The Tucker Unit is a prison in Dudley Lake Township,

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, northeast of Pine Bluff. It is operated by the

Arkansas Department of Correction The Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC), formerly the Arkansas Department of Correction, is the state law enforcement agency that oversees inmates and operates state prisons within the U.S. state of Arkansas. DOC consists of two divisions, th ...

(ADC). Tucker is one of the state of Arkansas's "parent units" for male prisoners; it serves as one of several units of initial assignment for processed male prisoners. It is in proximity to, but not within, the

Tucker Tucker may refer to: Places United States * Tucker, Arkansas * Tucker, Georgia * Tucker, Mississippi * Tucker, Missouri * Tucker, Utah, ghost town * Tucker County, West Virginia Outer space * Tucker (crater), a small lunar impact crater in the s ...

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

. A Maximum Security Unit was constructed a short distance north of the Tucker Unit in 1983.

History

In 1916 the State of Arkansas purchased about of land to build the Tucker Unit. In 1933

Governor of Arkansas A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

Junius Marion Futrell Junius Marion Futrell (August 14, 1870 – June 20, 1955) was an American attorney who served as the 30th governor of Arkansas from 1933 to 1937, and the acting governor for a short period in 1913. Early life Futrell was born in Jones ...

closed the

Arkansas State Penitentiary Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

("The Walls"), and some prisoners moved to Tucker from the former penitentiary. In the process the designated execution chamber moved to Tucker.Prison History and Gallery
"

. Retrieved on September 7, 2010. "

Old Sparky Old Sparky is the nickname of the electric chairs in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Old Smokey was the nickname of the electric ...

", in operation within the state system from 1926 to 1948, was the equipment used to kill condemned prisoners at Tucker. In 1964 Charles Fields was executed at Tucker; he was the last prisoner to be executed at Tucker before the Arkansas death penalty was declared against the U.S. constitution. In history, the prison housed the state's white convicts.

Federal Writers' Project The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was a federal government project in the United States created to provide jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression. It was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program. It ...

. ''Arkansas: A Guide to the State''. US History Publishers, 1958
346
Retrieved from

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

on March 6, 2011. , In addition the prison housed some black female prisoners. In 1967 four men escaped from the unit and abandoned a vehicle used in the escape in

Fort Scott, Kansas Fort Scott is a city in and the county seat of Bourbon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,552. It is named for Gen. Winfield Scott. The city is located south of Kansas City on the Marmaton ...

. The Arkansas prison scandal occurred in the unit and involved the " Tucker Telephone." Due to the notoriety of the device, as of 2000 visitors to the Tucker Unit on a regular basis ask the warden if the telephone on his/her desk is the "Tucker Telephone."Feeley, Malcolm M. and Edward L. Rubin. ''Judicial Policy Making and the Modern State: How the Courts Reformed America's Prisons''.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 2000
58
Retrieved from

on March 5, 2011. , In 1974 death row inmates, previously at the Tucker Unit, were moved to the

Cummins Unit The Cummins Unit (formerly known as Cummins State Farm) is an Arkansas Department of Corrections prison in unincorporated Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States, in the Arkansas Delta region. It is located along U.S. Route 65, near Grady, Gou ...

.2006 Facts Brochure
"

. July 1, 2005-June 30, 2006. 25 (25/38). Retrieved on August 15, 2010. In 1978 a new death chamber opened in Cummins, so Tucker was no longer the place of execution in Arkansas. In 1986 male death row inmates were moved to the Maximum Security Unit.2006 Facts Brochure

Archive
.

. July 1, 2005-June 30, 2006. 26 (26/38). Retrieved on August 15, 2010. On Friday August 22, 2003, all 39 Arkansas death row inmates, all of them male, were moved to the Supermax at the

Varner Unit The Varner Unit is a high-security state prison for men of the Arkansas Department of Correction in Varner, Choctaw Township, unincorporated Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States. It is located along U.S. Highway 65,

. In 2000 the ADC's final 100 person barracks was split into two smaller barracks. In 2009 prison guards left a prisoner in his own feces for a weekend. The prisoner had to be hospitalized. The ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

'' discovered that prison guards had received lap dances while working. The prison system fired several correctional employees. The same year, a

Heber Springs, Arkansas Heber Springs is a city in and the county seat of Cleburne County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 7,165 at the 2010 census. Geography Heber Springs is located near the center of Cleburne County at (35.494329, −92.039168). Arkansa ...

man who was wanted for not reporting to his parole officer appeared at the Tucker Unit. A prison guard shot him dead. Dina Tyler, a spokesperson for the prison system, said that the man crashed his car into the car owned by the assistant warden and was "very close to the officers" prior to his death.Arkansas Inmate Nearly Dies After Left in Feces
"

''

'' at ''

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

''. June 22, 2009. Retrieved on April 15, 2013. On August 7, 2017 a group of prisoners held guards hostage, but later released them.

