Gatesville State School
Encyclopedia
The Gatesville State School for Boys was a juvenile corrections facility in Gatesville
, Texas
. The 900 acres (364.2 ha) facility was converted into two prisons for adults, the Christina Crain Unit
(formerly Gatesville Unit), and the Hilltop Unit
.
established the House of Correction and Reformatory, the first rehabilitative juvenile correctional facility in the Southern United States
, in 1887. The facility, operated by the Texas Prison System, opened in January 1889 with 68 boys who had previously been located in correctional facilities with adult felons. The Victorian
reformers who opened the facility intended for the farmwork in the dry climate and the schooling to reform juvenile delinquents. At the beginning the institution also housed boys who did not commit any crimes, but had no family and no other place to live in. Children were previously housed in the Huntsville Unit, a prison which also housed adults, in Huntsville
.
Robert Perkinson, author of Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire, said that the institution gained "a reputation for ruthlessness" as decades passed. Gatesville, which served as the main juvenile detention facility for Texas since its opening, had a focus on labor instead of rehabilitation. Throughout the state school's history the state government did not appropriate sufficient funds, and the dormitories became overcrowded. Before the state school first opened, the reformatory officials complained about an influx of non-White children who they believed were not capable of being rehabilitated. Michael Jewell, a former Gatesville state school student who attended the school in 1961, said that long periods in solitary confinement, stoop labor, fights between gangs, beatings perpetrated by staff members, and sexual assault occurred at the facility. Perkinson said that Gatesville, intended to resemble the Elmira Correctional Facility
in Elmira, New York
, instead had an attitude similar to that of the Texas prison farm
s for adults.
In 1909 the legislature changed the facility's name to the State Institution for the Training of Juveniles and placed it under the control of a five member board of trustees. In 1913 a law that was passed renamed the facility to the State Juvenile Training School.
The 1913 Juvenile Act stated that White boys at Gatesville would be separated from boys of other races. In 1913 the school opened the "Negroes' Institute," facilities for Black boys.
In 1919 the newly-established State Board of Control began managing the state school. In 1939 the legislature named the juvenile correctional facility the Gatesville State School for Boys. In 1940 the Gatesville State School housed 767 boys who were under 17 at the time the state ordered them to attend the state school. At the time the boys conducted activities on a 900 acres (364.2 ha) tract of state-owned land and a 2700 acres (1,092.7 ha) tract of leased land. In 1949 the State Youth Development Council began to operate the Gatesville State School. In 1950 the state school had 406 boys. In 1957 the Texas Youth Council, now the Texas Youth Commission
, was established, replacing its predecessor agency. The Mountain View School for Boys opened on September 5, 1962, and chronic and serious juvenile delinquents were moved to Mountain View.
By 1970, the state school, with 1,830 boys, consisted of seven sub-schools: Hackberry, Hilltop, Live Oak, Riverside, Sycmore, Terrace, and Valley. Gatesville also housed the reception center for boys entering TYC. In 1971 a class-action lawsuit was filed against the Texas Youth Council on behalf of the children in TYC facilities. In 1974 the school had 1,500 boys over 250 staff members. During that year, federal judge William Wayne Justice
ruled on Morales v. Turman. Justice said that the operations of the state schools consisted of cruel and unusual practices that violated the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution
. Justice ordered TYC to close the Gatesville State School and the Mountain View State School and to redesign the agency's juvenile corrections system. Gatesville State School closed in 1979. The boys moved to smaller state schools, foster and group homes, halfway houses, and residential treatment centers. The state schools taking juvenile offenders included Brownwood
State School (now Ron Jackson), Crockett State School
in Crockett
, Gainesville State School
near Gainesville
, Giddings State School
near Giddings
, and West Texas Children's Home of Pyote
near Pyote
.
The Texas Department of Corrections purchased the former state school lands. In 1980 the Live Oak, Riverside, Sycamore, Terrace, and Valley schools became the Gatesville Unit (now the Christina Crain Unit
), a women's prison, and the Hackberry and the Hilltop schools became the Hilltop Unit
, a men's prison.
, allowing it to get funding for school supplies and teacher salaries.
still uses many buildings that were a part of the original House of Correction and Reformatory. A graveyard with sixteen graves containing the remains of children in the state school who died during their stay is located across Business Texas State Highway 36 from the Hilltop Unit.
Gatesville, Texas
Gatesville is a city in and the county seat of Coryell County in Central Texas, United States of America. The population was 15,591 at the 2000 census...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. The 900 acres (364.2 ha) facility was converted into two prisons for adults, the Christina Crain Unit
Christina Crain Unit
The Christina Melton Crain Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison for females in Gatesville, Texas. The prison is along Texas State Highway 36, north of central Gatesville. The unit, with about of space, is co-located with the Hilltop Unit, the Dr. Lane Murray Unit, and the Linda...
