Sheila Devereux walks through a gate opened by Unit Manager Shola Shopeyin at the Oklahoma Department of Corrections in McLoud, Okla. Devereux was sentenced to life in prison without parole after her third felony drug conviction. Credit: Adam Wisneski / Tulsa World
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Pastor Noel’s church operates a free clinic that caters to the uninsured. Noel said he also is uninsured.
Jade Rennels, a Norman food stamp recipient is shopping at Natural Grocers, which sells natural and organic grocery items.
The May 20, 2013, tornado in Moore killed seven children and turned much of Plaza Towers Elementary School into rubble
Seven students died when a tornado struck Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore.
Seven crosses, for seven dead students, have been posted near the wreckage of Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore.
Albert Ashwood, director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
Randi Hobbs is one of 10 current dentists participating in a state program that provides cash incentives for dentists to practice in underserved rural areas. She practices in Sulphur.
The tornado of May 13, 2013, traveled a course that was mostly south of the ones that struck Moore in 1999 and 2003. After those earlier tornadoes, dozens of residents received federally funded grants to help pay for installing shelters in their homes. The green dots show the locations, which are clustered in the paths of the earlier tornadoes.
Cassie Clark, a part-time administrative assistant, falls into the health care “coverage crater” because she’s not eligible for Medicaid but doesn’t make enough money to qualify for new tax credits under the Affordable Care Act.
Top 10 states with highest incarceration rate
Entrance to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. The warden, Anita Trammell, is the first woman to head the prison.
The prison’s “C Unit” was closed earlier this year, leaving one general-population cell house. Recently, however, the state decided to reopen C Unit because of overcrowded jails with inmates awaiting transfer to state prisons.
The East Gate of the penitentiary, where inmates arrive.
The East Cell House, which is closed.
Guard tower next to the F Cell House, which was closed last year because it was not cost-efficient to operate.
A corridor inside the now-vacant East Cell House.
A main corridor leading to areas with Death Row, disciplinary and administrative segregation, and the execution chamber.
Rows of cells in Unit A, the last remaining facility for general-population inmates. That will change when Unit C is reopened.
Chart shows how the number of Oklahoma inmates in private prisons has grown over the years. Chart breaks the numbers down for each of the three private prisons: the Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing; the Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville; and the Lawton Correctional facility.
Patients sign up for appointments at the East Central Oklahoma Family Health Center in Wetumka.
Misty Bellinger of Wetumka says she doesn’t know much about the Affordable Care Act, but she’s interested in finding a better health insurance policy than the catastrophic plan she has now.
An Oklahoma City church provides an ad-hoc meeting place for people interested in learning more about the Affordable Care Act.
Oklahoma City residents sign in to learn more about the Affordable Care Act.
Affordable Care Act advisor Steven Goldman discusses the range of plans that will be available through the online health insurance marketplace.
Tiece Dempsey of the Oklahoma Policy Institute fields questions about the impact of the Affordable Care Act.
U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin speaks to constituents, as captured in a video posted by the Think Progress blog.
Army Reservist Thomas Sweet, 29, is among 1,700 who participated in the Out of the Darkness Walk in Washington, D.C., on June 1 to raise money for suicide prevention. He was introduced as a representative of the men and women in the military who have died by suicide. Sweet decided to take the 16-mile walk in memory of his brothers-in-arms who have committed suicide and his sister who suffers from depression and made a suicide attempt.
A guard monitors the barred Rotunda area at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
Terry Cline
Andrew Rice
Got a question about the Affordable Care Act? Email it to newsalerts@oklahomwatch.org and we’ll try to run down the answer.
One person was killed and three were injured in this Aug. 18 crash in Tulsa involving drunken driving, police said. A 27-year-old man who was intoxicated and speeding in a Ford Mustang crossed into oncoming traffic on Memorial Drive and leapt a center media into the path of a Nissan Versa. The passenger in the Mustang driver’s car was killed.
