TULSA — The Oklahoma Department of Corrections and its leadership have come under increasing scrutiny in the wake of multiple reports involving violence, health concerns, arbitrary and potentially illegal punishments, and easy access to contraband by prisoners.

State Rep. Justin Humphrey (R-Atoka) tells KRMG the primary cause of all the various issues comes down to inadequate staffing.

[Hear Part One of the KRMG In-Depth Series on Oklahoma Prisons HERE]

But rather than admit the problem and address it head on, Humphrey claims, DOC Director Stephen Harpe and his staff try to obscure the issue by reducing staffing levels, then claiming the prisons are more than ninety percent staffed.

“About three years ago, (we) started on this,” Humphrey told KRMG. “Took three months to get an answer, how many, you know, staff are we short, correctional officer staff. That should be an answer you could get in five minutes.”

“If you went and looked at a prison three to four years ago, they might have 150-something correctional officers. And then if you come back and look today, they may say ‘oh, we only need 68,’” he explained. “Well, okay, how did that change? If you dropped your inmate population, that’s fine. But if you look at these prisons, they haven’t dropped.”

Indeed, despite the largest mass commutation in U.S. history, despite criminal justice reform and a reduction in arrests by some jurisdictions due to the McGirt ruling, the Oklahoma prison population has continued to rise.

Humphrey tells KRMG the critical shortages in staffing have put inmates and staff alike in danger.

“We ought to be concentrating on real lives, people being raped, people being assaulted, people being stabbed, people being killed, overdoses in the prison,” Humphrey said. “Those are the main issues right now, and all of that is a direct result of the low staffing level.”

KRMG has spoken with corrections officials, and will share the DOC’s response in a subsequent report.

Our reporter has also spoken with prisoners inside one of the state’s largest facilities, and received disturbing reports about conditions there - including a lack of proper food, arbitrary and possibly illegal disciplinary measures, prisoner-on-prisoner and prisoner-on-guard violence, and more.

Part two of this in-depth report will go live on Tuesday.

You can read part two of this series, and hear the KRMG In-Depth version, HERE.

You can read part three of this series, and hear the KRMG In-Depth version, HERE.