I just finished responding to a question posted to the Oklahoma board on the AOL Genealogy Forum and thought some of you might find the information useful. The question concerned where to go to find information about someone who served time in an Oklahoma prison early in this century. I have seen this question on various forums in the past and the answer is much simpler than most believe. All states have a Department of Corrections, Department of Prisons or similar agency that in effect operates all of the state's prisons. These departments maintain records that go back for years. Here in Oklahoma the records go back to the first person sentenced to prison after statehood in 1907, our prisoner #1. Many of the older states may not have not have records of all inmates who ever served time in their prisons, but they will have records going back many years. The records people at our administrative offices receive several information requests each month from people doing genealogical research. Generally, if we have information on the person we provide it at no cost to family members doing research. In Oklahoma we are restricted by law as to the information that can be released on a living individual, but basic information on crime, sentence, time period, etc. can all be released. If you make a request to a state corrections department, be sure to furnish as much data to identify the person as possible. For common names it is not unusual for us to have more than one person with the same name and birth date and of the same race. The county the person was tried and convicted in can often make a difference in finding the right person. If you are seeking information on someone who served time in Oklahoma Prisons, send me their name, date of birth, race, dates of incarceration, county of conviction, etc. and I'll ask our records people to research it for you. My e-mail address at work is acronr@doc.state.ok.us Ron Recer Edmond, OK