MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK

Editorials

Discussion

November 7, 2009

Prison jobs

Private prisons jobs are not the type of jobs we want to see in Oklahoma.

However, given the tough times, it makes sense for the operating private prison in Sayre to accept more than 1,300 inmates from California, which will result in 200 Oklahomans getting jobs.

The North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre now holds 1,036 California inmates, and the additional 1,300 medium-security prisoners are expected to arrive in the Sayre facility in December or January. The additional inmates will require hiring a couple hundred more prison workers.

Oklahoma currently houses nearly 5,000 inmates from California and Arizona in private prisons. The rationale for allowing the private prisons in the state was the creation of new jobs.

Yes, they provide jobs, but these aren’t the type of jobs — watching over other states’ problems — that we should encourage in Oklahoma.

It would be better for Oklahoma to encourage the development of high tech jobs and jobs in burgeoning green industries.

We can do better in Oklahoma than making a name for ourselves as a place to lock up people. We already lock up a bigger percentage of our citizens than almost any other state.

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