On Friday, July 27, 1973, two records were set that day.The temperature climbed to 96 degrees, the hottest day recorded that year, and a riot at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary became the worst prison riot in U.S. history. Read the true accounts: four inmates died, and twenty-three hostages were seized; several employees were injured, and some never recovered.

Dan M. Reynolds retired from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections in 2011, after serving 31 years. Positions he held during his career include correctional case manager, senior case manager, administrative assistant to a deputy director and warden, deputy warden, warden II, warden III, administrator of population management, assistant deputy director of the Security and Investigations Division, and administrator of community corrections. He served at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary on three separate tours. He earned a bachelors degreei n 1980, from Central State University and a master degree with honors in 2005, from the University of Central Oklahoma. He has served as a correctional consultant, independently and for the American Correctional Association, inspecting prisons throughout the United States.

He is a lifetime member of the Correctional Peace Officers Foundation and the Oklahoma Correctional Employees Memorial Foundation.