by Em Luetkemeyer, Oklahoma Watch
May 24, 2025

A deadlocked Supreme Court blocked the creation of the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school, but some lawmakers said this isn’t where the fight ends.

The court was split 4-4, with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett recusing, allowing a ruling from the Oklahoma Supreme Court to stand. The case, Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, split Republicans over the separation of church and state and religious freedom. It will also likely be a major issue in Oklahoma’s gubernatorial race next year.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who has announced a run for governor, has been at the forefront of the opposition to the establishment of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, suing over it in 2023. Drummond said he feels “very relieved for our constitutional integrity” and is pleased about no further invasion into the boundary between church and state.

“My conservative colleagues fail to grasp that to rule otherwise would be exactly the criticism that we lay at the feet of liberal justices,” Drummond said. “We call them activist judges that rule from the bench and modify established law.”

Drummond said that in Oklahoma, there’s not a path forward for religious charter schools, as this ruling settled the matter. But a similar case from another state, with a school run by a different church, could result in a different court outcome. Justice Barrett did not say why she recused herself from the case, but CNN reported she had ties to several lawyers representing the school. The deadlock meant no precedent was set, and the Supreme Court could take up another case involving a religious charter school in the future, potentially without the same kind of conflict.

After the ruling, Drummond directed “condolences” on social media to Gov. Kevin Stitt and Ryan Walters, the superintendent of Oklahoma schools. Stitt and Walters have both voiced strong support for the school and filed amicus briefs to the Supreme Court. Walters is a rumored candidate for Oklahoma’s 2026 governor’s race as well, which would put him in a primary against Drummond.

Stitt called the ruling a nondecision.

“Now we’re in overtime,” Stitt said in a written statement. “There will be another case just like this one and Justice Barrett will break the tie. This is far from a settled issue. We are going to keep fighting for parents’ rights to instill their values in their children and against religious discrimination.”

Walters has long jockeyed for a position in MAGA world and has openly advocated bringing down walls between church and state. He said the ruling was “really unfortunate” on NewsNation.

“But here’s where we go from here,” Walters said. “We’re going to be the state that brings it back up. We’re going to continue fighting for parents to have these opportunities.”

The case had caught the attention of several national lawmakers, with Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford in March signing on to an amicus brief in support of the school. Lankford called the ruling a disappointment in a written statement.

“But it’s not the final word,” Lankford said.

“The Supreme Court has previously made clear that when states offer public programs, they can’t discriminate against religious participants,” he said. “Families in Oklahoma deserve educational options that reflect their values, and that includes faith-based schools. I’m proud to stand with the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board in continuing to defend equal treatment under the law.”

This article first appeared on Oklahoma Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Republicans Say the Fight for St. Isidore Isn’t Over appeared first on oklahomawatch.org

Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Right

This content presents a generally Center-Right perspective by highlighting opposition to a publicly funded religious charter school primarily from conservative figures and Republican lawmakers, emphasizing themes of religious freedom, parental rights, and skepticism toward judicial activism. It includes statements from conservative officials advocating for faith-based education options, portraying the issue as a matter of fighting against perceived government and judicial overreach, which aligns with typical center-right priorities. The coverage is balanced but clearly associates the conservative viewpoint with support for religious charter schools and opposition to the court’s deadlock ruling.

SUMMARY: The state auditor’s initial report reveals “questionable spending” at the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse under Commissioner Ali Friesen. The department overspent nearly \$30 million, continuing high payroll and professional services expenses despite a drop in Medicaid reimbursements after the pandemic. Executives received six-figure salaries and staff raises over 10%, while funds went to costly items like promotional Narcan vending machines and a Super Bowl ad. Leadership ignored budget deficits, failed to inform legislators, and allegedly intimidated employees during the investigation. The absence of a qualified CFO contributed to financial mismanagement reminiscent of a 2017 health department scandal.

Initial audit finds ‘questionable spending’ at Dept. of Mental Health & Substance Abuse

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by Keaton Ross, Oklahoma Watch
May 23, 2025

Felecia Jackson had mixed emotions when she received news that her husband, Eric Jackson, would be transferred from the James Crabtree Correctional Center in Helena to a sprawling private prison in Lawton. 

The Lawton Correctional Facility is two hours closer by car to her home in Ardmore, allowing for cheaper and quicker trips to visit. But it was difficult to look past the prison’s violent reputation, with gruesome murders and allegations of subpar medical care frequently making headlines. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections called Lawton the state’s most violent prison as contract negotiations with The GEO Group, a Florida-based company that owns and operates the facility, grew contentious last summer. 

Fears of violence have materialized since Eric Jackson arrived in early 2024. The Department of Corrections has investigated multiple homicides at the prison since a one-year contract extension was approved last June, including a case where a prisoner stabbed and partially decapitated his cellmate on March 5. Another prisoner allegedly used a piece of handmade string to murder his cellmate on Dec. 7. 

Felecia Jackson said the GEO Group’s private business model, aimed at turning a profit on a per-prisoner per diem it receives from the state, has also been apparent and frustrating. Commissary items are more expensive, fees to use state-approved tablets are inflated and there are fewer programs to keep prisoners occupied, she said. 

