About the Agency

Corrections Officer
Probation and Parole
End of Watch July 28, 1989

On the afternoon of July 28, 1989, at the Oklahoma City probation and parole office, parolee Huey Don Turner was being arrested during his visit to the office preparatory to have his parole revoked. Turner resisted violently, and Officer Young was one of five corrections officers called to subdue him. A short time later, Officer Young suffered a heart attack and died at Presbyterian Hospital in Oklahoma City.

Officer Young was survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.

Later that day, near Mannsville, the suspect held a knife to the throat of an 11-year-old boy and forced him and his father to drive him to a remote location before releasing them and taking their vehicle. Five days later, the car was found abandoned in Florida. On October 4, 1977, the suspect was captured by FBI agents in Denver, Colorado.

Hall, who was serving a 15-year sentence for a 1974 robbery conviction, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. In 1982, his conviction was overturned and a new trial was ordered. He was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to life. Hall has been denied parole several times.

Cox had served with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections for 12 years. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Officer
Oklahoma State Penitentiary
End of Watch August 4, 1948

On July 30, 1948, Officer Aston was on duty on the fourth floor of the west cellblock, the solitary confinement area. Officer Aston saw a mirror, prohibited in solitary confinement, extended from Thomas Woods' cell and went to check on it. When he opened the cell door, Woods sprang upon him and began beating Aston's head on the floor, wall, and against the cell bars.

When other officers came to his rescue, Aston was still conscious, and his injuries did not appear serious. He was taken to a local hospital but did not want to be admitted. He was examined and sent home, but the next day, his condition worsened. Taken to a hospital in Holdenville, he was diagnosed as suffering from a fractured skull and intracranial bleeding. Officer Aston died of his injuries on August 4.

Chief Sergeant
Oklahoma State Reformatory
End of Watch December 13, 1943

On December 13, 1943, prisoner L. C. Smalley told Chief Sergeant W. H. “Pat” Riley that he had been robbed of a watch and $30 by two other prisoners. Smalley told Riley that the men who robbed him were Mose Johnson and Staley Steen. At about 3:15 p.m., Sergeant Riley located both suspects in the boiler room where they worked. As he questioned them about the robbery, Johnson hit Riley over the head with a piece of pipe, and Steen stabbed him in the face and back with a knife. Leaving the officer on the floor, the two inmates ran to the canteen, where Smalley worked behind the counter. When the two ran into the canteen, the other inmates ran out before Johnson killed Smalley with an ice pick. Other officers arrested the two in the canteen but not in time to save Smalley.

Sergeant Riley had been with the agency for ten years and was survived by his wife, a daughter and four sons.

Supervisor
State Prison Farm
End of Watch August 11, 1941

James David Parrish, a trusty serving time for Grand Larceny, complained of feeling ill. Mr. Benningfield, an unarmed supervisor, was transporting him to the doctor in Atoka, but they never arrived. The car was found abandoned near Wewoka, with its gears stripped. Parrish was arrested that night while hitchhiking near Shawnee, Oklahoma, on Highway 270. Confessing to Benningfield's murder, he led officers to the body in a ditch 14 miles north of Durant. Benningfield had been beaten to death with a claw hammer.

The inmates took Warden Dunn and the engineer hostage and began marching them out in the yard, using them as shields from the officers. Threatening to kill their hostages, the prisoners managed to disarm the officers in the front guard tower. Now armed with guns, they forced their hostages out to the front gate. In the meantime, officers had called the Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office for assistance. Deputy Sheriff Bill Alexander was the only officer on duty, but Deputy William A. Ford was also at the Sheriff's Office, although he was off duty. Both deputies had formerly been officers at the prison.

The deputies quickly drove to the prison and, using their car as a roadblock, about three blocks north of the prison, blocked the exit of the car containing the inmates and hostages. During his time as an officer at the prison, Deputy Alexander had discussed with Warden Dunn how an attempted jailbreak should be handled if hostages were involved. Dunn had told Alexander that if prisoners took him hostage, they would have him order the officers to let them pass and not to shoot. Also, obviously, he would give the orders as they told him. However, Dunn told Alexander that the officers should ignore his orders under those circumstances and not let them pass. He also told him that "even if I tell you not to shoot, you shoot."

