21 Homicides at One Oklahoma Prison: What Families Should Know

A medium-security prison on the rolling plains of southeastern Oklahoma has, by homicide count, become the deadliest correctional facility in the state over the last four years. Twenty-one people have been killed inside what is now called Allen Gamble Correctional Center in Holdenville—a body count that surpasses even the maximum-security Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, which recorded nine homicides since the start of 2022, not counting executions. The victims were inmates serving sentences ranging from drug offenses to murder, and one was a correctional officer stabbed from behind. Their deaths included stabbing, strangulation, and blunt-force trauma, according to autopsy reports and criminal filings reviewed by The Oklahoman. Many occurred inside cells and involved cellmates, and multiple cases described prior warnings or obvious risk factors that went unaddressed.

For the families of these victims, the grief is compounded by a question that has no good answer: how does a single facility produce this much death, year after year, without anyone stopping it?

A Pattern of Violence

The reporting is based on The Oklahoman's review (Feb. 12–13, 2026) of autopsy reports, criminal filings, investigative records, civil litigation, and surveillance video. There were no homicides at the facility in 2021. The killing began in 2022 and has not stopped.

Seven homicides occurred while CoreCivic still operated the prison. According to criminal filings and autopsy reports, the first victim—Cheyenne Watts—was stabbed to death in March 2022. As of the date of The Oklahoman's reporting, no criminal charge had been filed against the suspected killer, a convicted murderer. By July 2022, correctional officer Alan Jay Hershberger was killed after being stabbed from behind. The Oklahoman reported the attacker was a convicted murderer, and court filings described a knife with a twelve-inch blade.

One death in particular illustrates the scope of institutional failure. In September 2022, according to video evidence reviewed by The Oklahoman, officers stood outside Dustin Patterson's cell door for roughly forty-five minutes—firing pepper balls and spraying hot-pepper chemical agent through the food slot—while Patterson pleaded for his life inside. By the time they entered, his cellmate had strangled him to death.

ODOC took over operations on October 1, 2023, but the killing accelerated. Fourteen of the twenty-one homicides have occurred under state operation—one in late 2023, six in 2024, six in 2025, and one in January 2026. The most recent victim, Michael Newlin, died at a hospital a week after being allegedly assaulted by his cellmate.

From Private Prison to State Operation

The facility—formerly Davis Correctional Facility—was privately owned and operated for years by CoreCivic Inc., a Tennessee-based for-profit corporation that held state inmates under contract with ODOC. The prison remains privately owned; the state leases the property from CoreCivic under an agreement that runs through mid-2029.

ODOC assumed operational control on October 1, 2023, and renamed the facility Allen Gamble Correctional Center. But ownership and operations are different things, and the transition in management has not stopped the killing. As discussed above, fourteen of the twenty-one homicides occurred after the state takeover. By the numbers, the facility has been deadlier under state operation than it was under CoreCivic.

The change in management matters for legal purposes—it determines who the defendants are. But it has not changed the outcome for the inmates housed there.

Why the Violence Continues

The dominant pattern at Allen Gamble is cellmate-on-cellmate violence. Of the twenty-one homicides, the overwhelming majority occurred inside locked cells, committed by the victim's own cellmate. This pattern is not random. It is the predictable result of specific institutional failures.

Classification failures put incompatible inmates together. When an inmate with a documented history of violence is assigned a cellmate despite prior assaults, the facility has created the conditions for homicide. According to criminal filings reviewed by The Oklahoman, multiple assailants at Allen Gamble had violent histories that should have triggered single-cell housing or placement in more restrictive settings. The Oklahoman reported that Gregory Scott Thompson, who killed Officer Hershberger, was a convicted murderer. Randy Mounce, who strangled John Longstreet, was serving time for a 1994 murder. Daniel Wilson, who killed Brantley Avallone, was already serving a life sentence for murder.

Ignored warnings are a recurring theme. According to court filings and investigative records, Christopher Crabtree begged officers to remove his cellmate less than two hours before he was beaten and strangled. Derrick Parfait complained that he had asked for a different cellmate before strangling Jason Bryce Wolfe. Dymail Reicher allegedly killed his cellmate specifically to obtain a single cell. When inmates or cellmates themselves are telling staff that the housing situation is dangerous and nothing changes, those facts can support an inference of deliberate indifference under the Eighth Amendment, depending on what the records show about what specific officials knew and did.