The GEO Group did not respond to a request for comment about a June 2024 statement vowing to increase program availability and out-of-cell time at the Lawton prison. 

“I cannot stand Lawton,” Felecia Jackson said. “I despise that place being a private prison. They think they can just make their own rules and don’t have to follow policy.” 

Felecia Jackson and other family members of prisoners at the Lawton facility said they are optimistic about the Department of Corrections’s pending purchase of the 2,600-bed prison, Oklahoma’s largest and only privately operated correctional facility that houses more than 10% of the state prison population. 

“I have been a state employee, and I think they have higher standards and more to lose,” said Cherry Love, a Baltimore, Maryland resident whose son has complained of a monthslong wait to see a mental health professional while incarcerated at Lawton. 

The House and Senate approved a pair of bills on Thursday to purchase the prison outright for $312 million. Gov. Kevin Stitt, who vetoed a per-diem increase for the Lawton prison last summer and has lauded efforts to close private prisons, said Wednesday he does not plan to veto any appropriations bills. The proposed purchase includes all assets within the facility, including vehicles, medical and kitchen equipment. 

The move is poised to rid Oklahoma of private prisons for the first time since 1991, when the Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton opened. As recently as 2020, 23% of Oklahoma’s prison population was housed in private prisons, which have long faced criticism for cutting corners on food, staffing and medical care to turn a profit. 

House Appropriations and Budget Chair Trey Caldwell, a Republican from Faxon whose district includes the private prison, said frustrations have been brewing on both sides for years. The Department of Corrections has bemoaned the high rate of violence, while The GEO Group claims violent prisoners had their security classification lowered to be eligible for placement at Lawton. He said the tensions have left the company unwilling to negotiate beyond a short-term, transitional contract extension. 

Though the state has reduced its prison population by more than 15% over the past five years, Caldwell said most of the reduction has been at minimum security prisons, making vacating Lawton a logistically challenging proposition. The Department of Corrections said other vacant, privately owned prisons in the state, including the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre and Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, have significant maintenance or staff recruitment issues. 

“I know there are political concerns that private companies shouldn’t be in the prison business, but this piece of legislation is not a political statement,” Caldwell told members of the House Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget on Monday. “It’s about how we fix a problem to keep our correctional officers safe and make sure we are being humane in our treatment of the people we have incarcerated.”

The Department of Corrections plans to offer state employment to all Lawton employees at or above their current wage, pending a background check, Chief of Public Relations Kay Thompson said. The agency anticipates the prison will begin operating as a state-run facility on Sept. 1. 

Thompson said state prison officials plan to evaluate Lawton’s population and separate groups that are the most conflict-prone. She said the strategy has worked well at the Allen Gamble Correctional Facility in Holdenville, which transitioned from a private to a state-run facility in October 2023, and several other prisons, contributing to a 14% reduction in serious inmate assaults from fiscal year 2023 to 2024. 

“While violence can still occur due to the nature of the incarcerated population, we make data-driven decisions that have consistently reduced incidents at Allen Gamble and systemwide,” Thompson said in a written statement. 

State prison officials will review program offerings at Lawton and make additions as resources allow, Thompson said, but that process could take months. 

At James Crabtree, Felecia Jackson said her husband benefited from numerous programs, including an anger management course and a wild horse training opportunity. At Lawton, she said most of the programs are run on state-issued tablets and men are lucky to get one hour of outdoor recreation time per week. 

“They need more outlets so that the violence will stop,” she said. “If they have things to do to keep their mind busy, it would keep a lot of them off drugs, give them hope and give them something to work for. DOC has a lot of things like that they can implement at this facility to help.”

While the prison purchase deal is now headed to Stitt’s desk, it wasn’t an easy sell for several lawmakers. Senate Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, said several members of the upper chamber were caught off guard with the request, which was not included in the Department of Corrections’ fiscal 2026 budget request, but that the state lacked alternatives. 

“A lot of us were very uncomfortable feeling like we got information at the end and now we have to make a quick decision,” Paxton said. “That is concerning. But I am convinced of the need to make sure those 2,300 prisoners are properly incarcerated. That is not a group you want to furlough.”

Sen. Darcy Jech, R-Kingfisher, was among a bipartisan group of six senators to vote against the prison purchase bill. In a budget committee meeting, he said the Legislature and Department of Corrections should have been weighing solutions much sooner than the end of the legislative session. 

“We shouldn’t be given a few weeks to consider this,” he said. “There are other options, other prisons.”

The GEO Group would also have had options had the state elected to move its prisoners out of Lawton. The company’s stock price has nearly doubled since President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, with the company inking several deals to reopen former private prisons as immigration detention centers.

This article first appeared on Oklahoma Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Oklahoma’s Pending Purchase of Lawton Prison Brings Hope of Reduced Violence  appeared first on oklahomawatch.org

Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

This content leans center-left as it focuses on the problems associated with privatized prisons, highlighting issues such as violence, inadequate medical care, and profit-driven motives negatively impacting prisoner welfare. It also portrays government intervention—specifically the state’s purchase of a private prison—as a positive, corrective measure. While the reporting includes perspectives from Republicans and provides facts, the framing suggests a critical viewpoint on privatization in the prison system and advocates for more humane treatment, aligning with center-left concerns about social justice and public accountability.