One person was killed and three were injured in this Aug. 18 crash in Tulsa involving drunken driving, police said. A 27-year-old man who was intoxicated and speeding in a Ford Mustang crossed into oncoming traffic on Memorial Drive and leapt a center media into the path of a Nissan Versa. The passenger in the Mustang driver’s car was killed.
Hugh Meade
Ben Moore
Michael Bowden, a former Duncan police officer, was charged Nov. 2004 with three counts sexual battery in Stephens County and found guilty in April 2005. Received a six month suspended sentence, and will be required to register as a sex offender for life. However, Bowden’s state peace officer certification wasn’t revoked until 2012.
Ronald Arganbright, a former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper, was charged with multiple sex crimes in Beckham County in April 2011. Arganbright was found guilty of lewd acts with a child and use of electronic device to facilitate sexual contact with a minor in April 2012. Sentenced to three years in prison, Arganbright could be released in 2015.
Since 1978, the Oklahoma prison population has increased from about 4,000 inmates to nearly 27,000 by Oct. 1, 2013.
Former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Patrick Venable leaving a courtroom during his preliminary hearing at the Payne County Courthouse in Stillwater Monday, Jan. 23, 2012.
The 751 rebates for purchase of home storm shelters awarded in a lottery so far by the state have been concentrated in the Oklahoma City area, disproportionate to its share of the state population. Relatively few rebates were won in the state’s outlying areas.
The greater Oklahoma City area, with 35 percent of the state’s population, received 74 percent of the rebates.
The Tulsa area received relatively few storm-shelter rebates for its population count.
When mapped, data from the National Weather Service shows that tornadoes from 1990 through May 2013 touched down in all parts of the state, although the deadliest and most destructive struck central Oklahoma.
City leaders are scrambling to find ways to keep the Pauls Valley General Hospital in operation. The hospital declared bankruptcy in February.
Bruce Mayhan, lab manager at Pauls Valley General Hospital, looks at a blood sample through a microscope in the hospital’s lab.
Zinda Coffey, drug room assistant, takes a phone call while working at the Pauls Valley General Hospital’s pharmacy.
Brandon Magalassi
A bus at the downtown Oklahoma City station.
A local bus in downtown Oklahoma City.
The Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
Michelle Hightower, who teaches at Oakridge Elementary School in Oklahoma City.
Lee Elementary School
Elaine Dodd was instrumental in creating Oklahoma’s Prescription Monitoring Program in 1990. Photo by Warren Vieth.
Elaine Dodd was instrumental in creating Oklahoma’s Prescription Monitoring Program in 1990. Photo by Warren Vieth.
Don Vogt of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs has administered the state’s Prescription Monitoring Program for nearly nine years. Photo by Warren Vieth.
Bianca Rose, who leads recruitment for Oklahoma City Public Schools, highlights the state’s economic growth and low cost of living in trying to attract teachers.
The late Rep. Sue Tibbs, R-Tulsa
Blayke Ladd
A home once stood in this bare lot in Moore east of Interstate 35. Despite a buzz of construction activity in demolished neighborhoods, many lots are empty. Some are for sale.
Construction crews work to rebuild homes in the Moore neighborhood just east of Interstate 35.
Many homes, like this large residence west of Moore, near the tornado’s beginning path of destruction, remain damaged and vacant.
Remnants of the tornado’s destruction linger, such as this large residence in south Oklahoma City, damaged and vacant.
New homes are springing up on plots of land where houses once stood near the border between Moore and Oklahoma City. Many already sold to new owners.
This large home on Pennsylvania Avenue in south Oklahoma City still awaits repairs. Addresses are painted on plywood to identify the properties.
New, unoccupied homes line streets alongside empty lots in a neighborhood near the boundary of Moore and Oklahoma City.
The newly-built home of JoAnn and Allen Anderson is flanked by empty lots. Their neighbors chose not to return and build again. The Anderson family survived the tornado by taking shelter in their bathroom. They spent almost a year renting until the new house was finished and have been in the home for two months.
