There are a few units under the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or TDCJ. One of the most interesting ones is the Allan B. Polunsky Unit, which is also better known as TDCJ Polunsky Unit. The reason why it is interesting and is popular is because it houses male death-row inmates. In case you are interested in this unit, keep reading the post.
Details
- Unit full name: Allan B. Polunsky Unit
- Inmate gender: Male
- Address: 3872 FM 350 South Livingston, TX 77351 United States
- Status: Operational
- Security class: G1-G5, Administrative Segregation, Death Row
- Opened: November 1993
- Managed by: TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division
- Warden: Daniel Dickerson
- Regional director: Joel Gauna, Region I
- Deputy division director: Eric Guerrero
- Capacity: 2,984
- Total employees: 554
- Security employees: 388
- Non-security employees: 102
- Windham education employees: 12
- Contract medical and mental health employees: 45 (medical), 7 (mental health)
- County: Polk County
- Country: United States
- Phone: (936) 967-8082 (**054)
- Website: www.tdcj.state.tx.us/unit_directory/tl.html
- Facebook Page
Notable Inmates
- Marvin Lee Wilson
- Steven Michael Woods, Jr.
- Cameron Todd Willingham
- Ponchai Wilkerson
- Melvin White
- Coy Wesbrook
- Adam Kelly Ward
- Pablo Lucio Vasquez
- Edgar Tamayo
- Shannon Charles Thomas
- Tommy Lynn Sells
- Rosendo Rodriguez III
- Michael Anthony Rodriguez
- George Rivas
- Angel Maturino Resendiz
- Robert Lynn Pruett
- Michael James Perry
- Derrick Sean O’Brien
- Donald Keith Newbury
- Jose Medellin
- Jesus Ledesma Aguilar
- Gary Graham or Shaka Sankofa
- Juan Martin Garcia
- Gustavo Julian Garcia
- James Garrett Freeman
- Jeffrey Dillingham
- James Lee Clark
- Peter Anthony Cantu
- Lawrence Russell Brewer
- John David Battaglia
- John William King
- Quintin Phillippe Jones
- Andre Thomas
- Robert Gene Will
- Eric Lyle Williams
- Faryion Wardrip
- Walter Alexander Sorto
- Hank Skinner
- Victor Saldano
- Rodney Reed
- Patrick Henry Murphy, Jr.
- Ali Irsan
- Ronald Lee Haskell
- Randy Ethan Halprin
- Edgardo Cubas
- Arthur Brown Jr.
Map Location
TDCJ – Allan B. Polunsky Unit
TDCJ – Allan B. Polunsky UnitAllan B. Polunsky Unit is the name of the prison that is operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or TDCJ. The name Allan B. Polunsky was after Allan B. Polunsky, who used to be known as the chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice and chairman of the Public Safety Commission. In the past, it was named Terrell Unit. It was renamed to Allan B. Polunsky on July 20, 2001.
Read also: About TDCJ eCommDirect
The Polunsky Unit was opened in November 1993. In the past, it was not associated with the death penalty as the male death row inmates of the state were housed at the Ellis Unit close to Huntsville. Five years after it was opened, a death row inmate in the Ellis Unit named Martin Gurule escaped. The man drowned in a creek and he was found a week after that. Due to the incident, the TDCJ decided to move the death row for men to the Polunsky Unit. The move happened on June 18, 1999. At the beginning, the number of inmates that were moved was only 55. All of them were considered troublesome.
There are 25 buildings in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit, which include a kitchen, a medical treatment clinic, psych interview rooms, and classification office space. The place is surrounded by fields and forests. It was designed to house about 3,900 prisoners who are more problematic and dangerous. According to the history, it housed administrative segregation offenders or offenders in solitary confinement due to chronic misbehavior or violence. As for the building for death row inmates, it is separate from the rest of the compound. It is stated that these death row inmates reside in Building 12, a 2-story facility. There are three rectangular sections and one recreational area in this building. The inmates who live there are placed in a single, 60-square-foot cell. There are 504 cells for them in total. In every cell, there is a slit window and a concrete door. In order to keep temperatures inside at 85 degree Fahrenheit or 29 degree Celsius or below, there is a tempered air system.
Unlike other inmates, death row inmates do not get programming. Aside from that, they are also not allowed to work. For the meals, they get them through bean slots, gates in the cell doors. Every time they are not seen, for instance when they have to do their business, they will get searched. Basically, death row inmates are treated differently from others. When it comes to the clothes, they wear white jumpsuits with the letters DR in black on the backs.
With such bad circumstances, Allan B. Polunsky Unit is known as a stressful prison for not only the inmates but also for visitors and employees. Actually, it is not the only factor, as the wait times that the inmates have before execution also play a big part. These things make the mentality of them, especially the inmates, down. Most of them tend to lose their sanity. In fact, some of them preferred to commit suicide or waive their appeals instead of living under such conditions. In the book by Bruce Jackson and Diane Christian called This Timeless Time: Living and Dying on Death Row in America, it is stated that every time a condemned prisoner goes anywhere outside their cell, they must back up to the door, drop to their knees, and extend their hands backward through the narrow slow to be handcuffed. After that, they have to stand, turn around, and wait for the door to be opened. This kind of thing is clearly hard and painful for the older ones that have arthritis.
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