Visitation reinstated at two more Oklahoma prisons

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Visitation is being reinstated at two more Oklahoma prisons locked down after one inmate was killed and three dozen were hurt during coordinated violence that officials say resulted from race-based gang tension.

The Department of Corrections said Thursday that visitation will resume this weekend at the minimum-security Jim E. Hamilton and Northeast Oklahoma Correctional Centers.

Visitation was suspended and all state prisons were locked down after fights in six prisons last month. Afterward, Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an executive order to crack down on contraband cellphones he said were used to facilitate the violence.

Normal operations have returned to various prisons recently, but the DOC said the state-run North Fork Correctional Center, Dick Conner Correctional Center and Mack Alford Correctional Center and the three private prisons remain locked down.