Polunsky Unit
Encyclopedia
Allan B. Polunsky Unit (TL, formerly the Terrell Unit) is a prison in West Livingston
, unincorporated
Polk County, Texas, located approximately 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Livingston
along Farm to Market Road 350. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice
operates the facility. The unit houses the State of Texas death row
, and it has a maximum capacity of 2,900. Livingston Municipal Airport
is located on the other side of FM 350. The unit, along the Big Thicket
, is 60 miles (96.6 km) east of Huntsville
. Polunsky houses Texas's "supermax
" units.
Polunsky was named after Allan B. Polunsky, a former chairperson of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice who is now the chairperson of the Public Safety Commission, the governing board of the Texas Department of Public Safety
.
, escaped. He was later found dead in a location near the prison grounds.
After the incident occurred, the TDCJ considered moving the death row for men, and the Terrell Unit was the favored choice for the relocation. According to the TDCJ, the prison escape attempt had hastened the agency's decision to move death row inmates to a new location. Six months after the escape attempt, the TDCJ decided to move the death row. Polunsky took the death row inmates in 1999. The death row transfer, which began in March 1999 and took ten months, was the largest transfer of condemned prisoners in history and was performed under heavy security.
In February 2000 two death row inmates took a 57-year old female corrections officer hostage, forcing negotiations involving the warden. One of the hostage-takers, Ponchai Wilkerson
(TDCJ#999011), was scheduled to be executed on March 14, 2000 and was later executed on that date. The other, Howard Guidry, had no scheduled execution date. Guidry remains on death row.
On May 9, 2000, 33-year old death row inmate Juan Salvez Soria (TDCJ#837), who was scheduled to be executed on July 26, 2000, pulled the arm of 78-year old William Paul Westbrook, a prison chaplain from Livingston
, into his cell. The offender tied a sheet around the chaplain's arm and tied the other end to a toilet; Soria then began cutting Westbrook's arm with a razor blade. The offender nearly tore the arm off of Westbrook. The authorities used tear gas to stop the attack. Authorities treated Soria's former cell as a crime scene and moved Soria to a more restricted area within the prison. Soria was executed on his scheduled date.
The Texas Board unanimously approved giving former Terrell Unit its current name, Allan B. Polunsky Unit, on July 20, 2001. The board also voted to rename the Ramsey III Unit in Brazoria County, Texas
to the Terrell Unit
. The former namesake, a Dallas insurance executive named Charles Terrell, requested the name change because he did not want his name associated with death row because of questions about the administration of the death penalty. In addition he felt ambivalent about whether the death penalty was a correct deterrent. In exchange the former Ramsey III Unit in was renamed the Terrell Unit.
In 2010 the TDCJ accused five men who were serving life sentences of attempting to break out of the unit. Robert Perkinson, author of Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire, said in 2010 that Polunsky "probably" is "the hardest place to do time in Texas." Perkinson added that while the prison is not in a "gloomy" location and that the facility is not "dangerously dilapidated," the prison's "existential" "problem" is the fact that it is the state death row.
described Polunsky as "a somber complex of putty-gray concrete buildings trimmed in blue on 470 fenced acres." Miriam Rozen of the Houston Press
said that the unit "sits amid the same kind of lush, green and hilly East Texas
terrain that surrounds Governor
Bush
's lake house 100 miles to the north in Athens
."
The Polunsky Unit was designed to house more problematic and dangerous inmates; the officials designed the unit to be more secure than the older TDCJ units. Throughout its history the unit housed administrative segregation offenders (offenders in solitary confinement due to chronic misbehavior or violence). The building housing death row inmates is separate from the rest of the compound. Polunsky has a kitchen, a medical treatment clinic, psych interview rooms, and classification office space. Robert Perkinson, author of Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire, said that Polunsky, a white concrete building with blue steel supports, is "functionally designed and pleasantly asymmetrical" and that a person would mistake the building for a community college
"if not for the three-inch window slits."
. The offenders receive individual recreation in a caged area. Depending on the custody level, death row offenders may be eligible for having radios. Death row inmates wear white jumpsuits, the death row uniforms have the letters "DR" in black on the backs.
Perkinson said that the wait times that the offenders have before execution make the prison stressful for the inmates, visitors, and employees. Jonathan Bruce Reed (TDCJ Death Row #642), a death row offender, said that the mentality of the death row unit is "we keep you kenneled until your date." Larry Todd, a spokesperson of the prison, said that "when a person walks on to death row, there is a sense of change. It's just a different atmosphere."
Photographs have since appeared on the internet showing the delapidated and run down state of the cells. Many have stained and dirty walls and floors and some have scorch and burn marks around them. Toilets are open and beside the bed. There is little room to the inmate to store his belongings. Beds are of inadequate size for grown males. All cells are claustrophobic and specifically designed to minimise contact with other inmates. Unlike female death row inmates in Texas men are not allowed television. Radio clarity varies and some inmates are not allowed a radio. Many books are also banned.
