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U.S. NEWS Monday 26 SepteMber 2022
Staffing shortages, violence plague Oklahoma prisons

Associated Press DOC.
By SEAN MURPHY “He should not have been
HOLDENVILLE, Okla. (AP) — in general (population),
Working as a prison guard knowing how violent he
in Oklahoma is becoming was and his history,” said
an ever more dangerous Jessica Scott, a correc-
job as the state, with one of tional officer who worked
the highest incarceration with Hershberger during a
rates in the United States, six-week stint at Davis. “Ad-
struggles with violence and ministrative segregation
understaffing at detention is where he should have
facilities. Long hours, dan- been.”
gerous conditions and re- Scott, who has worked at
mote, rural locations have two other CoreCivic prisons
meant fewer guards and in Kansas and Tennessee,
a system plagued with in- said the facility at Holden-
creased killings and vio- ville had more problems
lence. maintaining appropriate
Three inmates were killed in staffing levels, cell doors
separate incidents this year that didn’t lock properly
at the same private prison and inmates who were par-
in rural, east-central Okla- ticularly violent and non-
homa where a correctional The Davis Correctional Facility, a private prison in Holdenville, Oklahoma, operated by Tennes- compliant toward staff.
officer was fatally stabbed see-based CoreCivic, is shown on Sept. 20, 2022. “It was by far the worst,”
by an inmate over the sum- said Scott, who now works
mer, according to docu- tional officer from Missouri affidavit from Oklahoma validated member.” at a state prison in Kansas.
ments obtained by The As- who previously worked at Department of Corrections Thompson, who is serving a “There’s a reason I’m not
sociated Press. a CoreCivic facility in Kan- investigator J. Dale Hunter. no-parole life sentence for there anymore.”
Davis Correctional Facility, sas, was traveling to Okla- “The victim immediate- a 2003 murder conviction, Thompson has been
a 1,700-bed men’s prison homa to work at the prison ly grabbed his side and has gang affiliation and a charged with first-degree
in Holdenville operated by for six-week stints at a time, quickly walked out of the history of prison violence, in- murder in Hughes County.
Tennessee-based private according to his family. On A Unit South door toward a cluding a 2010 first-degree His public defenders de-
prison operator CoreCivic, July 31, Hershberger was su- second correctional officer manslaughter conviction in clined to comment on the
has been operating at only pervising about 30 inmates ... and collapsed,” Hunter a case in which Thompson case.
about 70% of its contractu- in a recreation yard at the wrote. “The defendant fol- stabbed another inmate to CoreCivic did not respond
ally obligated staffing level, prison when 49-year-old in- lowed behind the victim death in 2009 at the Okla- directly to questions about
according to a 2021 audit mate Gregory Thompson and began shouting, “On homa State Penitentiary in Thompson’s offender-level
of the facility provided to walked past him, pulled a the set” and “On the Crips,” McAlester. Despite his his- status or its staffing ratio at
the AP after an open-re- 16-inch, homemade knife prison slang indicating the tory, Thompson was held the time of the killing, but
cords request. from his waistband and action is the responsibility among the general popu- acknowledged the com-
Alan Jay Hershberger, a plunged it into Hershberg- of the Crips prison gang of lation at Davis Correctional pany is taking steps to im-
61-year-old veteran correc- er’s back, according to an which the defendant is a Facility, according to the prove staffing levels.q
Democrats in Florida seek to win over Latinos on gun control

Associated Press María Elvira Salazar. setts’ Martha’s Vineyard
By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Few places disappointed as part of a state-funded
MIAMI (AP) — Annette Democrats in 2020 as deep- relocation program for mi-
Taddeo walked to a podi- ly as South Florida. A shift grants who are in the coun-
um overlooking Miami’s Bis- among Latinos toward the try illegally.
cayne Bay and described GOP contributed to several While some Venezuelans
to her audience how she unexpected losses in House and Latinos affiliated with
had fled terrorism as a teen- races and helped then- the Democratic party have
ager in Colombia and now President Donald Trump condemned it as a “cruel
feared for the safety of her carry Florida by more than stunt,” some exiles ap-
16-year-old daughter at an 3 percentage points. plauded DeSantis’ actions.
American public school. Democrats are campaign- Republican Sen. Marco
A blue and bright orange ing differently this year as Rubio of Florida, a Cuban
bus behind the Democrat- they aim to connect the American, wrote a column
ic congressional candidate party’s priorities to the per- in Spanish for a conserva-
carried this message in sonal experiences of a tive online platform seem-
Spanish: “A future without group that often feels over- ingly taking DeSantis’ side Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed in the Mar-
jory Stoneman Douglas High School shootings in 2018, speaks
violence.” looked in national politics. by raising concerns that at the kick off of the Giffords Florida bus tour, Thursday, Sept. 8,
“Latinos are here because The effort comes at a vola- migrants crossing into the 2022, in Miami.
of the American dream, tile moment for Latinos in United States from Mexico
and it is really hard to do Florida. Republican Gov. could be criminals freed by deadliest mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, a pre-
that when you are worried Ron DeSantis has attracted Venezuelan leader Nicolas in recent years have oc- dominantly Hispanic area,
about your kids’ safety,” national attention to immi- Maduro. curred. Spanish-language and to the penalty trial of
said Taddeo, a state sena- gration after arranging to Gun violence, meantime, is media have given wide the shooter who attacked
tor who is challenging a Re- fly a group of Venezuelans a particularly powerful issue coverage both to the el- a high school in Parkland,
publican congresswoman, from Texas to Massachu- in Florida, where two of the ementary school shooting Florida, in 2018.q