The empty lot on the west side of the Anderson home.
A front view of the Canadian Valley Technology Center located in El Reno, Oklahoma. The center was hit by the May 30 tornado.
The newly built office at the OKC West Livestock Market in El Reno, Oklahoma. the auction house was hit by the May 30 tornado. Though the office was completely destroyed, the tornado occurred on a day when very few employees were on the job. No one was hurt in the disaster, but two cows were killed and eight others were lifted up and carried across the highway before being dropped by the tornado. They survived.
Employees at the OKC West Livestock market took cover in storm shelters being offered for sale at the auction house lot. The shelters were not bolted to the ground, but the employees and restaurant patrons who took cover here survived. Other employees hid under weight scales on the premises.
This is the newly replaced home of Toxie and Marti Williams. Toxie works as a nutritionist for the OKC West Livestock Market. The family home sits just north of the sale barns and was completely destroyed in the May 30 tornado. Marti recalls watching the weather on her phone and making the decision that she and Toxie, along with their two sons and dogs, flee the storm in their car. They were unhurt. The family had renters insurance but is still going through the proceedings on that. They didn’t use FEMA aid, as the home itself is included in Toxie’s salary and was replaced quickly by the company. Marti cites help from all over in the wake of the disaster.
The May 20 tornado destroyed the Moore Medical Center just west of I-35. Until a new hospital is built, expected in 2016, temporary structures on the site provide emergency services. The hospital is part of the Norman Regional Health System.
Janet Barresi
The tornado that obliterated parts of Moore on May 20, 2013, left many residents there wanting government aid to help them buy residential storm shelters.
Michael Brose, executive director of Mental Health Association Oklahoma.
Michael Brose, executive director of Mental Health Association Oklahoma
Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy spoke at the Zarrow Mental Health Symposium.
Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy spoke at the Zarrow Mental Health Symposium.
Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy speaks at the mental health symposium.
Eight pounds of crystal meth were seized last year during an eight-month investigation.
Mary Sosa, who campaigned for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, said the Hispanic community must do more to encourage its residents to run for office.
The state removed all 212 inmates from the Avalon Tulsa halfway house in January after a video was released showing an alleged guard-sanctioned fight between inmates. Today the facility again is holding more than 200 offenders.
Wind turbines near Hunter in Garfield County spin on Thursday. Tax incentives offered to wind-power companies have drawn criticism.
Tax breaks for energy companies have soared since 2010. In this photo, despite freezing temperatures Thursday, members of the Tomcat Drilling Rig 5 crew continued their quest for oil next to U.S. 81 north of Enid.
Tax breaks for energy companies have soared since 2010. This drilling rig is shown operating in September in northern Garfield County.
Calls to a national gambling helpline from Oklahoma show that most people struggling with gambling addiction cite slot machines as the main problem.
The Wellness Clinic in Roland, Okla., has come under scrutiny by narcotics and medical board officials.
Aaron Smoot died of a drug overdose in August 2011.
Oklahoma City’s Exodus House is an organization which helps former inmates reintegrate into society.
Joy Hofmeister, superintendent of public instruction, fielded questions from the audience at the “Oklahoma Watch-Out” forum on Tuesday, March 3.
Lt. Governor Todd Lamb speaks during an event in Norman.
Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb
Quinton Chavez pitches to his 9-year-old son, Emanuel Chavez, while playing baseball at Santa Fe South High School in south Oklahoma City.
Dr. Janna Morgan, who directs the mental health services unit for the Corrections Department, has had to travel to prisons to conduct therapy sessions herself because of a shortage of mental-health staff.
An Oklahoma City fireman walks near explosion-damaged cars on the north side of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City after a car-bomb blast the morning of April 19, 1995.
Secretary of State Chris Benge
Chairs of the fallen are aligned in the footprint of the destroyed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
The limbs of the Survivor Tree embrace the 9:03 Gate at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Two bronze gates stand at each end of the reflecting pool, inscribed with the time one minute before, and one minute after, a terrorist bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
The street that once ran in front of the destroyed building is now a reflecting pool, running the length of where the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building once stood.
