Oklahoma prisons impose hiring freeze due to revenue failure

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – The director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections says the agency is imposing a hiring freeze to help cut costs as a result of a state revenue failure.
Director Joe Allbaugh said Thursday that the hiring freeze is the first of many possible changes in order to cut spending by about $3 million by the June 30 end of the state’s fiscal year.
Allbaugh says there are 348 vacant positions that will go unfilled during the freeze. He says the freeze does not include correctional officers, probation and parole officers, medical professionals and food service workers.
The agency has been ordered to cut spending through the final four months of the fiscal year to help save $34.6 million due to a revenue shortfall because of lagging state revenues.