Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville or Huntsville Unit (HV), nicknamed "Walls Unit", is a Texas state

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

located in

Huntsville, Texas Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas. The population was 45,941 as of the 2020 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area. Huntsville is in the East Texas Piney Woods on Interstate 45 and home ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The approximately facility, near downtown Huntsville, is operated by the Correctional Institutions Division of the

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails ...

. The facility, the oldest Texas state prison, opened in 1849. The unit houses the

execution chamber An execution chamber, or death chamber, is a room or chamber in which capital punishment is carried out. Execution chambers are almost always inside the walls of a maximum-security prison, although not always at the same prison where the death r ...

of the State of Texas. It is the most active execution chamber in the United States, with 578 (as of November 16, 2022) executions since 1982, when the death penalty was reinstated in Texas (see

Lists of people executed in Texas The list of people executed by the U.S. state of Texas, with the exception of 1819–1849, is divided into periods of 10 years. Since 1819, 1,334 people (all but nine of whom have been men) have been executed in Texas as of . Between 1819 and 1 ...

History

Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville prison yard in 1870s

The prison's first inmates arrived on October 2, 1849.Hollister, Stacy.
Texas Tidbits
" ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

''. July 2002. Retrieved on July 3, 2010. The unit was named after the County of Huntsville. Robert Perkinson, the author of '' Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire'', wrote that the unit was, within Texas, "the first public work of any importance".Roth, Mitchel P.
''Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire'' (review)

. ''

Southwestern Historical Quarterly The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, on March 2, 1897. , TSHA moved their offices from Austin to the University of N ...

'', 2011, Vol.115(1), pp.106-107 eer Reviewed Journal- Available at

Project MUSE Project MUSE, a non-profit collaboration between libraries and publishers, is an online database of peer-reviewed academic journals and electronic books. Project MUSE contains digital humanities and social science content from over 250 univers ...

. Originally Huntsville Unit was only for white Texans; the only penalties available to black Texans were whipping and hanging. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, prisoners at Huntsville produced tents and uniforms for Confederate forces at the prison textile factory. After the Civil War ended, Huntsville Unit was the only prison in the former

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

to remain. Perkinson stated that the prison became, within the state, the "first racially integrated public institution". Originally women in the Texas Prison System were housed in the Huntsville Unit.Perkinson, Robert. '' Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire''. First Edition.

Metropolitan Books Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. Currently, the company publishes in the fields ...

, 2010. p
93
. "Conditions at the Walls provoked criticism as well, particularly with respect to female prisoners." Beginning in 1883 women were housed in the Johnson Farm, a privately owned cotton plantation near Huntsville.Perkinson, Robert. '' Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire''. First Edition.

, 2010. p
132
. During this time there was some concern that "immoral practices may be resorted to" in regards to the female prisoners.The Texas State Library and Archives. Fear Force and Leather: The Texas Prison System's First Hundred Years, 1848-1948

Historically the prison served as the administrative headquarters of the

Texas Prison System The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails, ...

and the Texas Department of Corrections; the superintendent and the other executive officers worked in the prison, and all of the central offices of the system's departments and all of the permanent records were located in the prison. In 1934

John Lomax John Avery Lomax (September 23, 1867 – January 26, 1948) was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist, and a folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk music. He was the father of Alan Lomax, John Lomax Jr. and Bess Lo ...

and Alan Lomax recorded the earliest known recording of "

This Little Light of Mine "This Little Light of Mine" is a popular gospel song of unknown origin. It was often reported to be written for children in the 1920s by Harry Dixon Loes, but he never claimed credit for the original version of the song, and the Moody Bible Inst ...

" when they recorded Jim Boyd of

Jacksonville, Texas Jacksonville is a city located in Cherokee County, Texas, United States. The population was 13,997 at the 2020 U.S. census. It is the principal city of the Jacksonville micropolitan statistical area, which includes all of Cherokee County, and p ...