Bronze chairs stand in the footprint of the Alfred. P. Murrah Federal Building. Each one sits on a glass base with the name of one victim.
A tree that survived the bombing is incorporated into the memorial, to honor the survivors.
A rendering of the OK Pops Museum
The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum
Tabitha Kincannon was released from prison in March and has felt empowered by her trauma therapy at Just the Beginning, a nonprofit based in Tulsa.
Mental-health experts Dr. Nicole Washington (left), Roxanne Hinther and Janet Cizek talk about mental health for women at the Oklahoma Watch-Out forum.
Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a Washington D.C. research group. LeRoy was speaking during a May 21, 2015, “town hall” session in Oklahoma City on the topic of tax breaks.
Michael Davis, president of Oklahoma Finance Authorities, discussing tax breaks with a reporter on May 21, 2015.
Expansion of Michelin’s tire manufacturing plant in Ardmore and Goodyear’s plant in Lawton are being subsidized by the state for nearly $89 million over 13 years.
The execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
James Alexander
Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel
Among all state and local law enforcement agencies in Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol received the most funds from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Equitable Sharing Program. In fiscal r 2014, the agency received $667,593 through the program.
Savannah Kalman is suicide prevention program manager at the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuses Services.
Insurance Commissioner John Doak
Oklahomans with disabilities and professionals who care for them attended the Oklahoma Health Authority Board meeting.
Tribal council leaders, parents and youth are concerned about the impact that legalizing marijuana could have on communities in the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Michael Lockhoff plays with his daughter in their backyard in Tulsa. The Lockhoffs struggled last year, when she was 6, to work with schools to meet their child’s educational and emotional needs.
Josh Gwartney, principal of the early childhood center at Chouteau-Mazie Public Schools, displays the paddle available to be used on students.
Police in the City of Bixby, near Tulsa, suspected a cancer victim was a drug trafficker and seized his money.
Norman police stop and search a pickup at a local gas station.
Criminal defense attorney and former police detective James W. Todd.
Police in Bixby, which is near Tulsa, suspected a Broken Arrow man was a drug trafficker and seized more than $15,000 in cash from his vehicle.
Cato Institute attorney Adam Bates testifies at a special hearing on civil asset forfeiture at the State Capitol. State Sen. Kyle Loveless is seated at his left.
A state marketing campaign for Insure Oklahoma includes six billboards along interstate highways.
Kathleen Lord and Don Knight, attorneys for Richard Glossip, speak to the news media Wednesday.
More than 800 people attended the 21st annual Zarrow Mental Health Symposium on Thursday and Friday.
Buffy Heater, chief strategy officer of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, is evaluating options for shifting part of Oklahoma’s Medicaid population into a “coordinated care” program using private-sector contractors.
David Boren at an OU press conference. Boren recent proposed a statewide penny sales tax to fund education.
In a prekindergarten class at Skelly Elementary School in Tulsa, 4-year-olds listen to Ama Debra tell a story.
Brad Collins, services analyst director for 12&12, indicates a meeting hall for those from Alcoholics Anonymous. Collins says the proposed facility would help not only those who suffer from alcoholism, but those picked up after a one-off night of partying as well.
Brad Collins, of nonprofit addiction recovery center 12&12, said an alternative to jail provided by 12&12 would help both those with alcoholism and those who need to sleep off a one-night party.
Engineer and award-winning author Brian A. Hopkins recently battled Hepatitis-C, which he contracted decades ago in blood transfusions after a motorcycle wreck.
Brian Hopkins writes: “Last Harvoni. 90 day/$90,000 treatment done. ” Hopkins had to take the drug to battle Hepatitis-C acquired decades ago from a blood transfusion.
Engineer and author Brian A. Hopkins battled hepatitis C, which he contracted more than two decades ago in blood transfusions after a motorcycle wreck.