(formerly Gatesville Unit), and the Hilltop Unit
Hilltop Unit
The Hilltop Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison for women located in Gatesville, Texas. It is located on Business Texas State Highway 36, north of Downtown Gatesville. Hilltop sites on an approximately plot of land and is co-located with the Crain, Murray, and Woodman units...
.
History
The Texas LegislatureTexas Legislature
The Legislature of the state of Texas is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The Legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin...
established the House of Correction and Reformatory, the first rehabilitative juvenile correctional facility in the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, in 1887. The facility, operated by the Texas Prison System, opened in January 1889 with 68 boys who had previously been located in correctional facilities with adult felons. The Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
reformers who opened the facility intended for the farmwork in the dry climate and the schooling to reform juvenile delinquents. At the beginning the institution also housed boys who did not commit any crimes, but had no family and no other place to live in. Children were previously housed in the Huntsville Unit, a prison which also housed adults, in Huntsville
Huntsville, Texas
Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas, United States. The population was 35,508 at the 2010 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area....
.
Robert Perkinson, author of Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire, said that the institution gained "a reputation for ruthlessness" as decades passed. Gatesville, which served as the main juvenile detention facility for Texas since its opening, had a focus on labor instead of rehabilitation. Throughout the state school's history the state government did not appropriate sufficient funds, and the dormitories became overcrowded. Before the state school first opened, the reformatory officials complained about an influx of non-White children who they believed were not capable of being rehabilitated. Michael Jewell, a former Gatesville state school student who attended the school in 1961, said that long periods in solitary confinement, stoop labor, fights between gangs, beatings perpetrated by staff members, and sexual assault occurred at the facility. Perkinson said that Gatesville, intended to resemble the Elmira Correctional Facility
Elmira Correctional Facility
Elmira Correctional Facility, known otherwise as "the Hill", is a maximum security prison located in New York in the USA. The prison is located in Chemung County, New York in the City of Elmira...
in Elmira, New York
Elmira, New York
Elmira is a city in Chemung County, New York, USA. It is the principal city of the 'Elmira, New York Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses Chemung County, New York. The population was 29,200 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Chemung County.The City of Elmira is located in...
, instead had an attitude similar to that of the Texas prison farm
Prison farm
A prison farm is a large correctional facility where penal labor convicts are put to economical use in a 'farm' , usually for manual labour, largely in open air, such as in agriculture, logging, quarrying, etc...
s for adults.
In 1909 the legislature changed the facility's name to the State Institution for the Training of Juveniles and placed it under the control of a five member board of trustees. In 1913 a law that was passed renamed the facility to the State Juvenile Training School.
The 1913 Juvenile Act stated that White boys at Gatesville would be separated from boys of other races. In 1913 the school opened the "Negroes' Institute," facilities for Black boys.
In 1919 the newly-established State Board of Control began managing the state school. In 1939 the legislature named the juvenile correctional facility the Gatesville State School for Boys. In 1940 the Gatesville State School housed 767 boys who were under 17 at the time the state ordered them to attend the state school. At the time the boys conducted activities on a 900 acres (364.2 ha) tract of state-owned land and a 2700 acres (1,092.7 ha) tract of leased land. In 1949 the State Youth Development Council began to operate the Gatesville State School. In 1950 the state school had 406 boys. In 1957 the Texas Youth Council, now the Texas Youth Commission
Texas Youth Commission
The Texas Youth Commission is a Texas state agency which operates juvenile corrections facilities in the state. The commission is headquartered in the Brown-Heatly Building in Austin...
, was established, replacing its predecessor agency. The Mountain View School for Boys opened on September 5, 1962, and chronic and serious juvenile delinquents were moved to Mountain View.
By 1970, the state school, with 1,830 boys, consisted of seven sub-schools: Hackberry, Hilltop, Live Oak, Riverside, Sycmore, Terrace, and Valley. Gatesville also housed the reception center for boys entering TYC. In 1971 a class-action lawsuit was filed against the Texas Youth Council on behalf of the children in TYC facilities. In 1974 the school had 1,500 boys over 250 staff members. During that year, federal judge William Wayne Justice
William Wayne Justice
William Wayne Justice was an American jurist. He served as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas and a Senior United States District Judge for the Western District of Texas....
ruled on Morales v. Turman. Justice said that the operations of the state schools consisted of cruel and unusual practices that violated the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights which prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that this amendment's Cruel and Unusual...
. Justice ordered TYC to close the Gatesville State School and the Mountain View State School and to redesign the agency's juvenile corrections system. Gatesville State School closed in 1979. The boys moved to smaller state schools, foster and group homes, halfway houses, and residential treatment centers. The state schools taking juvenile offenders included Brownwood
Brownwood, Texas
Brownwood is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, Texas, United States. The population was 18,813 at the 2000 census.-History:The original site of the Brown County seat of Brownwood was on the east of Pecan Bayou. A dispute arose over land and water rights, and the settlers were forced...