Staffing shortages make meaningful monitoring impossible. Proper correctional practice requires regular cell checks, functional classification systems, and enough officers to respond quickly when violence erupts. The forty-five-minute delay in reaching Dustin Patterson illustrates what happens when staff cannot intervene in time. Every minute of delay is a minute of suffering that could have been prevented.

What ODOC Says

ODOC leadership has stated that the facility houses some of the state's most dangerous inmates, has expanded programming, improved training, and is exploring AI-assisted cellmate matching. Even accepting those efforts, the constitutional duty under Farmer v. Brennan remains: officials must take reasonable measures to mitigate known risks of serious harm.

Legal Accountability: Who Can Be Sued

Families of inmates killed at Allen Gamble have meaningful legal claims, and several are already pursuing them. As of February 2026, The Oklahoman reported that federal lawsuits against CoreCivic over the deaths of Officer Hershberger, Dustin Patterson, and Brantley Avallone remained pending. These cases illustrate the different theories of liability available depending on who operated the facility when the death occurred.

Claims Against CoreCivic (Private Operator)

For the seven homicides that occurred under CoreCivic's management, families can pursue Section 1983 civil rights claims against the company and its employees. Private prison employees generally cannot invoke qualified immunity in prisoner Section 1983 suits—a significant advantage for plaintiffs. In Richardson v. McKnight (1997), the Supreme Court held that private prison guards are not entitled to qualified immunity because private companies face market pressures that serve as an alternative check on misconduct, though other defenses may still apply.

CoreCivic's corporate liability is not automatic, however. In the Tenth Circuit, Section 1983 claims against private entities acting under color of state law still require tying the violation to an unconstitutional policy, custom, or practice—respondeat superior alone is not sufficient. But given the pattern of chronic understaffing, classification failures, and cost-cutting alleged at the facility, establishing a policy-or-custom basis for corporate liability is a viable path.

Claims Against the State (Post-Transition)

For the fourteen homicides that occurred after ODOC assumed operations in October 2023, the legal framework shifts. Individual state employees can be sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, but they may assert qualified immunity. A state or state agency is generally not a "person" subject to damages under Section 1983. Prospective injunctive relief through official-capacity suits remains available in principle, though such claims are typically pursued by current inmates or others with standing to challenge ongoing conditions.

Families should be aware that Oklahoma's Governmental Tort Claims Act contains a broad exemption under 51 O.S. § 155(25) that can bar state-law tort claims arising from the operation of correctional facilities, including injuries inflicted by one prisoner on another. This statutory barrier is a primary reason why death-in-custody cases at Oklahoma prisons are litigated primarily through federal civil rights claims rather than state-law negligence theories. GTCA notice requirements still matter—claims must be presented within one year of death under 51 O.S. § 156 or they are forever barred—but the prison exemption means state-law paths are often unavailable.

The Constitutional Standard: Deliberate Indifference

The constitutional claim in prison homicide cases is based on the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Under Farmer v. Brennan (1994), prison officials have a duty to protect inmates from violence at the hands of other inmates. To establish a violation, a plaintiff must show that the official knew of a substantial risk of serious harm and disregarded that risk by failing to take reasonable measures to prevent it. This deliberate indifference standard requires more than negligence—but it does not require proof that the official intended the harm to occur.

At Allen Gamble, the evidence of knowledge is substantial. After twenty-one homicides in four years—many involving cellmates with documented violent histories, many preceded by explicit warnings from inmates themselves—the pattern of known risk that officials failed to address grows stronger with each death. Each killing adds to the factual record available to future plaintiffs.

What Families Should Do

If your loved one was killed at Allen Gamble Correctional Center—or at any Oklahoma prison—time-sensitive steps are critical to preserving your legal claims.

Preserve evidence immediately. Send written preservation demands to both the current facility operator (ODOC) and, if the death occurred before October 2023, CoreCivic. Demand preservation of surveillance video, cell assignment records, classification files, staffing logs, incident reports, and all internal communications about the victim and the assailant. Video footage is routinely overwritten on fixed schedules, so every day of delay risks permanent loss of critical evidence.

