Giddings State School is a juvenile correctional facility of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department located in unincorporated Lee County, Texas, [1] near Giddings. [2] In 2004, the state school was Lee County's largest employer. [3]
Giddings State School is a juvenile correctional facility of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department located in unincorporated Lee County, Texas, [1] near Giddings. [2] In 2004, the state school was Lee County's largest employer. [3]
The Giddings State Home and School for Boys opened in September 1972, serving younger boys who were runaways and/or were adjudicated. [2] In 1979 the Gatesville State School closed, and Giddings took some students previously at Gatesville. [4] In 1980 Giddings was designated as the state's maximum security juvenile facility. [2] In 1997 the school's students had mostly committed violent crimes. [5]
At one time the state school had boys and girls. In 2007, the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) announced that Giddings would become male only. [6] As of 2010 Giddings is classified as a high security facility. [2]
In January 2012 115 inmates took a survey from Benet Magnuson, a juvenile justice analyst, and his team of researchers from the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition. Most of the prisoners reported that they felt hopeful about their futures and that they felt safe in the facility. Some stated that fights among inmates had occurred and that they had negative interactions with employees. [7]
As of September 2015 the facility has about 200 inmates. [8]
On Friday September 15, 2015, 60 prisoners engaged in a fight that left three people injured. [8]
Giddings State School is 55 miles (89 km) from Austin, [9] and between Austin and Houston. [2]
The 58 acres (23 ha) Giddings State School has a classroom building, a cafeteria, a chapel, vocational shops, dormitories, a gymnasium, an office complex and a security unit with individual cells. The state school has a 14-foot (430 cm) fence with motion detectors. Since 1997, guards patrol the property in unmarked vans 24 hours per day; at nighttime the guards do not use headlights so potential escapees cannot see them. John Ed Bradley of Sports Illustrated said, "People of a certain sensitivity like to call Giddings a "home" for juvenile delinquents. In truth, it's as much a pen as the one a couple of hours up the road in Huntsville, where the state keeps adult offenders." [5] Bradley explained that the Giddings State School facility, "even in the dark before dawn, resembles a small, carefully planned college sprung up somewhere on the prairie between Austin and Houston." [5]
The facility houses the Juvenile Capital Murderers Program. [10]
The in-house school is Lone Star High School Southeast. [11]
Giddings State School students may play American football. A student may join the team if he has served at least half of his sentence and is not classified as "high risk". Giddings does not have any home games, and any student classified as "high risk" is not permitted to leave campus under normal circumstances. [12] Giddings students play when it is dark outside, because they are not able to practice after classes; the after school hours are dedicated times to meet with case workers, engage in therapy sessions and work. [13]
In 1997, 50 of the state school's 340 students were eligible to play on the team. [12] The team is known as the Indians. In 1997, most members of the team were African-Americans, but significant numbers of Hispanic and non-Hispanic Whites were on the team. The members originated from communities throughout Texas. John Ed Bradley of Sports Illustrated said "what makes Giddings remarkable is that its athletic program competes off campus in the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS), and it consistently wins with teams made up of some of the worst kids in the state." [5] Because Texas state courts transfer Giddings inmates to halfway houses and Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) adult prisons, [12] and because some students become ineligible after committing behavior violations, the team roster may change from week to week, [13] and the American football team often loses players in the middle of a season. [12] In 1997, Gainesville State School, then a TYC facility for non-violent offenders, was the main rival of Giddings State School. For a 15-year period ending in 1997, Giddings never had a homecoming event. Bradley said "Who gets sentimental about returning to the place where he was locked up?" [14] Bradley added "Giddings doesn't draw fans in droves. The families of a fair number of boys show up this evening, but they've come less to cheer for Giddings than to see their children engaged in a positive activity and wearing something other than prison-issue dungarees and T-shirts." [15] During sports games involving Giddings, cheerleaders, fans and parents do not appear to cheer for the team. [16]
The Giddings State School has been home to many controversies during its existence. Some children are left in isolation for up to 22 hours per day. [17] Reports also state that suicide and self harm are also serious issues. [18] A significant surge in self-harm incidents was observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, with an average of 11 instances per month between 2018 and January 2020. August 2020 saw the highest number of occurrences, with 91 reported cases. [19] These issues are not unique to the Giddings State School, across all of the children under TJJDs care 45% were deemed to be suicide risks. [18] There have also been reports of children being sexually abused by guards. [20]
The book Last Chance in Texas by John Hubner presents an in-depth look into the juvenile corrections aspect of the school.
Bronte is a town in Coke County, Texas, United States. The population was 933 at the 2020 census.
Gatesville is a city in and the county seat of Coryell County, Texas, United States. Its population was 16,135 at the 2020 census. The city has five of the nine prisons and state jails for women operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. One of the facilities, the Patrick O'Daniel Unit, has the state's death row for women.
Giddings is the county seat of Lee County, Texas, United States situated on the intersection of U.S. Highway 77 and U.S. Route 290. Its population was 5,129 at the 2010 census.