State School (now Ron Jackson), Crockett State School
Crockett State School
The Crockett State School was a Texas Youth Commission juvenile correctional facility in Crockett, Texas. The students at the state school had committed various crimes, including property crimes and crimes against persons...
in Crockett
Crockett, Texas
Crockett is a city in Houston County, Texas, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 7,141. It is the county seat of Houston County.- History :...
, Gainesville State School
Gainesville State School
The Gainesville State School is a juvenile correctional facility of the Texas Youth Commission in unincorporated Cooke County, Texas, near Gainesville. The fenced, maximum security state school is located on a tract east of Gatesville, north of Dallas, along Farm to Market Road 678 and near...
near Gainesville
Gainesville, Texas
Gainesville is a city in and the county seat of Cooke County, Texas, United States. The population was 15,538 at the 2000 census.-History:...
, Giddings State School
Giddings State School
Giddings State School is a juvenile correctional facility of the Texas Youth Commission located in unincorporated Lee County, Texas, near Giddings. As of 2004 the state school was Lee County's largest employer.-History:...
near Giddings
Giddings, Texas
Giddings is the county seat of Lee County, Texas, United States situated on the intersection of U.S. Highways 77 and 290, east of Austin. Its population was 5,105 at the 2000 census. The city's motto is "Giddings Texas: Experience Hometown Hospitality"....
, and West Texas Children's Home of Pyote
West Texas State School
The West Texas State School was a juvenile detention facility operated by the Texas Youth Commission. It is located in unincorporated central Ward County, Texas, along the southwestern edge of Pyote. The facility, located on Interstate 20, was located between El Paso and Midland...
near Pyote
Pyote, Texas
Pyote is a town in Ward County, Texas, United States. The population was 131 at the 2000 census.-History:Pyote began as a small town. Its fortunes rose with oil, but its population decreased when the railroad was built away from the town. At one time Pyote had 3,500 residents...
.
The Texas Department of Corrections purchased the former state school lands. In 1980 the Live Oak, Riverside, Sycamore, Terrace, and Valley schools became the Gatesville Unit (now the Christina Crain Unit
Christina Crain Unit
The Christina Melton Crain Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison for females in Gatesville, Texas. The prison is along Texas State Highway 36, north of central Gatesville. The unit, with about of space, is co-located with the Hilltop Unit, the Dr. Lane Murray Unit, and the Linda...
), a women's prison, and the Hackberry and the Hilltop schools became the Hilltop Unit
Hilltop Unit
The Hilltop Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison for women located in Gatesville, Texas. It is located on Business Texas State Highway 36, north of Downtown Gatesville. Hilltop sites on an approximately plot of land and is co-located with the Crain, Murray, and Woodman units...
, a men's prison.
Education
In 1915 the Texas State Board of Education certified the state school as an independent school districtIndependent school district
An independent school district is a type of school district in the United States for primary and secondary education, which operates as an entity that is independent and separate from any municipality, county, or state...
, allowing it to get funding for school supplies and teacher salaries.
Student culture
The school newspaper, State Boys, started in 1914. William S. Bush, author of Who Gets a Childhood?: Race and Juvenile Justice in Twentieth-Century Texas, said that the school newspaper's main purpose was to serve as a pro-prison administration propaganda organ.Legacy
The Hilltop UnitHilltop Unit
The Hilltop Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison for women located in Gatesville, Texas. It is located on Business Texas State Highway 36, north of Downtown Gatesville. Hilltop sites on an approximately plot of land and is co-located with the Crain, Murray, and Woodman units...
still uses many buildings that were a part of the original House of Correction and Reformatory. A graveyard with sixteen graves containing the remains of children in the state school who died during their stay is located across Business Texas State Highway 36 from the Hilltop Unit.
Notable residents
- David Resendez Ruíz (plaintiff of Ruiz v. EstelleRuiz v. EstelleRuiz v. Estelle, 503 F. Supp. 1265 , filed in United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, eventually became the most far-reaching lawsuit on the conditions of prison incarceration in American history...
) - First arrived in 1954, had four sessions in Gatesville
Works cited
- Bush, William S. Who Gets a Childhood?: Race and Juvenile Justice in Twentieth-Century Texas University of Georgia PressUniversity of Georgia PressThe University of Georgia Press or UGA Press is a publishing house and is a member of the Association of American University Presses.Founded in 1938, the UGA Press is a division of the University of Georgia and is located on the campus in Athens, Georgia, USA...
, 2010. ISBN 0820337196, 9780820337197.
External links
- "Texas House of Correction and Reformatory: An Inventory of Reports at the Texas State Archives, 1890-1892." Texas State Library and Archives CommissionTexas State Library and Archives CommissionThe Texas State Library and Archives Commission refers to the agency in the state of Texas that is charged with overseeing and assisting with state-wide library programs, meeting the reading-related needs of Texans with disabilities, and finally preserving and providing access to significant Texas...
.