, singing at prison. In 1974, the prison was the site of an eleven-day siege, one of the longest hostage-taking sieges in

history.Blood Hostages
, ''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'', August 12, 1974. Retrieved on 2008-07-13. Three armed inmates ( Fred Carrasco, Ignacio Cuevas, and Rudy Dominquez) held several hostages in the education department. The ringleader, Fred Carrasco, had been a porter in the chapel. Cuevas usually worked in the inmate dining hall. Ten hostages were employees of the prison system: two were educators, and one was a guard. Later on, the prison chaplain would also become a hostage. Four prisoners were also held as hostages. On the final day, the inmates tried to escape using chalkboards and hostages as shields.''Warden'' by Jim Willett and Ron Rozelle Dominquez was killed in the attempt. Carrasco killed Elizabeth Beseda and then shot himself. Julia Standley was also killed that day. Ignacio Cuevas was executed on May 23, 1991 for her murder.

Facility

While the prison is officially the Huntsville Unit, the prison's red brick walls led to the nickname "Walls Unit." The prison is southeast of

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

and north of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. The original cellblock had been closed for several years prior to 2011. The electric chair was previously in a building adjacent to the institution's east wall. When the death row was in Huntsville, it was in the East Building.

Operations

The warden of the Huntsville Unit is in charge of the maintenance of the

Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery The Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery is the main prison cemetery of the U.S. state of Texas, located in Huntsville and operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). The colloquial name for the cemetery is Peckerwood Hill. The name originat ...

, the TDCJ prisoner cemetery.Eternity's gate slowly closing at Peckerwood Hill
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

''. August 3, 2012. Retrieved on March 16, 2014. Prisoners from this unit are assigned to maintain the cemetery.Ross, Robyn.
Laid to Rest in Huntsville
() ''

Texas Observer ''The Texas Observer'' (also known as the ''Observer'') is an American magazine with a liberal political outlook. The ''Observer'' is published bimonthly by a 501(c)(3)Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...

, will remain the TDCJ's largest release center.New regional release centers now operating across state
."

. September–October 2010. Retrieved on March 1, 2011. Throughout the history of the Texas Prison System 90% of male prisoners were sent to the unit for the final portions of their sentences before being released. Starting in September 2010 the TDCJ instead began to use regional release centers for male prisoners.

Death penalty

The Huntsville Unit is the location of the State of Texas

. The TDCJ houses male death row inmates in the

Polunsky Unit Allan B. Polunsky Unit (TL, formerly the Terrell Unit) is a prison in West Livingston, unincorporated Polk County, Texas, United States, located approximately southwest of Livingston along Farm to Market Road 350. - Note the 2010 U.S. Cen ...

and female death row inmates in the

Mountain View Unit Mountain View Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison housing female offenders in Gatesville, Texas. The unit, with about of land, is located north of central Gatesville on Farm to Market Road 215. The prison is located in a 45 ...

.Death Row Facts
." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on August 15, 2010. Between 1819 and 1923 the method of execution was hanging until Texas authorized the use of the electric chair; the use of the electric chair ended the execution of death sentences by counties in Texas. The chair– often

euphemistically A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...

called " Old Sparky" was constructed by inmates. Between 1924 and 1964, 362 inmates were executed by electrocution. The chair now resides at the Texas Prison Museum, located on

Interstate 45 Interstate 45 (I-45) is a major Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Texas. While most Interstate routes which have numbers ending in "5" are cross-country north–south routes, I-45 is comparatively short, with the ...

on the north side of Huntsville which features displays of historical items from the prison system, including shanks and other items confiscated from inmates. On one occasion the prison used a facility below the current warden's office as a death row for women. Emma "Straight Eight" Oliver, the first female death row inmate under Texas state jurisdiction, was sentenced to death in 1949. In 1951 her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Subsequently the Goree Unit and then the Mountain View Unit were used as women's death rows.

