Darrington Unit

Last updated
Memorial Unit (Formerly Darrington)
Darrington Unit
Location59 Darrington Road
Rosharon, Texas 77583
Coordinates 29°23′58″N95°29′27″W / 29.3995500°N 095.4907500°W / 29.3995500; -095.4907500
StatusOperational
Security class G1-G5, Administrative Segregation, Outside Trusty, Transient
CapacityUnit: 1,610 Trusty Camp: 321
Opened1933
Former nameDarrington Unit
Managed by TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division
Warden Bridgette Hayes
County Brazoria County
Country USA
Website https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/unit_directory/da.html
Aerial photograph, U.S. Geological Survey - January 25, 1995 DarringtonStitchmap.PNG
Aerial photograph, U.S. Geological Survey – January 25, 1995
Topographic map, U.S. Geological Survey - July 1, 1984 DarringtonUnitTopographical.PNG
Topographic map, U.S. Geological Survey – July 1, 1984

The Memorial Unit (DA) is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) men's prison located in unincorporated Brazoria County, Texas, [1] near Sandy Point, [2] and with a Rosharon, Texas postal address; it is not inside the Rosharon census-designated place. [3] The unit is along Farm to Market Road 521, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Rosharon, [1] and about 30 miles (48 km) south of Downtown Houston. [4] The prison has about 6,770 acres (2,740 ha) of land. The prison has the Region III Administrative Office of the Windham School District. [1]

Contents

History

The unit opened in 1917. [1] The TDCJ believes that the unit was named after the original landowners of the area occupied by the prison. [5] The song "Wasn't That a Mighty Storm" was first recorded by John A. Lomax in 1934 at Darrington, sung by "Sin-Killer" Griffin who claimed authorship. [2] In 1935 Darrington housed African American prisoners. [6]

In 1963, before racial desegregation occurred, the facility housed white second offenders. [7] In the late 1980s, Darrington housed a lot of leaders of prison gangs. In 1986 and 1987 a 12-foot (3.7 m) high gunwalk was built, overseeing 13 recreation yards; the walk allows prison guards to easily shoot and kill raging prisoners. [8]

In 2017 a judge ordered the installation of air conditioning. [4]

Operations

The Texas Legislature designated portions of Angleton ISD that by September 1, 1995 had not been annexed by Alvin Community College as in the Brazosport College zone. [9] As Darrington Unit is not in the maps of Alvin CC, it is in the Brazosport College zone. [10] There was a section of H.B. No. 2744, [11] filed on March 6, 2007, [12] which would have changed the boundary between Alvin CC and Brazosport CC to put the Darrington Unit in the Alvin CC service boundary.

Notable prisoners

Related Research Articles

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Central Unit

The Central Unit was a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) men's prison in Sugar Land, Texas. The approximately 325.8-acre (131.8 ha) facility is 2 miles (3.2 km) from the central part of the city of Sugar Land on U.S. Highway 90A.

Carol Vance Unit

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Wayne Scott Unit

The Wayne Scott Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison farm located in unincorporated Brazoria County, Texas. The unit, southwest of Houston, is along County Road 290, 8 miles (13 km) south of Angleton. Scott, which was established in September 1919, has about 5,766 acres (2,333 ha) of land.

J. Dale Wainwright Unit

The J. Dale Wainwright Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison for men, located in unincorporated Houston County, Texas. Formerly called the Eastham Unit or "The Ham," the prison was renamed the J. Dale Wainwright Unit after a former chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice. The 12,789 acres (5,176 ha) prison is located at the dead end of Farm to Market Road 230, near Lovelady and 13 miles (21 km) west of Trinity. the Wainwright Unit is 40 miles (64 km) up the Trinity River from the Polunsky Unit in West Livingston, and it is about one-third of the distance between Polunsky and the Christina Crain Unit in Gatesville. Robert Perkinson, author of Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire, said that while the TDCJ and other agencies operate many types of prisons and jails in Texas, "if any unit stands for the rest," it would be Eastham.

Ferguson Unit

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Ramsey Unit

The W. F. Ramsey Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison farm located in unincorporated Brazoria County, Texas, with a Rosharon postal address; it is not inside the Rosharon census-designated place. The prison is located on Farm to Market Road 655, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Farm to Market Road 521, and south of Houston. The 16,369-acre (6,624 ha) unit is co-located with the Stringfellow Unit and the Terrell Unit.

Jester I Unit

The Beauford H. Jester I Unit (J1) is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice substance abuse felony punishment facility (SAFPF) located in unincorporated Fort Bend County, Texas. The unit is situated at Harlem Road and Ken Drive, on about 940 acres (380 ha) of land, co-located with Carol Vance Unit, Jester III Unit, and Jester IV Unit which lie a little to its southeast. It is situated on the Jester State Prison Farm property. The current Warden is Lonnie Townsend.

Stringfellow Unit

The A. M. "Mac" Stringfellow Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison located in unincorporated Brazoria County, Texas, with a Rosharon, Texas postal address it is not inside the Rosharon census-designated place. The prison is located on Farm to Market Road 655, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Farm to Market Road 521, and about 30 miles (48 km) south of Houston. The unit is co-located with the Ramsey Unit and the Terrell Unit on a 16,369-acre (6,624 ha) plot of land.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Darrington Unit Archived 2010-07-25 at the Wayback Machine ." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Hinckley, D. (2008-09-12). "Singing up a 'Mighty Storm' in Galveston". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 2009-07-20. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  3. ↑ "2010 CENSUS – CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Rosharon CDP, TX." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on January 21, 2018.
  4. 1 2 https://www.texastribune.org/2017/07/20/texas-prison-heat-air-conditioning-lawsuit/
  5. ↑ "1995 Annual Report." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on July 21, 2010.
  6. ↑ Trulson, Chad R., James W. Marquart, and Ben M. Crouch. First Available Cell: Desegregation of the Texas Prison System. University of Texas Press, 2009. 81. Retrieved from Google Books on July 16, 2010. ISBN   0-292-71983-3, ISBN   978-0-292-71983-5.
  7. ↑ Trulson, Chad R., James W. Marquart, and Ben M. Crouch. First Available Cell: Desegregation of the Texas Prison System. University of Texas Press, 2009. 82. Retrieved from Google Books on July 16, 2010. ISBN   0-292-71983-3, ISBN   978-0-292-71983-5.
  8. ↑ Toth, John. "Prison guards will `shoot to kill' inmates to stop deadly violence of gangs" (). Houston Chronicle . Sunday September 21, 1986. Section 3, Page 1. Retrieved on August 17, 2010.
  9. ↑ Texas Education Code Sec. 130.170. BRAZOSPORT COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.: "(2) the Angleton Independent School District, except the part annexed by the Alvin Community College District before September 1, 1995."
  10. ↑ The Taxation Map and College Zone map of Alvin Community College do not show Darrington Unit, and based upon Texas Education Code Sec. 130.170. it would be in the Brazosport College zone.
  11. ↑ "H.B. No. 2744." Texas Legislature. Retrieved on March 11, 2011. "(3) the territory located in Brazoria County, situated to the west of the Alvin Community College District boundary as it existed on January 1, 2003, extending west to the eastern border of Fort Bend County, and south to County Roads 49, 34, and 255, including the City of Rosharon and the Darrington and Ramsey Units of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice."
  12. ↑ "Bill: HB 2744." Texas Legislature. Retrieved on March 11, 2011.
  13. ↑ "Graham, David Christopher" (Archive). Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on December 28, 2015.
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