Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Oklahoma
End of Watch: Wednesday, May 13, 1936
Age: 35
Tour of Duty: 5 years
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: May 13, 1936
Weapon Used: Handgun
Suspect Info: Shot and killed in 1941
Guard Charles Powell was shot and killed after he and three other guards were taken hostage during a mass escape attempt involving about 24 inmates at the Oklahoma State Prison. As the inmates loaded the hostages into a truck other guards opened fire. In the exchange of gunfire Guard Powell was shot and killed and two other guards were wounded.
The leader of the inmates was convicted of Guard Powell's murder and sentenced to life in prison. On August 10, 1941, he was shot and killed during an escape attempt at the same prison in which Warden Jess Dunn and Deputy Sheriff William A. Ford of the Pittsburg County Sheriffs Department were shot and killed.
One of the other prisoners who participated in the 1936 escape attempt had been convicted of murdering Constable William Wilmoth and Deputy Emery Whitten, both of the McCurtain County Sheriff's Department, on August 8, 1934. He was paroled in 1958.
Guard Powell had been with the agency for five years and was survived by his wife and two children.