TULSA, Okla. — Michael Taylor is the latest inmate to escape a prison facility in Oklahoma.
Taylor walked away from Howard McLeod Correctional Center on April 18. His marks the fifth escape 2 News has covered in four months.
WATCH: Department of Corrections short nearly 400 COs, as another inmate escapes
In an open records request, we asked the Department of Corrections for policies, escape data, staffing numbers, overtime, incident reports and interagency communication.
Local News
Three escapes in three months: Who is responsible for inmate escapes?
The records shared showed a staffing shortage of nearly 400 correctional officers and an overtime cost of more than $21 million.
Overall, there is an 18% vacancy rate with 784 unfilled positions.
"I talk to correctional officers all over. Everyone tells me they have a massive shortage," said State Representative JJ Humphrey. "Everyone is too scared to stand up and say anything."
Humphrey, a former 20-year Department of Corrections employee, said he knows increased escapes is a direct result of a lack of manpower.
"What a shortage of correctional officers will result in, more drugs, more violence, more extortion, more rapes, more murders. And so you’re seeing that on a daily basis at these prisons," Humphrey said.
WATCH: 2 News continues asking for answers about inmate escapes
Data DOC shared shows as of March 5, 23,347 total inmates in custody with 1,218 of those in county jail backups; illustrating overcrowding in state facilities.
The first escape 2 News covered was Joshua Butler in December.
Then came Robey Butler on Feb. 18, Johnathan Cartwright on Feb. 23, and Kyle Vacin on Feb. 25.
According to the DOC-provided escape data, in that period, there were an additional five escapes, bringing the total to 10 across DOC and county jails in the last four months.
"I’ve heard them say 'We’re gonna try, oh I’ve got plans to recruit people, we’re gonna do better academy,'" said Humphrey. "That’s been being said for six, seven years now. Obviously, they don’t have any plans."
Records show the Board of Corrections discussed security-related policies, but they did so in an executive session, which is not public.
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