Composition and operations

The Tucker Unit and the Maximum Security Unit are in Dudley Lake Township. Of the land at the Tucker Unit, are used to farm rice and soybeans. The unit houses a campus of the Riverside Vocational Technical School. Education in the Tucker Unit began in 1968, when the England School District started a night program. ADC officials believe that the Island of Hope Chapel was the first freestanding prison chapel in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

.Blad, Evie.
Water again seen sacred at repaired prison chapel

Archive
. Arkansas Online. May 14, 2011. Retrieved on February 25, 2016. It was originally dedicated in November 1969 and, after a renovation, rededicated on May 13, 2011. Its original construction was financed by a total of $80,000 donated by

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

and various other persons. The prison has a sloping ceiling and a plexyglas fauxleaded window behind the altar, and it is made of cinder blocks. Prior to the renovation the prison had issues with rainwater leaking into the structure. The renovation, which included constructing a new roof; adding finishes to floors, pews, and walls; and installing new panes of glass, had a price of $175,000. The ADC may finance repairs and maintenance, but as per the

Establishment Clause In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional text ...

of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...

it cannot build a new religious facility. In historical eras, white prisoners worked in the fields, and the prison housed clothing, license plate, and shoe factories. As of 2009, 532 prisoners live in the Maximum Security Unit. That year, of the prisoners, 100 live in a barrack-style dormitory and have jobs in the prison.

Drug-related deaths

Arkansas' prisons, including Tucker, have experienced a rash of

inmates The Inmates are a British pub rock band, which formed after the split of The Flying Tigers in 1977. In 1982, they had a medium-sized international hit with a cover of The Standells' "Dirty Water", and a UK Top 40 hit with their cover of Jimmy M ...

dying of

drug overdose A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended.

s while serving their prison sentence behind bars in the year 2018. This phenomenon is not just isolated in Arkansas but rather nation-wide. The drugs have been thought to be either

fentanyl Fentanyl, also spelled fentanil, is a very potent synthetic opioid used as a pain medication. Together with other drugs, fentanyl is used for anesthesia. It is also used illicitly as a recreational drug, sometimes mixed with heroin, cocaine ...

or synthetic marijuana.

, Tucker's sister unit, experienced five drug-related inmate deaths in a four-day span during August 2018. Dan Shelton, who was 54 years old serving a 40-year sentence for

kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...

, and others, was the second of two inmates at Tucker who died in the same week during October 2018. The other inmate, Harrison Flanery, was 46 years old and serving a 14-year sentence which began in 2014 for

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

Notable prisoners

Maximum Security Unit prisoners

Non-death row * Davis Carpenter, perpetrator of the murder of Jesse Dirkhising *

Heath Stocks Heath Stocks is an American criminal who confessed to killing his father Joe, mother Barbara, and sister Heather in the family home located in Lonoke, Arkansas, Lonoke, Arkansas on January 17, 1997. History of abuse Heath Stocks is a long-time vic ...

, pleaded guilty to the murder of his family in 1997. Death row and non-death row * West Memphis 3 (all released from prison) Death row: * Richard Snell - Executed in 1995 *

Ronald Gene Simmons Ronald Gene Simmons Sr. (July 15, 1940 – June 25, 1990) was an American mass murderer and spree killer who killed 16 people over a week-long period in Arkansas in 1987. A retired military serviceman, Simmons murdered fourteen members of his ...

- Executed in 1990

References

External links

*
Tucker Unit
"

Arkansas Department of Corrections The Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC), formerly the Arkansas Department of Correction, is the state law enforcement agency that oversees inmates and operates state prisons within the U.S. state of Arkansas. DOC consists of two divisions, th ...

"Tucker Unit"
entry from the

Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas'' is a World Wide Web, web-based encyclopedia of the U.S. state of Arkansas, described by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as "a free, authoritative source of ...

* Shaw, Robert L.
Inmates of Arkansas Prison Disclose Stories of Torture, Beatings, Extortion
" ''

'' at ''

Nashua Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', for most of its existence known as the ''Nashua Telegraph'', is a daily newspaper in Nashua, New Hampshire. It was founded as the ''Nashua Daily Telegraph'' in 1869, although a weekly version dates back to 1832. Through the 20 ...

''. Wednesday January 18, 1967. Second Section p. 21. Retrieved from

Google News Google News is a news aggregator service developed by Google. It presents a continuous flow of links to articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines. Google News is available as an app on Android, iOS, and the Web. Google rel ...

(21/36). {{State prisons in Arkansas Buildings and structures in Jefferson County, Arkansas Prisons in Arkansas Capital punishment in Arkansas 1916 establishments in Arkansas