.
Polunsky is also a setting of the book "The Confession" by John Grisham
Life sentence:
West Livingston, Texas
West Livingston is a census-designated place in western Polk County, Texas, United States, located along the eastern shore of Lake Livingston west of central Livingston. The population was 6,612 at the 2000 census. West Livingston has the Livingston Municipal Airport and the Texas Department of...
, unincorporated
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
Polk County, Texas, located approximately 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Livingston
Livingston, Texas
Livingston is a town in Polk County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,433 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Polk County. Livingston was settled in 1835 as Springfield. Its name was changed to Livingston and became the county seat of Polk County in 1846.The Alabama-Coushatta...
along Farm to Market Road 350. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities, funding and certain...
operates the facility. The unit houses the State of Texas death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
, and it has a maximum capacity of 2,900. Livingston Municipal Airport
Livingston Municipal Airport (Texas)
Livingston Municipal Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located five nautical miles southwest of the central business district of Livingston, a city in Polk County, Texas, United States...
is located on the other side of FM 350. The unit, along the Big Thicket
Big Thicket
The Big Thicket is the name of a heavily forested area in Southeast Texas. While no exact boundaries exist, the area occupies much of Hardin County, Liberty, Tyler, San Jacinto, and Polk Counties and is roughly bounded by the San Jacinto River, Neches River, and Pine Island Bayou. To the north, it...
, is 60 miles (96.6 km) east of 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....
. Polunsky houses Texas's "supermax
Supermax
Supermax is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries...
" units.
Polunsky was named after Allan B. Polunsky, a former chairperson of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice who is now the chairperson of the Public Safety Commission, the governing board of the Texas Department of Public Safety
Texas Department of Public Safety
The Texas Department of Public Safety is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The DPS is responsible for statewide law enforcement and vehicle regulation. The Public Safety Commission oversees the DPS. Its five members are appointed by the Governor of Texas and confirmed by the...
.
History
The Terrell Unit opened in November 1993 with the intention of it eventually taking all male death row inmates in Texas. At the time of its opening the public did not associate the prison with the death penalty. In November 1998 Martin Gurule, a death row inmate in the Ellis UnitEllis Unit
O. B. Ellis Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison located in unincorporated Walker County, Texas, north of Huntsville. The unit, with about of space, now houses up to 2,400 male prisoners. Ellis is situated in a wooded area shared with the Estelle Unit, which is located away...
, escaped. He was later found dead in a location near the prison grounds.
After the incident occurred, the TDCJ considered moving the death row for men, and the Terrell Unit was the favored choice for the relocation. According to the TDCJ, the prison escape attempt had hastened the agency's decision to move death row inmates to a new location. Six months after the escape attempt, the TDCJ decided to move the death row. Polunsky took the death row inmates in 1999. The death row transfer, which began in March 1999 and took ten months, was the largest transfer of condemned prisoners in history and was performed under heavy security.
In February 2000 two death row inmates took a 57-year old female corrections officer hostage, forcing negotiations involving the warden. One of the hostage-takers, Ponchai Wilkerson
Ponchai Wilkerson
Ponchai Wilkerson was a convicted murderer executed by lethal injection by the U.S. state of Texas. He was convicted for the November 28, 1990 murder of jeweler Chung Myong Yi...
(TDCJ#999011), was scheduled to be executed on March 14, 2000 and was later executed on that date. The other, Howard Guidry, had no scheduled execution date. Guidry remains on death row.
On May 9, 2000, 33-year old death row inmate Juan Salvez Soria (TDCJ#837), who was scheduled to be executed on July 26, 2000, pulled the arm of 78-year old William Paul Westbrook, a prison chaplain from Livingston
Livingston, Texas
Livingston is a town in Polk County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,433 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Polk County. Livingston was settled in 1835 as Springfield. Its name was changed to Livingston and became the county seat of Polk County in 1846.The Alabama-Coushatta...
, into his cell. The offender tied a sheet around the chaplain's arm and tied the other end to a toilet; Soria then began cutting Westbrook's arm with a razor blade. The offender nearly tore the arm off of Westbrook. The authorities used tear gas to stop the attack. Authorities treated Soria's former cell as a crime scene and moved Soria to a more restricted area within the prison. Soria was executed on his scheduled date.
