OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma corrections officials are investigating reports of a video allegedly showing officers at a halfway house watching as offenders fought and wrestled.
Casey Hamilton, internal affairs investigator for the state Corrections Department, told The Oklahoman he has spoken to at least one person who has seen the video and was told it was taken on a cellphone by a convict at the Avalon Correctional Center in Tulsa.
The center is operated by Avalon Correctional Services, Inc., a privately owned, Oklahoma-based company that operates several halfway houses for nonviolent offenders in Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. Donnie Coffman, administrator at Avalon, says he has heard rumors of the video but has not seen it.
Jerry Massie, Corrections Department spokesman, says there is an ongoing investigation into fighting at the Avalon facility.