The head of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections goes before a house-and-senate committee to justify his request for a $1.5 billion budget. That is over a billion dollars more than the current budget.
Director Joe Allbaugh says Oklahoma must have new prisons because we are out of space. He says the prison system is at 112% of capacity. He says if you take away the rented beds, that number goes to 151%.
He says many employees have not had a raise in over a decade. Allbaugh says guards can make more money doing just about anything rather than working for the DOC.