The Mabel Bassett Correctional Center (MBCC) is an

Oklahoma Department of Corrections The Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC or ODOC) is an agency of the state of Oklahoma. DOC is responsible for the administration of the state prison system. It has its headquarters in Oklahoma City, across the street from the headquarters o ...

prison for women located in

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma Pottawatomie County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,454. Its county seat is Shawnee. Pottawatomie County is part of the Shawnee, OK Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is includ ...

, near McLoud. The facility houses 1241 inmates, most of whom are held at medium security. The facility first opened in 1974, on Martin Luther King Drive in Oklahoma City. It was named for Oklahoma political figure

Mabel Bassett Mabel Luella Bourne Bassett (August 16, 1876 – August 2, 1953) was a Democratic Oklahoma politician who served as the state's Commissioner of Charities and Corrections from 1923 until 1947. Early life Mabel Bourne was born in Chicago, t ...

, who served as the Commission of Charities and Corrections from 1923 to 1947. It also houses the female

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

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

; 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.

Notable inmates

*Amber Hilberling - Convicted in 2013 of second-degree murder of the June 2011 death of her husband, 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 ''Women Who Kill'' is a 2016 American comedy thriller film written and directed by Ingrid Jungermann and starring Annette O'Toole, Sheila Vand, Tami Sagher, Deborah Rush, Grace Rex, Shannon Patricia O'Neill, and Ann Carr. The film was released ...

''. *Brenda Andrew - On Death Row for the murder of her husband Rob Andrew.

References

7. ^ Kimble, Lindsay (29 October 2016). https://people.com/crime/amber-hilberling-convicted-murderer-hangs-herself/ Prisons in Oklahoma Women's prisons in the United States Capital punishment in Oklahoma Buildings and structures in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma 1974 establishments in Oklahoma Women in Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-gov-stub