The Texas Board unanimously approved giving former Terrell Unit its current name, Allan B. Polunsky Unit, on July 20, 2001. The board also voted to rename the Ramsey III Unit in Brazoria County, Texas
Brazoria County, Texas
Brazoria County[p] is a county in the U.S. state of Texas, located on the Gulf Coast within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. Regionally, parts of the county are within the extreme southern-most fringe of the regions locally known as Southeast Texas. Brazoria County is among a...
to the Terrell Unit
Terrell Unit
The Charles T. Terrell Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison located in unincorporated Brazoria County, Texas. The facility is located on Farm to Market Road 655, west of Farm to Market Road 521. The prison, has about of land, is co-located with Ramsey Unit and Stringfellow Unit...
. The former namesake, a Dallas insurance executive named Charles Terrell, requested the name change because he did not want his name associated with death row because of questions about the administration of the death penalty. In addition he felt ambivalent about whether the death penalty was a correct deterrent. In exchange the former Ramsey III Unit in was renamed the Terrell Unit.
In 2010 the TDCJ accused five men who were serving life sentences of attempting to break out of the unit. Robert Perkinson, author of Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire, said in 2010 that Polunsky "probably" is "the hardest place to do time in Texas." Perkinson added that while the prison is not in a "gloomy" location and that the facility is not "dangerously dilapidated," the prison's "existential" "problem" is the fact that it is the state death row.
Operations
The 584000 square foot facility has twenty-three buildings. David Casstevens of the Fort Worth Star-TelegramFort Worth Star-Telegram
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is a major U.S. daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. Its area of domination is checked by its main rival, The Dallas Morning News, which is published from the eastern half of the Metroplex. It is owned...
described Polunsky as "a somber complex of putty-gray concrete buildings trimmed in blue on 470 fenced acres." Miriam Rozen of the Houston Press
Houston Press
The Houston Press is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in Downtown Houston....
said that the unit "sits amid the same kind of lush, green and hilly East Texas
East Texas
East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone...
terrain that surrounds Governor
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's lake house 100 miles to the north in Athens
Athens, Texas
Athens is a city in Henderson County, Texas, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,710. It is the county seat of Henderson County. According to the Texas Legislature, Athens is the "Original Home of the Hamburger"...
."
The Polunsky Unit was designed to house more problematic and dangerous inmates; the officials designed the unit to be more secure than the older TDCJ units. Throughout its history the unit housed administrative segregation offenders (offenders in solitary confinement due to chronic misbehavior or violence). The building housing death row inmates is separate from the rest of the compound. Polunsky has a kitchen, a medical treatment clinic, psych interview rooms, and classification office space. Robert Perkinson, author of Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire, said that Polunsky, a white concrete building with blue steel supports, is "functionally designed and pleasantly asymmetrical" and that a person would mistake the building for a community college
Community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
"if not for the three-inch window slits."
Death row operations
The death row prisoners reside in Building 12, a two story facility which opened in 1993 to house administrative segregation prisoners. The death row offenders live in single person, 60 square foot cells, with each cell having a window. Death row offenders receive no programming and are not allowed to work. Death row prisoners receive meals through bean slots, gates in the cell doors. Whenever an offender is taken from his cell, such as when the offender goes to take a shower, the offender is strip searchedStrip search
A strip search is the stripping of a person to check for weapons or other contraband.-Legality of strip searches:...
. The offenders receive individual recreation in a caged area. Depending on the custody level, death row offenders may be eligible for having radios. Death row inmates wear white jumpsuits, the death row uniforms have the letters "DR" in black on the backs.
Perkinson said that the wait times that the offenders have before execution make the prison stressful for the inmates, visitors, and employees. Jonathan Bruce Reed (TDCJ Death Row #642), a death row offender, said that the mentality of the death row unit is "we keep you kenneled until your date." Larry Todd, a spokesperson of the prison, said that "when a person walks on to death row, there is a sense of change. It's just a different atmosphere."
Photographs have since appeared on the internet showing the delapidated and run down state of the cells. Many have stained and dirty walls and floors and some have scorch and burn marks around them. Toilets are open and beside the bed. There is little room to the inmate to store his belongings. Beds are of inadequate size for grown males. All cells are claustrophobic and specifically designed to minimise contact with other inmates. Unlike female death row inmates in Texas men are not allowed television. Radio clarity varies and some inmates are not allowed a radio. Many books are also banned.
Polunsky in the media
Polunsky is a setting of the book Blow Fly by Patricia CornwellPatricia Cornwell
Patricia Cornwell is a contemporary American crime writer. She is widely known for writing a popular series of novels featuring the heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner.-Early life:...
.
Polunsky is also a setting of the book "The Confession" by John Grisham
Notable inmates
Death row:- Lawrence Russell Brewer (murderer of James Byrd, Jr.) Executed on September 21, 2011.
- Peter Cantu (perpetrator of the murder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth PeñaMurder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth PeñaThe murder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña, two teenage girls from Houston, Texas, occurred on June 24, 1993. The murder of the two girls made headlines in Texas newspapers due to the nature of the crime and the new law resulting from the murder that allows families of the victims to view the...
