The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is terminating its contract with two halfway houses, the Oklahoma Halfway House in Oklahoma City, and Turley Residential Center in Tulsa.
ODOC is ending the contracts because more inmates are eligible for global positioning system supervision after changes to state law governing the program.
Turley Residential Center, which was home to 38 inmates on Friday, has a capacity of 180 inmates. Its inmates will be moved April 29 to Catalyst Behavioral Services in Enid.
ODOC pays CoreCivic, a private company which also operates two prisons, $34.22 daily per inmate to operate the Turley halfway house. The agency also pays any medical and mental health costs in addition to that daily rate.
The agency’s contract with Oklahoma Halfway House, operated by a nonprofit, will end June 30. It had 39 male inmates Friday with a capacity of 50. Many of its inmates will have finished their sentences by June 30, but those who remain will be moved to other halfway houses.
Halfway house inmates are typically serving time for nonviolent crimes, and all are close to finishing their sentences.
GPS supervision is frequently a better alternative for these qualifying, nonviolent inmates to complete sentences under supervision while gaining work experience, family time, access to services and other necessities.