The Oklahoma Department of Corrections contracted inmates to work for a call center company that handled making calls for a conservative super PAC.
A rumor circulated in early September 2026 that incarcerated people in the state of Oklahoma were contracted to work for a call center company that handled telemarketing for a conservative super PAC.
Users on social media shared the rumor, with some claiming the Oklahoma Department of Corrections earned $10 per hour from the vendor but that prison laborers were getting paid only $2 per hour.
The rumors circulated as the United States approached the Labor Day holiday, which has celebrated the labor movement since the late 1800s.
The claim was true, according to a service contract between the state prison department and telemarketing company HBW Leads, embedded below.
The document originated in reporting by Oklahoma Watch, a nonprofit investigative journalism outlet, which published the article on Aug. 24, 2026.
One current inmate, Steve Wilbanks, was named as a source. Snopes confirmed Wilbanks was a prisoner at the James Crabtree Correctional Center in Helena and has been in state custody since 2015. Oklahoma Watch cited three other inmates used as sources anonymously.
According to the report, inmates earned $2 per hour at call centers located at four state prisons: James Crabtree, Mabel Bassett in McLoud and Lexington Correctional and Joseph Harp, both in Lexington.
According to the service contract, tasks inmates could perform were:
1. outbound calls related to marketing lead generation; and
2. conducting or assisting with political opinion polling, subject to applicable laws and regulations.
The contract further says Oklahoma Correctional Industries, a division of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections whose website says it “employs offenders who lack marketable job skills,” would earn $10 per hour of work per inmate. However, the contract states the corrections department can “withhold up to but not to exceed 80 percent of the wage rate per inmate hour worked,” which matches the rates reported.
The Oklahoma Watch piece stated:
BW Leads agreed to pay the Department of Corrections $10 per inmate hour worked. Prisoners employed at the call centers earn $2 per hour, plus possible bonuses for generating leads or completing surveys.
The remaining $8 per hour is allocated as overhead for Oklahoma Correctional Industries, a self-supporting sub-entity of the Department of Corrections that provides work programs and job training to inmates.
We reached out to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections for further comment on the report. We also asked for the specific reasoning behind inmate pay structure and why telemarketing doesn’t appear on the list of services provided by Oklahoma Correctional Industries. We’ll update this article if we hear back.
HBW Leads’ website identified the Oregon-based company as generating “insurance leads” gained through telemarketing on behalf of the clients who hire them. The website said, “Our lead specialists spend, on average, 4-7 minutes with each potential prospect asking them a series of qualifying questions on your behalf.”
HBW Leads made no mention of political calling on its website, but a subsidiary company operating out of Toledo, Ohio, Visible Trends, specializes in “polling, fundraising, legislative outreach, or GOTV,” referring to get-out-the-vote efforts.
A business search on the Ohio Secretary of State’s website confirmed Visible Trends to be registered by HBW Leads in January 2025.
(Ohio Secretary of State)
One of Oklahoma Watch’s sources said some of the statements they read during their telemarketing jobs specified that the calls were paid for by conservative super PAC Make Liberty Win, whose website described them as specializing “in mobilizing voters to engage in primary and general elections through direct voter contact.”
An FEC filing (archived) showed at least 38 payments totaling more than $400,000 from Make Liberty Win to Visible Trends between from March 2026 and June 2026, the same term length shown in the service contract between HBW Leads and the corrections department.
Though it was clear the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and HBW Leads had established a contract to use inmates as telemarketers, Snopes couldn’t independently verify whether the inmates made political calls on behalf of Make Liberty Win specifically.
Oklahoma Watch’s reported one of its sources said they made political calls that resembled push-polling, in which the caller purports to be asking survey questions but actually aims to influence voters, a practice generally frowned upon in campaigning.
We reached out to Make Liberty Win to ask whether it was aware of Visible Trends using prison laborers and will update this article if we hear back.
Oklahoma Watch reported that the super PAC’s executive director, Barrett Young, told the outlet that the group was unaware of the use of prison labor and has since canceled the contract for performance reasons.
