Mabel Bassett Correctional Center

The Mabel Bassett Correctional Center (MBCC) is an Oklahoma Department of Corrections prison for women located in unincorporated Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States, near McLoud. The facility houses 1241 inmates, most of whom are held at medium security. It is the largest female prison in Oklahoma.

The facility first opened in 1974, on Martin Luther King Drive in Oklahoma City. It was named for Oklahoma political figure Mabel Bassett, who served as the Commission of Charities and Corrections from 1923 to 1947. It also houses the female death row for the state.

History

The Oklahoma Women's Treatment Facility first opened in 1974 at 3300 Martin Luther King Drive, and received the name "Mabel Bassett Correctional Center" in November, 1977.

By 2002, the state maintained both the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center, with 337 female prisoners, and a separate facility called the Mabel Bassett Minimum Security Unit (MBMSU), with another 200. To consolidate this population, the state purchased the former Central Oklahoma Correctional Facility (COCF) in McLoud for just under $40 million. The facility had been built in 1998, owned by the city of McLoud, and operated by Dominion Correctional Services.

With this move, the state planned to expand and harden the facility, take over Dominion's contract for housing 110 female inmates from Wyoming and Hawaii, and close the prior two sites. The original building on MLK is now part of the headquarters of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections; the former MBMSU near I-44 and the Broadway Extension became the Oklahoma City Community Corrections Center.

Current facility

MBCC is currently the only facility for women that can house mental health patients, and the Segregated Housing Unit is the only women's unit for inmates on Protective Custody or Death Row. The current capacity of death row is 1, occupied by Brenda Andrew.

Controversies

In 2016, inmate Amber Hilberling was found dead in her cell from apparent suicide. A 2016 lawsuit claimed the warden allowed sexual assault to happen to inmates. In 2020, Mabel Bassett was a site mentioned in the protests outside of the Department of Corrections headquarters for their poor response in handling the COVID-19 outbreaks. In March 2022, inmate Amanda Kay Lane died of her injuries sustained at Mabel Bassett. In August 2022, four inmates were charged after slashing inmate Destiny Hudson's 'Irish Mob' shamrock tattoos off. Affidavits state "a male inmate from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary ordered inmate Sarah Steenson to 'cut off the shamrock clover tattoos' that Hudson had on her body. Hudson was allegedly told that she was a 'rat.'" Surveillance "showed Hudson being kicked, punched, and having her head and hips stomped on by the inmates."

Notable inmates

*Amber Hilberling - Convicted in 2013 of second-degree murder of the June 2011 death of her husband at the University Club Tower, Josh Hilberling. Hilberling was found dead in her cell in October 2016 of an apparent suicide by hanging. She was 25 years old at the time of her death. Amber’s story was featured on A&E’s “The First 48” and A&E's '' Women Who Kill''.
*Brenda Andrew - On Death Row for the murder of her husband Rob Andrew.
*April Wilkens - a criminalized survivor who caused the OK Survivor Justice Act to be introduced in Oklahoma Congress (HB 1639) by Toni Hasenbeck and is the subject of the first season of the Panic Button podcast.

References

7. ^ Kimble, Lindsay (29 October 2016). https://people.com/crime/amber-hilberling-convicted-murderer-hangs-herself/

Prisons in Oklahoma
Women's prisons in Oklahoma
Capital punishment in Oklahoma
Buildings and structures in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma
1974 establishments in Oklahoma
Women in Oklahoma

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