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Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025

Are Oklahoma prisons extensively privatized?

Matthew Yim, Oklahoma Watch
no

In July 2025, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections purchased the last privately owned prison operating in the state, officially bringing all of Oklahoma’s correctional operations under public management.

The $312 million acquisition followed contract negotiations with the GEO Group in which the former owners requested an additional $3 million despite already having received a $6.8 million increase in funding since 2020 without any operations improvements.

Despite the supposed end to state prison contracts, the state made a $74 million deal to outsource Oklahoma’s prison food service to the Trinity Services Group in May 2025.

The contract was voided in June due to a competitor’s protest letter rather than concerns over other states’ issues with prison food contractors–according to an agency spokeswoman, plans to outsource food service operations continue.

The state also recently signed a contract with CoreCivic that will reopen a closed Watonga private prison as a federal ICE detention center.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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