By BARBARA HOBEROCK World Capitol Bureau 5/29/01

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma private prison that houses women is trying to cut down on inmate Internet scams.The Central Oklahoma Correctional Facility operated by Dominion Correctional Services in McLoud recently issued 51 "misconducts" to female prisoners who were found posting their names on a variety of Internet inmate pen pal services.

Several more misconducts are expected to be issued before the investigation is complete, said Vicki Shoecraft, warden at the facility that houses 544 Oklahoma female offenders.Being cited for a misconduct can result in an inmate doing more time. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections private prison unit reviews the misconducts, said Ruby Cooper-Jones, a contract monitor.DOC policy states that inmates "may not directly or indirectly use any Internet services, including purchasing items through the Internet, nor subscribing to any services offered including any personal advertising or electronic mail." Inmates do not have access to the Internet but can mail information to be posted. "What we find is a lot of women are writing to numerous, different guys from the Web postings and often times soliciting money," said Shoecraft. "And often times, they are getting large sums of money or even small sums from several different sources."

The facility is reviewing inmate accounts as part of its investigation, she said.

A number of Web sites purport to hook people up with pen pals, including meet-an-inmate.com, jailbabes.com, womenbehind bars.com and womendoingtime.com.

All four sites note that the women are incarcerated, and many carry disclaimers that posted information comes from the inmate. Several carry pictures and profiles. Some allow the user to search the site for specific types of women.

"The correspondence is not the issue," Shoecraft said. "You can become a pen pal through an ad in the back of magazines. The issue is the misrepresentation and the receiving of huge sums of money from these guys who don't have that kind of money and under false pretences."

Mabel Bassett Correctional Center warden Neville Massie said the state-run female institution in Oklahoma City investigates complaints as they come in and gets back with the person who made the complaint. Mabel Bassett has not conducted the same kind of audit as the McLoud private facility.

"Getting letters is the greatest thing that there is for them, especially the ones that don't have anybody," she said. "I write to two or three of them so they get a letter. When you get a letter which is handwritten, that boosts your morale."

Lynn Powell, a Tulsan who is president of the Oklahoma Chapter of Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants, questioned the McLoud audit, saying some inmates may just have been looking for a pen pal and didn't participate in a scam.

In addition, someone else may have posted the information about the inmate, she said. Powell also questioned whether the crackdown was just on female offenders.

DOC spokesman Jerry Massie said he did not immediately know if the DOC was cracking down on inmates in other facilities.Oklahoma State Penitentiary inmates do not have access to computers, warden's assistant Chester Mason said. He said inmates listed on the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Web page are "just trying to find a way to circumvent the policy, and any attempt is considered a rule violation." But he said the penitentiary has not had the same problem that McLoud appears to be having.