) - Transferred from Ellis UnitEllis UnitO. B. Ellis Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison located in unincorporated Walker County, Texas, north of Huntsville. The unit, with about of space, now houses up to 2,400 male prisoners. Ellis is situated in a wooded area shared with the Estelle Unit, which is located away...
, Executed on August 17, 2010 - Billie Wayne Coble - Vicha family murders.
- Joseph C. Garcia (member of the Texas 7)
- Randy Ethan Halprin (member of the Texas 7)
- John William King (murderer of James Byrd, Jr.)
- Humberto Leal GarciaHumberto Leal GarciaHumberto Leal García, Jr. was a Mexican inmate on death row in the U.S. state of Texas for the May 21, 1994, rape, torture, and murder of Adria Sauceda in San Antonio. Despite calls from U.S. President Barack Obama, the U.S...
- Transferred from Ellis Unit, Executed on July 7, 2011. - José MedellínJosé MedellínJosé Ernesto Medellín, born in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, was a Mexican national who was executed for the murder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña in Texas in the United States....
(perpetrator of the murder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña) - Transferred from Ellis Unit, Executed on August 5, 2008 - Donald Keith Newbury (member of the Texas 7)
- Derrick Sean O'Brien (perpetrator of the murder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña) - Transferred from Ellis Unit, Executed on July 11, 2006
- Ángel Maturino ReséndizÁngel Maturino ReséndizAngel Maturino Reséndiz, aka The Railroad Killer/The Railway Killer , was an itinerant Mexican serial killer responsible for as many as thirty murders across the United States and Mexico during the 1990s. Some also involved sexual assault...
- Executed on June 27, 2006 - George Rivas (member of the Texas 7)
- Michael Anthony Rodriguez (member of the Texas 7) - Executed on August 14, 2008.
- Tommy Lynn SellsTommy Lynn Sells-Early life:Sells and his twin sister, Tammy Jean, contracted meningitis when they were 18 months old. While Sells suffered a high fever, he survived. His sister, however, died from the inflammation. Shortly thereafter, Sells was sent to live with his aunt Bonnie Woodall in Holcomb, Missouri...
- Hank SkinnerHank SkinnerHenry Watkins "Hank" Skinner was convicted of bludgeoning to death his live-in girlfriend, Twila Busby, and stabbing to death her two adult sons, Randy Busby and Elwin Caler. The murders occurred on December 31, 1993 at 801 East Campbell Avenue in Pampa, Texas...
- Transferred from Ellis Unit - Shannon Charles ThomasShannon Charles ThomasShannon Charles Thomas was a murderer executed by lethal injection by the U.S. state of Texas. He was convicted of the Christmas Eve, 1993 murder of 10-year-old Maria Rios and her 11-year-old brother, Victor Rios, in their Baytown, Texas home.- Crime :Thomas and Keith Bernard Clay's intention on...
- Transferred from Ellis Unit, Executed on November 16, 2005 - Cameron Todd Willingham - Transferred from Ellis Unit, Executed on February 17, 2004
- Ponchai WilkersonPonchai WilkersonPonchai Wilkerson was a convicted murderer executed by lethal injection by the U.S. state of Texas. He was convicted for the November 28, 1990 murder of jeweler Chung Myong Yi...
- Steven Michael Woods, Jr. Executed September 13, 2011
Life sentence:
- Matthew Dee Baker (former preacher convicted of killing his wife)
- Steven Jay RussellSteven Jay RussellSteven Jay Russell is a U.S. con artist and impostor, known for escaping from prison multiple times. He has received numerous nicknames, including "Houdini" and "King Con." A film about his life and crimes was produced in 2009, named I Love You Phillip Morris, starring Jim Carrey as Steven Jay...
- Multiple escapee con artist.Texas Department of Criminal JusticeTexas Department of Criminal JusticeThe Texas Department of Criminal Justice is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities, funding and certain...
# 00760259,
External links
- Polunsky Unit - Texas Department of Criminal JusticeTexas Department of Criminal JusticeThe Texas Department of Criminal Justice is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities, funding and certain...
- List of inmates at the Polunsky Unit - The Texas TribuneThe Texas TribuneThe Texas Tribune is a nonprofit news organization headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas, devoted to state government and public policy. It aims to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events...
- Mann, Dave. "Solitary Men." Texas Observer. Wednesday November 10, 2010.
- Desel, Jeremy. "Authorities: Cop killer among inmates in attempted prison escape." KHOUKHOUKHOU may refer to:* KHOU , a television station licensed to Houston, Texas, United States* the ICAO airport code for William P. Hobby Airport...
. January 30, 2010.