Ward Petroleum Chairman Lew Ward (center) is visited in March by Attorney General Scott Pruitt (left) and Pruitt’s state Attorney General campaign consultant Tamara Cornell (right), who also serves as registered agent, board member and consultant for both Oklahoma Strong Leadership and Liberty 2.0 PACs. Ward and his wife Myra donated a combined $6,000 to Oklahoma Strong Leadership PAC in March and April.
Passengers board an Embark bus in Oklahoma City. Buses would still play a central role in a regional transit system proposed Tuesday.
Oklahoma City area mayors are proposing a transit system connecting cities by “heavy rail,” or passenger trains running on existing freight lines like this one through Norman. That would require negotiating with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.
Former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw cries as he is led from the courtroom after the verdicts were read for the charges against him at the Oklahoma County Courthouse on Thursday. He was accused of sexually assaulting 13 black females between December 2013 and June 2014. A jury found him guilty on 18 of 36 counts.
Daran Steele of Oklahoma City says he believes he was racially profiled by two police officers in 2013.
Oklahoma Watch Executive Editor David Fritze moderates a forum on mass transit with, left to right, Danny O’Connor, director of transportation planning for the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments; Lauren Branch, former chair of the Oklahoma Alliance for Public Transportation and executive director of NewView Oklahoma, and Jason Ferbrache,administrator of the Central Oklahoma Parking and Transit Authority.
Eight years ago, Donray Moore (left) and her husband Ron of Sand Springs (not shown) placed their son Skyler (to her left) on the waiting list for state-funded services for the developmentally disabled. The family is still waiting for those services. Donray’s husband died earlier this year. Along with Skyler’s brother Madison, Donray and Skyler are shown here at a family support meeting in Tulsa. In the foreground are Melissa Sublett (left), attorney for the Oklahoma Disability Law Center, (Right) and Lisa DeBolt, whose son receives services and works with families through Sooner Success.
Tulsa Community College freshman Zoey Radcliffe, center, looks at her notes while preparing for a final in her remedial math course. Thousands of Oklahomans take remedial college courses each year to relearn content they should have learned in high school.
Screenshot from CannLabs, a company for which Oklahoma’s new corrections director, Joe Allbaugh, holds 250,000 shares. Allbaugh resigned from the company’s board shortly before accepting the position.
Screenshot from CannLabs, a company for which Oklahoma’s new corrections director, Joe Allbaugh, holds 250,000 shares. Allbaugh resigned from the company’s board shortly before accepting the position.
Screenshot from CannLabs, a company for which Oklahoma’s new corrections director, Joe Allbaugh, holds 250,000 shares. Allbaugh resigned from the company’s board shortly before accepting the position.
Danny lost his job and became homeless for the first time, living on the streets in Norman.
Gov. Mary Fallin delivers her sixth annual “State of the State” address.
Schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister (center) talks with legislators before the governor’s speech.
House Speaker Jeff Hickman gavels the assembly to order.
Two legislators converse on the floor.
Videographers for the news media shoot from the booth above.
Leaders and representatives of Native American tribes stand when governor recognizes them.
Gov. Mary Fallin’s husband, Wade Christensen waves as he, Fallin’s daughter Christina (second from right) and other family members are recognized in the gallery.
A legislator looks at a budget-related chart distributed for the governor’s address.
State Rep. Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City, listens to the “State of the State” address.
Gov. Mary Fallin
House and Senate members, gathered in the House chamber, applaud during the “State of the State” address.
Fallin shakes hands with Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman.
Legislators converse with a U.S. Supreme Court justice on the House chamber floor.
Gov. Mary Fallin enters the House chamber to deliver her “State of the State” address on Feb. 1. Political observers say she will need to work intensely behind the scenes to succeed in pushing through the revenue-raising measures she proposed.
Joe Allbaugh, interim director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, describes himself as a quick decision maker who wants to make a difference.
