Assaults by Washington Offenders Under Investigation in Oklahoma

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                     May 22, 2008

OLYMPIA – Oklahoma officials are investigating assaults on two corrections officers by a group of Washington offenders today at a private prison in Oklahoma.

A number of inmates were involved in the attacks that took place at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Oklahoma. A correctional officer and a sergeant working for the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) were injured. The officers were treated at a local hospital and released, according to a CCA spokeswoman.

Four offenders have been placed in segregation, according to the CCA spokeswoman.

Washington has 1,160 offenders housed in Oklahoma, Arizona and Minnesota prisons to prevent overcrowding in Washington’s 15 prisons.

Prison and local law enforcement authorities are investigating the attacks. The Washington Department of Corrections has an employee, a classification counselor, assigned to the prison.

Jim Thatcher, Washington’s superintendent of out-of-state prisons and jails, said offenders suspected in the assault will be infracted and receive hearings. Oklahoma authorities could file criminal charges against offenders.

Thatcher said the investigation will determine on a case-by-case basis if some Washington offenders have to be returned to Washington prison or other out-of-state facilities.

Washington selects offenders for transfer to out-of-state prisons several factors, including:

  • Volunteers first
  • Those with longer sentences
  • Those with no pending legal issues
  • Those classified as close, medium or minimum security
  • Those who receive relatively few visitors

Most of Washington’s out-of-state offenders will be returned next year when an expansion at the Coyote Ridge Correctional Center in Connell is competed.

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