July 5, 2016
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Inmates began moving into Oklahoma’s new facility in Sayre.
The Oklahoma Department of Corrections has started to move nearly 1,200 inmates from a prison in Granite to the newest state-operated facility about 35 miles away in Sayre.
DOC spokesman Alex Gerszewski (gur-SHESS-kee) says prison officials started moving inmates Tuesday from the Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite to the North Fork Correctional Center near Sayre.
The DOC acquired the new 2,600-bed prison in May and will spend about $37 million over five years to lease it from a private company. The prison’s acquisition is part of a broader cost-saving consolidation plan to close 15 regional inmate work centers.
Under the plan, 1,188 inmates will be transferred from Granite to Sayre, and then inmates at the work centers will be moved to Granite.
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