Claude Beaver was driving with Warden Dunn and the engineer in the front seat of the car, with the other three escapees in the rear seat holding them at gunpoint. As expected, the prisoners told Dunn to give the deputies the orders to let them pass. Deputy Alexander told the Warden he could pass but that the other men would not be allowed to leave. One of the prisoners then fired a rifle shot, hitting Deputy Ford in the head. Another prisoner then shot Warden Dunn twice in the back of the head, and Deputy Alexander began returning their fire.

Warden Dunn and Claude Beaver were dead at the scene. Deputy Ford died a few hours later. Bill Anderson died from his wounds two days later. Hiram Prather, also wounded, was the only one of the prisoners to survive. He was charged with Jess Dunn's murder, convicted, and sentenced to die in "Old Sparky," the prison's electric chair.

The now-armed inmates forced their captives to a nearby car, and fourteen of the escapees crammed themselves into and on the car. As the car began moving, other officers opened fire on the car. Tuck Cope was wounded in the neck, Gossett in the stomach, but Powell was fatally hit in the head. In the resulting melee, ten of the inmates were wounded and six were rapidly recaptured. Eight escaped for a few hours to several weeks, but all were subsequently recaptured.

Officer Powell had been with the agency for five years and was survived by his wife and two children.

Guard Foreman
Oklahoma State Penitentiary
End of Watch July 18, 1935

On July 18, 1935, Guard Foreman Turner was supervising three prisoners on the prison farm about a mile from the main prison building. He was suddenly struck by lightning, killing him and the horse he was riding. The lightning also injured the three prisoners.

Guard Foreman Turner had worked at the penitentiary for approximately four years. He was survived by his wife and three children.

Security Officer
Oklahoma State Reformatory
End of Watch February 17, 1935

On February 17, 1935, Officer Jones was on duty in the main entrance tower. Shortly after 2 p.m., two inmates, Malloy Kuykendall and Henry Stewart, led a mass escape attempt with two guns that had been smuggled into them.

Unfortunately, a group of women and children were taking a tour of the prison at the same time and the prisoners took them hostage. As the group approached the main tower where Officer Jones was on duty, one of the inmates shot him fatally with a shotgun. Officer Jones' wife was standing on the front porch of the officers' barracks a short distance away and saw her husband shot down.

Officer Jones had been with the agency for three years. He was survived by his wife and two children.

At 4:20 p.m., January 19, 1914, three prisoners (Tom Lane, Chiney Reed, and Charles Kuntz) were making their way through the maximum-security prison's front corridor, ostensibly to see parole officer Frank Rice. Tom Lane was concealing a handgun that had been smuggled into the prison for him.

As Turnkey J. W. Martin let the inmates through the door, Lane pulled the gun on him and demanded the keys. Martin, alone and unarmed, jumped Lane and struggled with him until Lane shot him in the cheek. The inmates then took the keys and ran down the corridor to the office of Deputy Warden D. C. Oates, intending to take a hostage to help protect their escape from the armed officers in the towers outside.

Turnkey Martin raised the alarm, and Deputy Warden Oates came out of his office, drew his handgun, and emptied it at the inmates, wounding Kuntz in the chest. Tom Lane returned fire. H. H. Drover was exiting another room from developing photographs and was fatally hit by one of Lane's shots. Oates ran down the hall to get another gun or more ammunition.

As the inmates burst into the deputy warden's office, they confronted stenographer Mary Foster, day sergeant F. C. Godfrey, parole officer Frank Rice, and attorney John H. Thomas, who was at the prison to see a client. As the inmates told everyone to raise their hands, the elderly Thomas moved too slow to suit them, and Lane shot him fatally. Sergeant Godfrey, who was facing a wall with his hands raised, then attacked Lane, who shot him in the head, killing him instantly. The inmates then took Foster and Rice as hostages and, shielding themselves behind their hostages, moved out of the office. Deputy Warden Oates, who had rearmed himself with a shotgun, met them in the corridor. Oates ordered Lane to drop his gun, and Lane shot Oates, killing him. Subsequently, all three inmates were killed during the escape attempt.