Groups prepare to build women's prison chapel

A faith-based group that has built chapels at the Eddie Warrior Correctional Center in Taft, Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy and the Charles E. “Bill” Johnson Correctional Center in Alva is set to construct the chapel at Mabel Bassett.

The Rev. Joe Wilson, director of World Mission Builders, said all his group needs is funding to get the project done.

Wilson, of Enid, said World Mission Builders has teamed with the architectural and engineering firm Frankfurt Short Bruza to plan the Mabel Bassett chapel's construction. He said cost to build and furnish the 5,000-square-foot chapel is $500,000. Wilson said the project needs $250,000 in cash donations. Another $250,000 in volunteer labor and in-kind services is expected.

Wilson said once funding is secured, the project would take about two weeks to complete.

“We have volunteers from eight different states, and we do what we call an old-fashioned barn raising,” he said, adding that inmates at some of the other prisons have helped construct the chapels as well.

Marsha Travis, of Oklahoma City, a longtime church volunteer who sits on Mabel Bassett's advisory board, said she and about 150 faith-based volunteers who also help at the prison, are excited about the chapel project.