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, ...
(TDCJ) prison in
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 ...
Grimes County, Texas
Grimes County is a county located in southeastern Texas in the United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 29,268. The seat of the county is Anderson. The county was formed from Montgomery County in 1846. It is named for Jesse G ...
, south of
Navasota
Navasota is a city in Grimes County, Texas, Grimes County, Texas, United States. The population was 7,643 at the 2020 census. In 2005, the Texas Legislature designated Navasota as the "Blues Capital of Texas" in honor of the late Mance Lipscomb, ...
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, ...
. Retrieved on June 22, 2014. in proximity to
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 in ...
United Press International
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...
. June 20, 2014. Retrieved on June 22, 2014.
History
It opened in September 1983 and is named after Wallace Pack, warden of
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.
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 it ...
''. June 18, 2014. Retrieved on June 22, 2014. In 2014 Jeff Edwards, an
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
civil rights lawyer, filed a lawsuit against the TDCJ on behalf of Pack Unit prisoners. They argue that the unit's temperature is at dangerous levels and that it needs to be lowered to . The suit was filed at a federal courthouse in
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 in ...
. The four plaintiffs have disabilities and medical conditions amplified by extreme heat. They compared cell blocks to ovens and argued that tables are too hot to touch. Prisoners also complained about the water provided in the prison, stating that it has
arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...
. In June 2016 a federal judge ruled that the prison must provide safe drinking water.
A settlement to provide air conditioning was reached in 2018.
Notable prisoners
* Keith Robert Turner - perpetrator of the
2006 Harris County, Texas hate crime assault
The 2006 Harris County, Texas hate crime assault was the beating, torture, and sexual assault of a Latino student, by two white youths during the early morning of April 22, 2006, in an unincorporated section of Harris County, Texas, United States ...
* Royce Zeigler - perpetrator of the
Murder of Riley Ann Sawyers
Riley Ann Sawyers (March 11, 2005 – July 24, 2007) was a two-year-old American girl who was beaten to death by her mother Kimberly Dawn Trenor and her mother's partner Royce Zeigler in a filicide. Her body was later found in Galveston Bay, Tex ...
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, ...
. Retrieved on December 28, 2015.
*John Bernard Feit - Former Catholic priest convicted in 2018 of the murder of former schoolteacher and beauty queen Irene Garza, his former parishioner. https://offender.tdcj.texas.gov/OffenderSearch/offenderDetail.action?sid=16100647 https://www.courthousenews.com/former-priest-faces-dismissal-of-murder-appeal/
* William Neil Gallagher - an American Christian radio host who stole $23 million from over 190 people in a Ponzi scheme over the course of a decade. His victims ages ranged from 62-91. He was sentenced to life in prison for numerous financial crimes and made to pay $10 million in restitution. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doc-gallagher-christian-radio-host-3-life-prison-terms-ponzi-scheme/