In criminal justice systems, a youth detention center, known as a juvenile detention center (JDC), juvenile detention, juvenile jail, juvenile hall, or more colloquially as juvie/juvy or the Juvey Joint, also sometimes referred to as observation home or remand home is a prison for people under the age of majority, to which they have been sentenced and committed for a period of time, or detained on a short-term basis while awaiting trial or placement in a long-term care program. Juveniles go through a separate court system, the juvenile court, which sentences or commits juveniles to a certain program or facility.
The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) is a publicly traded C corporation that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in the United States, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, the company's facilities include illegal immigration detention centers, minimum security detention centers, and mental-health and residential-treatment facilities. It also operates government-owned facilities pursuant to management contracts. As of December 31, 2021, the company managed and/or owned 86,000 beds at 106 facilities. In 2019, agencies of the federal government of the United States generated 53% of the company's revenues. Up until 2021 the company was designated as a real estate investment trust, at which time the board of directors elected to reclassify as a C corporation under the stated goal of reducing the company's debt.
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, and private correctional facilities, funding and certain oversight of community supervision, and supervision of offenders released from prison on parole or mandatory supervision. The TDCJ operates the largest prison system in the United States.
Patrick L. O'Daniel Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison housing female offenders in Gatesville, Texas. The unit, with about 97 acres (39 ha) of land, is located 4 miles (6.4 km) north of central Gatesville on Farm to Market Road 215. The prison is located in a 45-minute driving distance from Waco. In addition to its other functions, O'Daniel Unit houses the state's female death row inmates.
The Texas Youth Commission (TYC) was a Texas state agency which operated juvenile corrections facilities in the state. The commission was headquartered in the Brown-Heatly Building in Austin. As of 2007, it was the second largest juvenile corrections agency in the United States, after the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. As of December 1, 2011, the agency was replaced by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.
The Christina Melton Crain Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison for females in Gatesville, Texas. The prison is along Texas State Highway 36, 3 miles (4.8 km) north of central Gatesville. The unit, with about 1,317 acres (533 ha) of space, is co-located with the Hilltop Unit, the Dr. Lane Murray Unit, and the Linda Woodman Unit. Nearby also is the Mountain View Unit, which houses all Texas female inmates on death row. Crain Unit's regular program houses around 1,500 women, and it is one of Texas's main prisons for women. Female prison offenders of the TDCJ are released from this unit. With a capacity of 2,013 inmates, Crain is the TDCJ's largest female prison.
The West Texas State School was a juvenile detention facility operated by the Texas Youth Commission that closed on August 31, 2010. It was located in unincorporated central Ward County, Texas, along the southwestern edge of Pyote, on Interstate 20 between El Paso and Midland. The former school was about 17 miles (27 km) west of Monahans, 50 miles (80 km) west of Midland and Odessa, and 230 miles east of El Paso.
The Gatesville State School for Boys was a juvenile corrections facility in Gatesville, Texas. The 900-acre (360 ha) facility was converted into two prisons for adults, the Christina Crain Unit, and the Hilltop Unit.
The Mountain View State School was a juvenile rehabilitation facility operated by the Texas Youth Council in Gatesville, Texas. The building and land that once housed the school now house the Mountain View Unit, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice women's prison.
The Hilltop Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison for women located in Gatesville, Texas. Originally opened in September of 1981 as a Male first offender Unit, it is headed by Warden Jerry Gunnels. Hackberry School was the first opened then in October Sycamore was opened and housed SAT IV Construction inmates who were working on Gatesville Unit and Hilltop repairing and buildings and facilities. Until May 1982, when the Hilltop Unit proper was opened.
The Gainesville State School is a juvenile correctional facility of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department in unincorporated Cooke County, Texas, near Gainesville. The fenced, maximum security state school is located on a 160-acre (65 ha) tract east of Gainesville, 75 miles (121 km) north of Dallas, along Farm to Market Road 678 and near Interstate 35. Gainesville is a maximum security facility and is fenced. As of 2012 it is the largest juvenile correctional facility in Texas. As of 2012 it houses 270 teenagers. Many of them are 17 and 18 years old.
The Crockett State School (CSS) was a Texas Youth Commission juvenile correctional facility in Crockett, Texas. The students at the state school had committed various crimes, including truancy, property crimes and crimes against persons. The Crockett State School, located on what was a 125-acre (51 ha) farm, is about 115 miles (185 km) north of Houston.
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Alfred D. Hughes Unit is a prison for men of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice located in Gatesville, Texas. The prison is named after Al Hughes who served as a chairperson on the Texas Board of Corrections from 1985 to 1989.
A prison cemetery is a graveyard reserved for the dead bodies of prisoners. Generally, the remains of inmates who are not claimed by family or friends are interred in prison cemeteries and include convicts executed for capital crimes.
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The Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) is a state agency in Texas, headquartered in the Central Services Building (CSB) in Austin.
Giddings State Schl- See also Giddings map
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Above facilities are male-only unless noted by ♀(female-only) | |
