William G. McConnell Unit (ML) is a Texas state prison located 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 ...

Bee County, Texas Bee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is Beeville. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,047. The Beeville, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Bee County. T ...

, along

Texas State Highway 181 Below is a list and summary of some of the deleted state highways (i.e., those with no current routing) as outlined by the Texas Department of Transportation designation files, indicated by having zero current mileage. SH 1 State Highway 1 ran f ...

, east of the city limits of Beeville. It is a part 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, ...

(TDCJ). The unit, in proximity to Corpus Christi,Dart, Tom.
Texas calls off Robert Pruett execution with just hours to spare
" ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. April 28, 2015. Retrieved on January 20, 2016. was named after William G. "Bill" McConnell, the former chief of police of Beeville; he died in 1987.Hallinan, Joseph T.
Chapter One
(). '' Going Up the River: Travels in a Prison Nation''. 2001. Retrieved on September 27, 2015.

History

On October 10, 1993, Rogelio Cannady, 21, beat his cellmate, Leovigildo Bonal, 55, to death. Cannady was serving life behind bars for murdering two teenagers in 1990. Cannady beat Bonal with a steel lock attached to a belt and then kicked and stomped him repeatedly. Bonal died two days later. Cannady became the first charged under a 1993 law that allows offenders serving 99 years or life for previous murders to be charged with a capital offense. He was convicted in 1997 and sentenced to death. Cannady was executed on May 19, 2010. On December 17, 1999, Correctional Officer Daniel Nagle was fatally stabbed at his office in McConnell. He received seven stab wounds and died of a heart attack.Moore, Bethany.
Texas Death Row Inmate Makes Final Plea
( ). ''

KWTX-TV KWTX-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Waco, Texas, United States, serving Central Texas as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Belton-licensed CW affiliate KNCT (channel 46). Both stations share studios on ...

''. November 26, 2014. Retrieved on January 20, 2016. It was the first murder of a prison guard in Texas state prisons committed by a prisoner since 1985. The State of Texas accused prisoner Robert Lynn Pruett (TDCJ death row ID #999411) of committing the crime. He received a death sentence and was moved to 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. Censu ...

. Pruett stated that he did not kill Nagle. Pruett was executed on October 12, 2017 As of 2001, the unit's warden was Leslie W. Woods. That year it had 2,806 prisoners. Many of the prisoners were Hispanic and Latino since the prison is in the

South Texas South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of—and includes—San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 4.96 ...

region. As of 2001 the prison had 570 prison guards and 273 other employees. In May 2003 Darrel Wafer, a 40-year old prisoner, was left in a hot shower. Because guards and a nurse did not remove him in time, Wafer died of

hyperthermia Hyperthermia, also known simply as overheating, is a condition in which an individual's body temperature is elevated beyond normal due to failed thermoregulation. The person's body produces or absorbs more heat than it dissipates. When extreme ...

. On August 1, 2004, prisoner Micah "Mike" Burrell died of an asthma attack. According to Texas Civil Rights Project attorney Scott Medlock, the prison guards decided not to assist him, and 15 other people (by 2007) had died due to negligence issues. Eileen Kennedy, the assistant warden of McConnell at the time, stated that she was unaware that a policy stating that an asthmatic should not be housed alone existed. In 2013, in federal court, 14 prison guards at McConnell and 11 other individuals pleaded guilty to operating a smuggling ring in the prison. The individuals convicted of violating the

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was en ...

(RICO) act got federal prison. Others got prison and/or probation time.

Operations

According to Major Brian Rodeen, as of 2001 many of the prisoners at McConnell have

life sentences Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes ...

and most have sentences of over 45 years. Joseph T. Hallinan, author of ''Going Up the River: Travels in a Prison Nation'', wrote that "The convicts at the McConnell Unit are among the most hardened in the Texas prison system." As of 2001 the "

administrative segregation Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, adminis ...

" area, with 504 cells, had 504 prisoners segregated by race to prevent gang violence. The cells, divided into pods labeled by letters of the alphabet, included members of the

Mexican Mafia The Mexican Mafia (Spanish: ''Mafia Mexicana''), also known as ''La eMe'' (Spanish for "the M"), is a Mexican American criminal organization in the United States. Despite its name, the Mexican Mafia did not originate in Mexico, and is entirely ...

. According to prison guards quoted in ''Going Up the River'', the A pod includes gang leaders who do not wish to disturb the situation around them and therefore is more quiet, while F pod has lower ranking members and therefore is more tense. Rodeen referred to the McConnell ad seg section as being among the most dangerous in Texas.

Notable prisoners

Current: * David Malcolm Strickland *

Thomas Bartlett Whitaker Thomas Bartlett Whitaker (born December 31, 1979) is an American man convicted under the Texas Law of Parties of murdering two family members as a 24-year-old. Whitaker was convicted for the December 10, 2003, murders of his mother and 19 ...

Yaser Abdel Said Yaser Abdel Said ( ar, ياسر عبد السعيد; born January 27, 1957) is an Egyptian-American former taxi driver and convicted murderer. For 12 years, Said evaded arrest for the January 1, 2008, fatal shootings of his two daughters, Amina ...

Former: *Trey Eric Sesler *Tom Faulk * John Curtis Dewberry * Michael Scott Quinn

References

External links

*
McConnell (ML)
"

. {{coord, 28.3723, -97.7170, type:landmark_region:US-TX, display=title Bee County, Texas Prisons in Texas

History

Operations

Notable prisoners

See also

References

External links