The Cleveland County Juvenile Detention Center in Norman is among 17 county juvenile facilities that aren’t required to follow federal rape-prevention standards.
The Cleveland County Juvenile Detention Center in Norman is among 17 county juvenile facilities that aren’t required to follow federal rape-prevention standards.
State Rep. Mike Shelton appears at a rally for Bernie Sanders.
The polling station at the Enterprise Baptists Church in Rural Norman, Oklahoma.
Real estate developer Grant Humphreys wants to stop operating Carlton Landing Academy, located on the shores of Lake Eufaula, as a private school and re-open it as a public charter school.
A bullet shell lies near a church in northeast Oklahoma City. This photo was taken as part of the mobile video project, “Talk With Us: Poverty in Oklahoma City Neighborhoods.”
Women represent less than a fifth of superintendents in Oklahoma. Stacey Butterfield, superintendent of Jenks Public Schools, followed her mother and grandmother into a career in education.
The North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre is owned by Corrections Corp. of America.
Cara Brown (left) and Gloria Ferrell of Tulsa allege in a lawsuit that despite availability of jobs, Stand-By Personnel never offered them a position because of discriminatory practices. The company denies the allegations.
Cara Brown.
Gloria Ferrell.
Edmond resident Jay Mandraccia casts her primary ballot during early voting Thursday at the Oklahoma County Board of Elections. Regular voting will be held Tuesday.
Art Serna, Jr.
Homeless and other low-income people took refuge from the heat on Thursday in WestTown day shelter west of downtown Oklahoma City.
Tracy McDaniel, principal and co-founder of KIPP Reach Academy in Oklahoma City, said the school has been working on increasing its retention rate of students.
Penny Reynolds, executive director of Sisu Youth, hopes to secure funding to open a 10-bed night shelter at Church of the Open Arms in Oklahoma City.
Empty beds for homeless youths sit in the night shelter at City Rescue Mission in downtown Oklahoma City.
Overdose deaths involving methamphetamine have soared as Mexican “ice” has become more available.
The Oklahoma Judicial Center houses the state Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals and the Administrative Office of the Courts.
Tulsa high school history teacher Vince Facione expected to spend at least $300 before the first day of school. He gives each of his 190 students a three-ring binder.
Mikah Carlos studies at Arizona State University and lives in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. She said a poll worker refused to let her use her tribal ID to vote in a recent election in Arizona.
Residents in Sparta, Ga., display American flags from their front porch on July 3, 2016. There have been 114 allegations of fraud investigated by the Georgia secretary of state since 2012.
Lawmakers in Texas passed controversial voter ID legislation in 2011, citing concerns of voter fraud. Aspects of the law have since been deemed unconstitutional by a federal court.
Dallas Stokes, a volunteer for the AMOS Project, a nonprofit social justice organization in Cincinnati, registers people to vote. In May, a federal judge struck down a restrictive voting law in the state that Republicans said was meant to curtail voter fraud.
Rikki Cosper stands in the McGee Bright Start Early Education Center in Norman, where she is director. She also heads the Licensed Child Care Association of Oklahoma. Her center is one of 3,409 remaining child-care homes or centers in the state; the number has declined by 34 percent since 2008.
Janet Roloff, managing attorney at the Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma’s McAlester office, represents a Fort Towson couple who couldn’t afford a private attorney in a legal action to foreclosure on their mobile home.
Sixth grader Nathaniel Anderson, of Grove, is an advocate for dyslexic students like himself. He spoke at the State Capitol earlier this month.
The Oklahoma City Police Department’s headquarters in downtown Oklahoma City, where the property room is located.
Swipe through this gallery of photos, taken in latter 2015, to tour the Oklahoma City Police Department’s property room, where nearly 1,900 guns were checked in from the streets that year. From 2011 to 2015, the number of handguns and long guns checked into the property room rose by 23 percent.
This 2016 photo shows handguns confiscated by the Oklahoma City Police Department and placed in a barrel in the department property room.
