoads said.

Inmates could be some of the same people they knew in high school, who got in trouble and ended up with a prison sentence at OSP, Rhoads said.

"Now they might be firing on them," said Rhoads.

It never came to that. By July 28, the second day of the riot, inmates had released all hostages.

The riot officially wound on until Aug. 4, because inmates continued to roam the prison grounds at will, among the smoldering ruins that had once been prison buildings.

They were kept outside because rioting inmates had damaged locking mechanisms in many of the cellblocks. When they were repaired and all of the inmates were back inside, the riot was finally determined to have ended.

With approximately $22 million in damages and 24 destroyed buildings, former OSP Warden Dan Reynolds said the 1973 riot at OSP was the costliest in U.S history in terms of property damage.

A total of 35 correctional officers and inmates were injured. Three inmates were killed by other prisoners and another died of natural causes.

Today, Rhoads is glad the troops did not enter OSP because he believes that would have caused more bloodshed.

He's well aware of how close it came to happening.

"One-hundred M-16s being locked and loaded, that's one of the scariest sounds I've heard," said Rhoads.