Public safety and corrections officials answered questions Tuesday from Oklahoma lawmakers on the planned closing of William S. Key Correctional Center in Fort Supply.
The plan was hastily announced two weeks ago after the Woodward News learned of it. According to the Department of Corrections, there are currently 414 inmates at the prison, not even 40% of its capacity.
"And it's a 19th Century facility in need of more than $30 million in repairs with annual costs upwards of $15 million. There were also more than 700 available minimum-security beds across rest of our system. In short, the beds at William S. Key were no longer needed," Secretary of Public Safety Tricia Everest told lawmakers.
Problems at Key include mold, structural issues preventing needed roof repairs, and an outdated electrical system stopping installation of new heating and cooling equipment. In 2018, lawmakers approved a bond issue of $116.5 million to fix up prisons across the state, but that money has been spent at other facilities.
DOC plans to close Key by year's end and sees an opportunity for the community to repurpose its 5 square miles. Sen. Casey Murdock (R-Felt), who represents the area, calls Key's closure a death sentence for surrounding towns.
"With the downfall in the oil industry, northwest Oklahoma's hurting, hurting for jobs. You shut a prison down in Oklahoma City, there's a job down the street. Not in Woodward County," Murdock said.
Murdock and other lawmakers representing areas around the prison worry about how its closure will affect schools and the main hospital.
Local officials said Key is vital for their economies. Assistant City Manager Shaun Barnett said Woodward took a roughly $3 million budget hit from plunging sales tax collections as oil operations closed up in the area, leading to employee furloughs.
"But with the help of the prison, with their work program and their work crews, we were able to take those inmates, put them to work in the community to help us offset the lost positions, because as people left, we couldn't fill them," Barnett said.
DOC Chief Financial Officer Ashlee Clemmons said the agency is currently figuring out how many of its employees at Key want to transfer to other facilities. The total cost for that is up in the air, as DOC will cover up to $10,000 in moving costs per employee.
"We have some other options as well: relocation incentive for staff, possibly, that we've discussed privately, to help offset the cost of utilities, first and last month's rent, those things that they will now incur due to the closure of the location," Clemmons said.
The Oklahoma Historical Society occupies part of the prison. It's also the site of historic Fort Supply.
