The Mark W. Michael Unit (MI) is a

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 jai ...

men's 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 ...

Anderson County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. The unit is along

Farm to Market Road 2054 A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

, south of

Tennessee Colony Tennessee Colony is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Anderson County, Texas, Anderson County, in the U.S. state of Texas. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 300 in 2000. It is located within th ...

. The unit, on of land, is co-located with the

Beto Beto is a surname, and a nickname for the given names Alberto, Albertino, Adalberto, Berthony, Heriberto, Norberto, Roberto, Humberto, or Benito. It occurs mostly in Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries and communities. Notable people with the ...

, Coffield, and Powledge prison units and the Gurney Transfer Unit.Michael Unit
."

. Retrieved on July 23, 2010. The unit is in proximity to

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...

and the Rusk ironworks,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
314
. and it is in about a one-hour driving distance from

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 ...

.Rhor, Monica.
Serial killer wrestles with his crimes
" ''

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 ...

''. Sunday June 8, 2008. Retrieved on December 12, 2010. "Henley, who turned 52 in May, sits behind a glass divider in the visiting room at the Michael Unit, a Texas prison set amid cow pastures and sprawling ranches about an hour south of Dallas." The Michael Unit opened in September 1987. Texas officials referred to the facility as "model for the future."Perkinson, Robert. '' Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire''. First Edition.

, 2010. p
314315
. Robert Perkinson, author of '' Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire'', described Michael as "one of the meanest lockups" in Texas.Perkinson, Robert. '' Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire''. First Edition.

, 2010. p
28
.

Operations

Michael was one of the first prisons to no longer use the "telephone-pole" layout,Perkinson, Robert. '' Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire''. First Edition.

, 2010. p
315
. which has central pickets with dead-end cell blocks extending from them.Perkinson, Robert. '' Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire''. First Edition.

, 2010. p
44
. The telephone-pole layout, while inexpensive to build, is difficult to police without building tenders, convicts paid to police other convicts. Instead Michael uses a modular pod design, which allows for riot control and visual surveillance. Most pods have double-bunk, reinforced concrete cells with security features such as slit windows and bolted-down metal toilets. Some pods have dormitories. Michael was one of several new prisons to have the ability to have many prisoners in extended lockdowns. State officials said that Michael's features allowing for extended lockdowns of prisoners were modeled on the

United States Penitentiary, Marion The United States Penitentiary, Marion (USP Marion) is a large medium-security United States federal prison for male and female inmates in Southern Precinct, unincorporated Williamson County, Illinois. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Pri ...

Notable prisoners

Former: * Michael Morton - Exonerated of the crime which he was convicted of. He was transferred to Michael after obtaining his master's degree. *

Steven Jay Russell Steven Jay Russell (born December 31, 1957) is an American con artist, known for escaping from prison multiple times. '' I Love You Phillip Morris'', a film about his life and crimes, was produced in 2009. In 2011, his crimes were featured on ...

- The prisoner is a character in the film ''

I Love You Phillip Morris ''I Love You Phillip Morris'' is a 2009 English-language French black comedy film based on a 1980s and 1990s real-life story of con artist, impostor and multiple prison escapee Steven Jay Russell, as played by Jim Carrey. While incarcerated, Russe ...

'' *

Elmer Wayne Henley Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. (born May 9, 1956) is a convicted American serial killer and painter incarcerated in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) system. Henley was convicted in 1974 for his role as a participant in a series of murder ...

Henley, Elmer Wayne Jr

Archive
.

. Retrieved on December 28, 2015.

References

External links

*
Michael Unit
"

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Michael, Mark W. Unit Prisons in Anderson County, Texas 1987 establishments in Texas