Comanche County allows private prison near Lawton

By Julie Bisbee

Published: July 29, 2008

LAWTON — A Florida-based private prison group got the green light Monday to begin building a 1,536-bed facility just outside Lawton.

After a public hearing, Comanche County commissioners approved a proposal from GEO Group to build a medium-security prison. GEO will build it across the road from the Lawton Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison that GEO already owns, said County Commissioner Gail Turner.

Officials with GEO told county officials that the new prison could be open by January 2010.

GEO officials said they will seek a contract to house inmates from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Turner said.

Two weeks ago, Turner and another county commissioner tabled a proposal by GEO Group to build a prison a half-mile east of the proposed site along Flower Mound Road. Turner said commissioners voted to table the item because they wanted more input from taxpayers.

Monday, nearly 50 people showed up to a public hearing and voiced their concerns about another prison coming to Lawton. There was opposition to the first proposed location on land that GEO already owned.

The new site will only affect two landowners, Turner said.

GEO officials estimate the new prison will bring in 300 full-time jobs for correctional officers.

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