Oklahoma Code § 12-397

Title 12. Civil Procedure: Prisoner as witness or complaining or defending party -
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Writ of habeas corpus.
A.  A person confined in any prison in this state may by order
of any court of record, be required to be produced for oral
examination as a witness by the court in the county where he is
imprisoned, but in all other cases his examination must be by
deposition.
B.  Any person or a prisoner confined in any prison or jail in
this state who is the complaining party or defending party in any
form of a civil action may apply for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for the
purpose of having the prisoner appear before the court for an
evidentiary hearing in which the court shall take testimony from the
prisoner.  The custodian of the prisoner shall be given prior notice
of the application and fifteen (15) days to respond prior to the
decision of the court.  If the court issues such writ, it shall be
issued and delivered to the custodian of the prisoner at least

fifteen (15) days prior to the date the prisoner is to appear, shall
order the custodian to be paid for all costs of transportation and
shall order the prisoner to be delivered to the court named in the
writ.  The court shall not consider a writ of habeas corpus ad
testificandum except for a hearing on the merits of the civil
action.  The court shall not award attorney fees and costs to the
prevailing party in this matter.  All pretrial hearings for the
civil action that involve a prisoner shall be conducted by
telephone, deposition or video conference.
C.  If upon application, the court issues a Writ of Habeas
Corpus as provided in subsection B of this section, it shall order
the person applying for such writ or other appropriate party to pay
to the custodian executing the writ all costs of transporting the
prisoner to and from the court.  No court shall waive the
requirement to pay the costs of transportation to the custodian.
The writ shall also serve as a judgment against the prisoner, if the
prisoner is the party ordered to pay transportation costs or was the
party seeking the writ, and may be enforced by the detaining
governmental unit without further order of any court for a period of
five (5) years after the date of the writ.  The custodian executing
the release shall notify the prisoner and the court, at the time of
delivery, of the costs of transportation.
D.  Any writ that fails to comply with all of the requirements
of this section shall be void and unenforceable and no officer or
employee of the custodian shall be liable for failing to execute
said writ.
R.L. 1910, § 5062.  Amended by Laws 1993, c. 174, § 1, emerg. eff.
May 10, 1993; Laws 2002, c. 402, § 2, eff. July 1, 2002; Laws 2004,
c. 168, § 2, emerg. eff. April 27, 2004; Laws 2005, c. 159, § 2,
emerg. eff. May 10, 2005.
NOTE:  Laws 2004, c. 168, § 18, providing for an effective date of
Nov. 1, 2004, was repealed by Laws 2004, c. 382, § 4, emerg. eff.
June 3, 2004.

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