Execution procedure

Inmates scheduled for execution are brought from death row on the Polunsky Unit to the Walls Unit early in the afternoon of their scheduled execution. Unlike other states, Texas prohibits inmates from getting special last meals (since 2011) because of abuse of the privilege by past prisoners and the rationale that they did not offer a meal to their victims and therefore should not be allowed a special recognition. Inmates can, but are not required to, make a last statement prior to their execution. By law executions are scheduled to begin after 6:00 p.m. Huntsville (Central) time. The inmates are housed until that time about from the door of the execution chamber; the Texas Death House is located at the northeast corner of the Walls Unit, just below the #1 picket. There is no law prohibiting multiple executions in a single day, but this has not happened since August 2000. The execution chamber is a by room with mint green painted walls and a gurney. When Jim Willett was the warden of Huntsville Unit, he added a pillow to the gurney. Texas uses a single lethal dose of

pentobarbital Pentobarbital (previously known as pentobarbitone in Britain and Australia) is a short-acting barbiturate typically used as a sedative, a preanesthetic, and to control convulsions in emergencies. It can also be used for short-term treatment of i ...

to execute condemned inmates. Two adjacent rooms, which view into the execution room through glass windows, house two groups. One room is reserved for the family or families of the crime victim(s). The other is for the family of the condemned.Perkinson, Robert. '' Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire''. First Edition.

, 2010. p
40
.

Notable inmates

This list does not include death row inmates who were only housed in other units (Ellis, Polunsky, and/or Mountain View) and executed in Huntsville on the days of their executions.

Deceased

* Ronald Allridge: Executed in June 1995. * James Allridge: Executed in August 2004. *

Suzanne Basso Suzanne Margaret "Sue" Basso ( Burns; May 15, 1954 – February 5, 2014) was an American woman who was one of six co-defendants convicted in the August 1998 torture and murder of Louis "Buddy" Musso, a mentally disabled man who was killed for his ...

: Executed in February 2014. *

Betty Lou Beets Betty Lou Beets (March 12, 1937 – February 24, 2000) was a murderer executed in the U.S. state of Texas. She was convicted of shooting her fifth husband, Jimmy Don Beets, on August 6, 1983. Early life Born Betty Lou Dunevant to Margaret Louis ...

: Executed in February 2000. * James Eugene Bigby: Executed in March 2017. * Lester Bower: Executed in June 2015. * Ignacio Cuevas: Executed in May 1991. *

Carlos DeLuna Carlos DeLuna (; March 15, 1962 – December 7, 1989) was an American man who was convicted of murder and executed by the State of Texas for killing Wanda Lopez, a 24-year-old gas station attendant in Corpus Christi, on the evening of Febru ...

: Executed in December 1989. *

George Hassell George Jefferson Hassell (July 5, 1888 – February 10, 1928) was an American serial killer and mass murderer who killed his wife and eight children (ranging in age between 1 and 21 years old) on December 5, 1926, in Farwell, Texas. He also ...

: Executed in February 1928. * Larry Allen Hayes: Executed in September 2003. * Henry Lee Lucas: Died in prison in March 2001. * Stephen McCoy: Executed in May 1989. * Jerry Walter McFadden: Executed in October 1999. * Ronald O'Bryan: Executed in March 1984. * James Paster: Executed in September 1989. * Reginald Perkins: Executed in January 2009. * Angel Maturino Resendiz: Executed in June 2006. * Tommy Lynn Sells: Executed in April 2014. *

James Edward Smith James Edward Smith may refer to: * James Edward Smith (botanist), English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society * James Edward Smith (murderer), American murderer * James Edward Smith (politician), Canadian businessman and mayor of Toronto * ...

: Executed in June 1990. *

Karla Faye Tucker Karla Faye Tucker (November 18, 1959 – February 3, 1998) was an American woman sentenced to death for killing two people with a pickaxe during a burglary. She was the first woman to be executed in the United States since Velma Barfield in 1984 ...

: Executed in February 1998.

Cultural references

* "Huntsville", a song on Merle Haggard's 1971 album, ''

Someday We'll Look Back ''Someday We'll Look Back'' is the thirteenth studio album by American recording artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1971. It reached number 4 on the '' Billboard'' country albums chart. Recording and composition The album is bes ...

