The Oklahoman: Oklahoma prison guards watched inmate die in cell, videos reveal

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The Oklahoman

Feb. 12, 2026Updated Feb. 13, 2026, 11:04 a.m. CT

Dustin James Patterson didn’t have to die.

Correctional officer Connor Whitlock was doing the 2 a.m. inmate count in a maximum-security unit at what was then known as the Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville. Looking inside cell Echo Charlie 103, the officer saw Patterson in the dark struggling for his life.

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