State Prisons in Oklahoma

Oklahoma Department of Corrections - Prisons & Inmate Search

Oklahoma State Prisons and Juvenile Facilities

For years Oklahoma locked up a larger share of its residents than any other state. It lost that title in 2019, after voters’ sentencing reforms led to more than 500 people being released in a single day, but it still ranks near the top, and its prison population has grown again each year since 2023. On December 22, 2025, the state counted 23,498 people in its custody, including people sentenced and waiting in county jails for transfer.

The prisons are run by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (ODOC), created by the Oklahoma Corrections Act of 1967. The state’s first prison, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, dates to 1908, right after statehood. Locals still call it “Big Mac,” and for decades it hosted the Oklahoma State Prison Rodeo, where incarcerated cowboys competed in front of paying crowds.

Which prisons does Oklahoma run?

ODOC operates 18 institutions plus five community corrections centers for work release and reentry. Oklahoma has backed away from private prisons in recent years: in 2023 it took over the former CoreCivic prison in Holdenville (now Allen Gamble Correctional Center) and began leasing Great Plains Correctional Center in Hinton from GEO Group and running it with state staff.

• Maximum security: Oklahoma State Penitentiary (McAlester)
• Women: Mabel Bassett Correctional Center (McLoud) and Dr. Eddie Warrior Correctional Center (Taft)
• Medium security men: Allen Gamble (Holdenville), Dick Conner (Hominy), Great Plains (Hinton), James Crabtree (Helena), Joseph Harp (Lexington), Mack Alford (Atoka) and Oklahoma State Reformatory (Granite), plus James Smith (Lawton)
• Minimum security men: Bill Johnson (Alva), Howard McLeod (Atoka), Jackie Brannon (McAlester), Jess Dunn (Taft), Jim E. Hamilton (Hodgen) and John H. Lilley (Boley)
• Reception: Lexington Assessment and Reception Center
• Community corrections centers: Clara Waters (Oklahoma City), Enid, Lawton, Northeast Oklahoma (Vinita) and Union City

The first weeks after sentencing

Men sentenced to prison are transported from the county jail to the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center, south of Norman. Women go to Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud, which serves as the women’s reception center. During assessment, staff test each person to build a case plan for treatment such as substance abuse or thinking-skills programs, and assign a maximum, medium or minimum security level. ODOC’s Central Transportation Unit then moves the person to their first prison.

Searching for an Oklahoma inmate

ODOC’s Offender Lookup finds people in state prison by name or DOC number and can also search by facility, conviction date, county court or statute. Results show the current location and sentence details. You’ll need the DOC number for mail, money and visitor applications.

Executions in Oklahoma

Few states have used the death penalty as much as Oklahoma. It has carried out more than 130 executions since 1976, the third most in the country, and it has the highest execution rate per resident. The men’s death row and the execution chamber are in the “H” unit at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. The one woman on death row, Brenda Andrew, is held at Mabel Bassett. Death row held 22 people as of September 5, 2026. The most recent execution was Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez on August 13, 2026, the state’s third of the year, and James Pavatt is scheduled for November 12, 2026.

Lethal injection is the main method. If it can’t be used, state law lists nitrogen hypoxia (added in 2015), then electrocution, then firing squad. Oklahoma’s record has drawn intense scrutiny. Clayton Lockett’s 2014 execution dragged on for 51 minutes after staff struggled to place an IV, and a drug mix-up the next year led to a pause that lasted from 2015 until October 2021. In February 2025 the U.S. Supreme Court threw out Richard Glossip’s murder conviction after prosecutors admitted errors in his case, and he was released on bail in 2026 to await a new trial. In November 2025 Gov. Kevin Stitt granted clemency to Tremane Wood just minutes before his scheduled execution.

Oklahoma juvenile facilities

Young people are the responsibility of the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs (OJA), which took over juvenile justice from the Department of Human Services in 1995. OJA now has a single secure facility, the Central Oklahoma Juvenile Center in Tecumseh, after combining the operations of two other centers onto a new campus there. The site has housed young offenders since 1917, and today it has up to 144 beds for young men ages 14 to 19 who have been adjudicated delinquent or as Youthful Offenders. Youth awaiting a court decision are held in local juvenile detention centers. Juvenile records are confidential, so families should contact OJA directly.

To search for an inmate or juvenile, or to learn how to visit, call, write or send money to someone in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections or Office of Juvenile Affairs, choose a facility from the list below.

Each prison you click on below will provide specific, detailed information about the facility's: 

• inmate search,
• location,
• contact information,
• directions,
• inmate visitation,
• mail,
• phone accounts,
• money accounts,
• commissary,
• texting and emailing where available, and
• inmate tablet rental where available.