'' references being sent to Huntsville Prison. * '' The Getaway'', a 1972

Sam Peckinpah David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic '' The Wild Bunch'' received an Academy Award nomination and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Institut ...

film, which starred Steve McQueen, was filmed here. *

Cross Canadian Ragweed Cross Canadian Ragweed was an American rock band formed in Yukon, Oklahoma in 1994. The band consisted of Cody Canada (lead guitar/vocals), Grady Cross (guitar), Randy Ragsdale (drums), and Jeremy Plato (bass guitar). The group released five s ...

has a song that is about the prison called "Walls of Huntsville" on their 2002 self-titled album. * Steve Earle recorded "Ellis Unit One" (after the

Ellis Unit O. B. Ellis Unit (E1, previously Ellis I 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.

) for the 1995 film '' Dead Man Walking''. The song's lyrics focus on the effect of the death penalty on the guards that carry it out. Earle has been a vocal critic against the death penalty. *

Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actor ...

portrayed the convict Butch Haynes in the 1993 film ''

A Perfect World ''A Perfect World'' is a 1993 American crime drama film directed by Clint Eastwood. It stars Kevin Costner as an escaped convict who takes a young boy ( T. J. Lowther) hostage and attempts to escape on the road with the child. Eastwood co-stars ...

'', who escaped from Huntsville Prison. *

Texas Country Texas country music (more popularly known just as Texas country or Texas music) is a rapidly growing subgenre of country music from Texas. Texas country is a unique style of Western music and is often associated with other distinct neighboring ...

artist

Cody Johnson Cody Daniel Johnson (born May 21, 1987) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He self-released six albums, including ''Gotta Be Me'', which debuted at number two on ''Billboard''s Country Albums chart, before releasing his first major- ...

refers to the prison in his song "Texas Kind of Way", with the lyric "might as well just lock me up in Huntsville, if your memory's here to stay". * In the 2007 film ''

No Country for Old Men ''No Country for Old Men'' is a 2007 American neo-Western crime thriller film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel of the same name. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin, th ...

'', it was mentioned that the Sheriff in

Terrell County, Texas Terrell County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 760, making it the seventh-least populous county in Texas, and the 37th-least populous county in the nation. Its county seat is the census-desig ...

had sentenced a man to death in the Huntsville Unit for killing a 14-year-old girl. * Subject of a song by country singer Bobby Bare - "Back Home In Huntsville Again" * In

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...

's "

Jackie Brown ''Jackie Brown'' is a 1997 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, based on Elmore Leonard's 1992 novel '' Rum Punch.'' It stars Pam Grier as Jackie Brown, a flight attendant who is caught smuggling money. Samuel L. Jac ...

", the characters played by

Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...

and Robert De Niro first met while doing time in Huntsville. * In the 2003 video game Freelancer, the LPI Huntsville is a prison ship orbiting Houston planet in the Texas system. * David Allen Coe refers to the "Huntsville prison walls so high" in his song Houston, Dallas, San Antone. *The 2003 film, ''

The Life of David Gale ''The Life of David Gale'' is a 2003 dramatic crime thriller film directed by Alan Parker and written by Charles Randolph. The film is an international co-production, between the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. It was Parker's final ...

'', was shot in multiple places, including Huntsville, Texas. In the film, Kevin Spacey played the eponymous character, a college professor and longtime activist against capital punishment who is sentenced to death for killing a fellow capital punishment opponent. * Jason Boland & The Stragglers released a song off 2015 CD ''Squelch'' titled "Christmas in Huntsville".

Footnotes

External links

Huntsville Unit
-

*
Texas Prison Board: An Inventory of Records of the Texas Prison System at the Texas State Archive 1913-1933, 1943, undated

List of prisoners at the Huntsville Unit
-

The Texas Tribune ''The Texas Tribune'' is a news website headquartered in Austin, Texas. It aims to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events. Its website and content in various delivery platforms serve as an alternati ...

Texas Prison Museum
*
Inside Death Row
" -

National Geographic Explorer ''National Geographic Explorer'' (or simply ''Explorer'') is an American documentary television series that originally premiered on Nickelodeon on April 7, 1985, after having been produced as a less costly and intensive alternative to PBS's ' ...

{{Huntsville, Texas 1849 establishments in Texas Prisons in Huntsville, Texas Women's prisons in Texas Capital punishment in Texas Execution sites in the United States