During the summer of 1908, Barnard arrived unannounced at the Kansas prison to investigate widespread complaints she had received about mistreatment of Oklahoma inmates.
The first females brought back from Kansas stayed in a ward near the East Gate, built in 1911, on the fourth floor of the West Cellhouse.
The female population had grown to 26 by the time a separate building about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the main institution was completed in 1926.
[6] The Talawanda Heights Minimum Security Unit was opened outside the East Gate Area in October 1989 to house inmates who hold support jobs inside the facility.
Three inmates stole a gun and killed three prison employees and retired federal judge John Robert Thomas during the escape attempt.
Facilities were understaffed with improperly trained workers, raw sewage backed up into cells, and the State Penitentiary was at 219% capacity.
[14] On the morning of July 27, 1973, the trouble began in the mess hall when correction officers attempted to detain a man who entered drunk.
[15] When McAlester News-Capitol reporter Randy Pruitt arrived sometime after 2 p.m., an inmate was on the PA system encouraging prisoners to join the "revolution" in the facility.
[21] Judge Luther Bohanon found in Battle v. Anderson that conditions at OSP unconstitutional and he later supervised the facility's reform.
[21] Consequent to the court's orders, four new housing units were built at OSP, and in 1984 the aging East and West Cellhouses were closed.
After this incident, security was overhauled at the prison to reduce inmate movements, limit recreation, and institute a level-ranking system for offenders to improve safety.
Mary Fallin signed into law HB1879 providing for nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative to the primary execution method of lethal injection.
Hunter and Corrections Director Joe M. Allbaugh announced that Oklahoma would start using inert gas asphyxiation as the primary method of execution.
[29][30] A two-day event was held in August,[31] or on Labor Day weekend[29] (accounts differ), the rodeo was a joint venture between the city of McAlester and the state Department of Corrections.
[31] The McAlester Chamber of Commerce contracted with the city to coordinate and market the event, which was last held in 2009 due to a state budget shortfall starting in 2010.
[29] Female convicts began competing in 2006, leading to the documentary film, Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo (2009), about the co-ed competition.