Obtain the autopsy report. ODOC notifies the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in every inmate death, and the OCME determines whether an autopsy, external examination, and/or medical-record review will be used to determine cause and manner of death. The resulting report is foundational to any legal claim.

Request the assailant's classification and housing records. These records reveal whether the person who killed your loved one had a documented history of violence, whether that history should have resulted in different housing, and whether the facility followed its own classification protocols.

Contact an attorney experienced in prison civil rights litigation. Section 1983 claims in Oklahoma must generally be filed within two years (the borrowed limitations period under 12 O.S. § 95(A)(3)), though the accrual date is governed by federal law. Practical deadlines for evidence preservation are much shorter. An attorney can issue formal preservation demands, initiate discovery, and identify all potentially liable parties—including corporate defendants, individual employees, and government entities.

At Addison Law, we handle civil rights cases involving deaths in custody throughout Oklahoma. If your family member was killed at Allen Gamble or any other correctional facility, contact us for a free consultation to discuss your legal options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can families sue a private prison company like CoreCivic?

Yes. Private prison companies can be sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for constitutional violations tied to their policies, customs, or practices. Private prison employees generally cannot invoke qualified immunity (Richardson v. McKnight), though other defenses remain available. Corporate liability requires connecting the violation to an institutional policy or custom—not mere respondeat superior—but patterns of understaffing, classification failures, and cost-cutting can establish that connection.

What is the legal standard for a prison failing to protect an inmate from violence?

Under Farmer v. Brennan (1994), prison officials violate the Eighth Amendment when they know of a substantial risk of serious harm to an inmate and fail to take reasonable measures to prevent it. This "deliberate indifference" standard requires more than negligence but less than intentional harm—the official must have been aware of the risk and consciously disregarded it.

Does it matter that the prison changed operators in 2023?

Yes, it affects who you sue and what defenses they can raise. For deaths before October 1, 2023, CoreCivic and its employees are the primary defendants, and private prison employees generally cannot claim qualified immunity. For deaths after that date, individual state employees are the defendants, and they may assert qualified immunity. The state itself is generally not a "person" subject to damages under Section 1983. In either case, the underlying constitutional standard—deliberate indifference under Farmer v. Brennan—remains the same.

What evidence is most important in a prison homicide case?

The most critical evidence includes surveillance video showing the events before, during, and after the killing; the assailant's classification and housing records showing their violent history; records of warnings from inmates requesting cell reassignment; staffing logs showing whether adequate personnel were on duty; and the facility's own policies on inmate classification and cell assignments. Comparing what the policies required to what actually happened is often the most powerful evidence.

How long do families have to file a lawsuit after a prison death?

In Oklahoma, federal civil rights claims under Section 1983 must generally be filed within two years of the death (the borrowed limitations period under 12 O.S. § 95(A)(3)), though the accrual date is governed by federal law. If state tort claims are available, the Governmental Tort Claims Act requires a notice of claim within one year, and the claim is forever barred if not timely presented. However, evidence preservation is time-sensitive—surveillance footage is often automatically overwritten within days or weeks. Contact an attorney as soon as possible to ensure critical evidence is preserved.

Can the state be held liable for deaths that occur after it took over the prison?

A state or state agency is generally not a "person" subject to damages under Section 1983, but lawsuits against individual state employees in their personal capacities remain available. However, families should know that Oklahoma's Governmental Tort Claims Act contains a broad exemption under 51 O.S. § 155(25) for claims arising from the operation of prisons, including injuries inflicted by one prisoner on another. This is a primary reason death-in-custody cases are litigated through federal civil rights claims. The pattern of continued violence after the state assumed operations strengthens arguments that systemic failures, not just individual misconduct, are driving the deaths.

What if the assailant was never criminally charged?

Criminal charges against the assailant are separate from the civil rights claim against the facility. Your civil case targets the prison and its operators for failing to prevent the violence—not the individual who committed it. Several Allen Gamble homicides resulted in no criminal charges against the assailant, but that does not affect the family's ability to sue the facility for deliberate indifference.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this post does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case depends on specific facts, and no outcome is guaranteed. Do not send confidential information until an attorney-client relationship has been established.