Police are still developing a timeline of events that led to the death of an inmate this week at Lawton’s private prison, but dispatchers confirmed Friday they had received multiple calls from the inmate in the hours before his death.
The Constitution received information Friday that 33-year-old Christopher Glass had called 911 for help prior to his death using a cellphone from inside the prison prior to the discovery of his body at 7:20 a.m. Monday, but some of the calls were cut short when he hung up. When asked when the calls from the inmate were made, the dispatch center said it would have to ensure disclosure of the calls wouldn’t impact the ongoing homicide investigation. On Friday afternoon, the police department records division sent a short log showing that six calls were received from Glass between 8:50 p.m. Sunday and 1:55 a.m. Monday less than eight hours before he died. Glass is believed to be the victim of an assault at the the Lawton Correctional Facility, where he was serving multiple six-year sentences for possession of a firearm after a felony conviction and possession of drugs in jail. When he was found in his cell Monday, he had visible injuries to his body, but the medical examiner’s office has not yet determined a cause and manner of death. Police Capt. Craig Akard said detectives will likely need further information from the medical examiner’s office before making headway in their investigation. Assaults can happen frequently at prisons, often when inmates are free to roam about their pods or other communal areas, and may not result in obvious or serious trauma, Akard explained. One inmate may have multiple physical encounters with others at different points in time that may not seem dire at that time. “You may have a group of guys involved when a skirmish starts,” he said. “Maybe the same guy gets into a fight with another the next day, but both parties walk away … You can’t really say ‘that’s where the (fatal) injury occurred.’”
