History of Texas Department of
Criminal Justice (TDCJ)
“We’ll Even Leave the Light On”
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Texas State Penitentiary
(Huntsville)
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Agency Titles
• 1848-1866
– Texas State Penitentiary
• 1866-1957
– Texas Prison System
• 1957-1989
– Texas Department of Corrections
• 1989-Present
– Texas Department of Criminal Justice
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Era Characterizations
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1836-1861 The Formative Years
1861-1865 The Civil War Era
1866-1909 The Convict Lease Era
1910-1936 The Farm System
1937-1947 The Decline
1947-1973 The Reform Era
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The Formative Years (1836-1861)
• Prior to 1848
– Inmates housed in local/county jails
• May 1, 1848
– 2nd Legislature passed creation of Huntsville
Penitentiary with 225 cells
• October 1, 1849
– 1st inmate received, William Sansom (cattle theft)
• 1855 – 75 inmates
• 1860 – 182 inmates
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Civil War Era (1861-1865)
• Civil War Union POWs and courtmarshaled soldiers held
• Prison industries aided South by
production of cloth from cotton and wool
mills
• 1865 – only one prison left standing in the
Confederate states (Huntsville)
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Convict Lease Era (1871-1912)
• Increased number of inmates
• 2nd legislature
– Leased inmate labor and use of facilities
– Outside camps established
– Inmates hired by railroad and plantation
owners
• 1877-1882 – second prison built in Rusk
– Opened January, 1883
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Farm System Era (1910-1936)
1910-1912
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Legislative changes to inmate accounts
Industries slowed, farming expanded
Less education and other reform efforts
Leases were cancelled
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Farm System Era (1910-1936)
Chain Gangs and Building Tenders
Chain Gang:
inmates leased to a
private owner, and
“chained” together
during work to
prevent their escape
Building
Tenders:
inmates used to
“control” other
inmates and
open/close cells
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Farm System Era (1910-1936)
• Large agricultural
ranching operations
became hallmarks of
the prison system
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The Decline (1937-1947)
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•
•
•
Troubled times for prisons
Turned purchased plantations into farms
Corrupt and mismanaged administration
Fraud, and poor treatment of inmates
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“Backsliding”
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•
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Large influx of inmates • Darrington Farm
– 333 inmates housed in
Brutality
a unit designed for 250
Self-mutilation
– Shower every three
Sexual Perversion
weeks
– NO laundry services
Incompetence
• Retrieve Farm
Petty Theft
– 475 inmates housed in
a unit designed for 350
– 31 sleep on brick floor
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The Reform Years (1947-1973)
• Emphasis on reform,
teaching, and recreation
• New Classification system
• 1931 – Prison rodeo
established
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The Reform Years (1947-1973)
• 1947 – Penal reforms
– Modernized agricultural production
– Initiated industrial products
– Improvements in facilities
• 1948 – “Construction Division”
– Used inmate labor
– Prison-made bricks
– Prison-made concrete for new buildings
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Prison Industries: License Plate Factory
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Ellis Administration
• “Ellis Plan” implemented by O.B. Ellis
• Texas Prison System renamed to Texas
Department of Corrections
• Education and industry expanded
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Beto Administration
• Dr. George Beto director, of TDCJ
• Implemented the Windham School District
• National recognition for clean, orderly, and
secure institutions
• 1964 – Cooper v. Pate
• 1971 – Guajardo v. Estelle
• 1972 – Lamar v. Coffield
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Supreme Court Decisions
• Cooper v. Pate – Prisoners have the right
to challenge administrative practices.
• Guajardo v. Estelle – TDCJ could not
deny inmates the right to correspond with
inmates on the same or different units
regarding legal matters .
• Lamar v. Coffield – TDCJ prohibited from
segregating offender housing or jobs
based on race.
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Windham School District
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Windham School District
Largest School District in Texas
• Established 1969
• Offered GED and High School Diploma to
inmates
• Junior- and Senior-level college courses
• Rehabilitation programs
• Vocational training
• Furlough and community service
• Helped secure work and transition after release
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Prison-Made Goods Act
• 1963 – Produced materials for internal use
and sale to other state agencies
• “Occupational training” for inmates
• Education, recreation, religion,
physiological, and psychological health
care added
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Inmate Goods
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Conflict and Consolidation
(1973-1998)
Estelle administration:
– Ruiz v. Estelle
– The Carrasco Incident
• Weapons smuggled into the unit
• Hostages were killed
• Lasted eleven days
– The Pack/Moore Homicides
• An offender was acquitted for the homicides of the warden and top prison
official. This caused much outrage amongst the prison staff and concerns
for safety
– Death of Minnie Houston
• One of the first female correctional officers was murdered by an offender in
the officer’s dining hall. This raised additional concerns for the suitability of
female correctional officers in male facilities (female officers were allowed in
male facilities as a result of K.K. Coble v. TDCJ)
– TDCJ established 1989
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Ruiz v. Estelle
• 1978 class action lawsuit challenged
conditions of confinement
• Longest running lawsuit
• Federal courts maintained control of TDCJ
until 2002
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Ruiz v. Estelle
• Violations alleged
– Due process
– Cruel and unusual
punishment
– Crowding, poor
living/health, and work
conditions
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice
(1972-Present)
• 1986 – Prison rodeo stopped due to cost
of repair and operation
• 1989 – TDCJ & Board of Criminal Justice
were created
• Texas Department of Criminal Justice,
Institutional Division
– Department of Corrections
– Board of Pardons and Parole
– Texas Adult Probation Commission
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Recent History (1998-Present)
• June 17, 2002 – Federal oversight under
Ruiz was dismissed
• Connally Seven “Texas 7”
– Amended count procedures
– Revised security procedures
– Modified the offender classification plan to
include reassignment of offenders to more
appropriate security levels
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Recent History (1998-Present)
• Homicides of Daniel Nagle, Stanley Wiley, and Rhonda
Osborne
– Murdered by inmates
– Officer safety reviewed
– Initiatives to include body alarms, carry-on-person chemical
agents, defensive tactics training, thrust vests (stab resistant
vests), and BOSS chairs (x-ray chairs that check body orifices
for weapons
• Hurricane Rita – 9,400 inmates were moved via airplane
and vehicles prior to the hurricane hitting land
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Recent History (1998-Present)
• CID reorganized to create better communication,
coordination, consistency, and improve access to
resources; revised into 6 regions.
• American Correctional Association (ACA) accreditation
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Prison Population
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1990s – the number of prison beds tripled
Community supervision implemented
State Jails created
Transfer facilities established
1998 – 124,000 in TDCJ, and 6,168 in
private facilities
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Current Statistics
• 5 SAFPFs (Substance
Abuse Felony Punishment
Facilities)
• 21 State Jail Facilities
• 82 Prisons
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Resources
• Texas Department of Criminal Justice
http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/
• Photos taken with permission at the
Texas Prison Museum
• http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gang
sters_outlaws/cops_others/seven/20.ht
ml?print=yes
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