By Graham Lee Brewer gbrewer@opubco.com
The state Corrections Department is demanding an Oklahoma company immediately remove all inmates from a halfway house amid allegations that officers staged fights among offenders.
In a letter Tuesday to Avalon Corrections Services Inc., the department said it is freezing the number of Oklahoma offenders it sends to the company's facilities and allowing 10 days to transfer all 212 individuals in the Avalon Correctional Center, a 390-bed halfway house in Tulsa.
Those offenders will be transferred to various other facilities in the state, possibly including another Avalon center, said Jerry Massie, Corrections Department spokesman.
The move comes in response to three investigations the department is conducting at the center.
Massie confirmed one of the three investigations involves allegations of officer-organized fighting between inmates, which The Oklahoman reported in November.
The facility's administrator, Donnie Coffman, at that time told The Oklahoman he had spoken to his corporate office about a video of the fighting rumored to be circulating, but questioned its existence.
>>Read: Oklahoma Corrections Department investigates reports of fight at halfway house (published Nov.
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