Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville, Oklahoma, has been tied to years of violence, deaths, lawsuits, and serious questions about prison safety. According to The Oklahoman, the facility had 21 homicides over four years. One of those deaths was, Dustin James Patterson, a 27-year-old inmate who was strangled by his cellmate while correctional officers stood outside the cell door.
The prison has since been renamed Allen Gamble Correctional Center, and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections later moved maximum-security inmates out of the facility. ODOC said Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester is now fully maximum-security, while the maximum-security beds at Allen Gamble were converted to medium security. ODOC said the change was meant to help separate volatile security-threat groups and improve safety for staff and inmates.
But moving inmates does not answer every question. It does not explain why so many people died there, and it does not explain why Dustin Patterson begged for help while officers waited outside his cell.
The video reviewed by The Oklahoman is disturbing because officers knew Dustin was in danger. According to the article, Officer Connor Whitlock was doing a 2 a.m. inmate count on Sept. 2, 2022, when he looked inside cell Echo Charlie 103 and saw Patterson struggling for his life. His cellmate, Darren Padron, had him in a chokehold.
More officers arrived outside the cell. They used pepper spray, fired pepper balls, and shouted commands for the inmates to “cuff up.” But according to The Oklahoman, officers did not enter the cell for approximately 45 minutes. At one point, Patterson managed to stand and pleaded through the cell door, “Good Lord! Open the door, man!”
By the time officers finally entered, Dustin was unresponsive. His autopsy confirmed he died from strangulation. Hughes County District Attorney Erik Johnson called the death “totally avoidable.” He told The Oklahoman that officers could have opened the door and stopped the attack, but they did not.
Dustin Patterson’s death is part of a much larger concern. Smolen Law is also involved in cases connected to two other deaths at the same facility: Alan Jay Hershberger, a correctional officer who was killed at Davis Correctional Facility about a month before Patterson, and Brantley Avallone, an inmate who died a few months after Patterson.
Each case is different, and each family has its own loss. But together, these cases point to the same issue: what was happening inside this prison that allowed so many people to die?
The state’s explanation focuses on classification and moving maximum-security inmates. Classification matters. Housing decisions matter. Separating violent groups matters. But Dustin Patterson’s death raises another issue that cannot be ignored: staff training and emergency response.
In Patterson’s case, officers were not unaware of the attack. They were outside the door. They could see what was happening. They could hear Patterson pleading. They used spray and pepper balls from outside the cell. But according to The Oklahoman, they waited 45 minutes before entering.
That raises serious questions about whether staff were properly trained, whether they had clear emergency procedures, whether they had the support and leadership needed to act, and whether response time failed when a life was on the line. Blaming maximum-security inmates alone does not answer why officers did not intervene sooner. It does not answer whether policies were followed. And it does not answer why a man was left begging for someone to open the door.
At the time of Patterson’s death, Davis Correctional Facility was operated by CoreCivic. The state later took over operation of the prison and renamed it Allen Gamble Correctional Center.
In Patterson’s case, his father, Carl Patterson, sued CoreCivic in 2024 on behalf of his son’s estate. CoreCivic denies wrongdoing. Smolen Law | The Alpha Firm told The Oklahoman that the Oklahoma Department of Corrections concluded CoreCivic violated state policies when guards failed to enter the cell to prevent Patterson’s death. Smolen Law also said the state concluded CoreCivic violated its own policies.
When Carl Patterson was asked what he wanted from the lawsuit, his answer was simple: “I want to see justice and accountability upheld.”
That is what these families are asking for. Not excuses. Not blame shifted only onto inmates. Not changes made only after people are already dead. They want answers about what was known, what was igno
red, what training failed, and why more was not done to protect the people inside.
A prison sentence should not become a death sentence. A correctional officer should not lose his life in a facility that failed to keep him safe. And families should not have to file lawsuits just to find out why their loved ones were not protected.
When one prison is tied to this many deaths, the question cannot only be where the inmates should be moved. The question must also be: who was responsible for protecting them, and why did so many people die before major changes were made?
Read More:
The Oklahoman: Oklahoma prison guards watched inmate die in cell, videos reveal
The Oklahoman: See timeline of 21 inmate homicides at an obscure Oklahoma prison
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