According to Oklahoma City news outlets, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections has announced it will lease and operate the Great Plains Correctional Facility at Hinton.
Operations are set to open in May. Fully staffed, the prison has 264 officers, medical personnel and operating staff. It can hold slightly more than 2,000 detainees and is expected to reach that capacity by July. The lease is for five years.
“Opening Great Plains Correctional Facility is necessary for the agency as it continues to change the lives of those in its custody and its employees. Its proximity to more populated areas not only brings greater staff-recruitment potential, but it also allows for increased programmatic opportunities and enhances the level of healthcare services available to those housed there,” Steven Harpe, ODOC director, told Fox 25 of OKC. “This move has an equally significant financial and public safety impact on Oklahoma, ensuring the state continues to be good stewards of taxpayers’ dollars while enhancing the agency’s ability to change lives for the better.”
The prison opened in 1991 and was added on to in 2008.
Employees of the department who are currently employed at Sayre’s North Fork Correctional Facility will have the option to transfer to Great Plains.
The Republican has remained in touch with Core-Civic, the owner of the closed Watonga Diamondback facility. In March, there was no indication of reopening. Emails to the ODOC concerning Diamondback have not been returned as of press time.