State House speaker Todd Hiett offers plan, remains holdout on special session

Wednesday, July 27th 2005, 6:43 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- House Speaker Todd Hiett unveils his plan for solving the state's prison funding problems by having the Department of Corrections give $1,000 bonuses to attract more guards.

Hiett says his plan will take care of the immediate need for more guards without rushing into a special session.

State Senator Kenneth Corn says the plan uses -- quote -- "fuzzy math" and asks the DOC to offer bonuses with money the department doesn't have.

But Hiett says the DOC has the money to hire the guards but is having trouble recruiting them. He said the bonuses should help.

Senate Democrats have proposed spending $10.6-million on prisons in a special session, with much of the money going to hire more guards and to raise their pay by $3,400 a year.