OICA.org

This is the third in a new series of KIDS COUNT blog posts that look at the Oklahoma criminal justice system.
See the first and second blog posts in this series.

Yesterday I blogged about the meeting at the Capitol where I heard Dr. Latessa speak about criminal justice reform. Listening to Dr. Letessa was a good primer for the next day when I saw the corrections system in action. Our Leadership Academy visited two prisons in Lexington, OK: The Lexington Assessment and Reception Center and the Joseph Harp Correctional Center. Security at both facilities was more intense than any airport security I have ever experienced. I took off my shoes, walked through a metal detector and was frisked at both centers. I had to surrender my driver’s license as well. The hardest part of my day was leaving my phone in the car. There is a strict no tolerance cell phone policy, for obvious reasons.

Once inside Lexington A&R, we were ushered to the visitor’s center. The first two things I noticed was the indoor play area and the outdoor playground: clear indications that many inmates at this all-male facility have children at home that come to visit them in prison.

Lexington A&R is the facility where all male offenders in the state of Oklahoma must go before they are assigned to their permanent correctional center. While in Lexington, the offenders are evaluated and assigned a score based on security points. Age, crime committed and previous criminal history play a role in the offender’s score and the prison to which they are assigned. The higher their score, the greater their level of security needs are. This process generally takes between 10 and 30 days.