- Clemens Unit
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Clemens Unit (CN) 
Location 11034 Highway 36, Brazoria County, Texas 77422 Coordinates 28°59′25″N 95°32′44″W / 28.99037°N 95.545596°WCoordinates: 28°59′25″N 95°32′44″W / 28.99037°N 95.545596°W Status Operational Capacity 1,215 Opened 1893 Managed by Texas Department of Criminal Justice Warden Todd Harris Clemens Unit (CN) is a prison farm of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) in unincorporated Brazoria County, Texas. The prison, with about 8,008 square feet (744.0 m2), is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 2004 and Texas State Highway 36.[1] The prison, in the Texas Gulf Coast region,[2] is in proximity to the City of Brazoria,[3] and it is in proximity to the Velasco community, now a part of Freeport.[4] The prison is situated south of Houston.[2]
Contents
History
Aerial photograph, January 23, 1995 - U.S. Geological Survey
Topographical map, July 1, 1984 - U.S. Geological SurveyIn 1890 William C. Clemens, the chairperson of the Texas Prison Board, purchased an initial parcel of land from the Huntington Estate for $4,126.[5] The prison, named after Clemens,[6] opened in 1893.[1] The State of Texas bought the entire prison, then 5,527 acres (2,237 ha), in 1899.[7] The property included the William Clemens mill and sugar plantation.[4] The prison was the first state prison in Brazoria County.[5]
The state later added a neighboring plantation, making Clemens have 8,212 acres (3,323 ha) of land.[7] The state purchased additional acreage, bringing the prison to a total of 8,116 acres (3,284 ha).[5] In 1935 Clemens housed African American prisoners.[8] In 1963, before racial desegregation occurred, the facility housed first offender African Americans.[9]
In the mid-1990s the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) removed older violent offenders from the institution and replaced them with younger offenders; most of them were 25 or younger. The administration segregated younger prisoners from the other ones; the younger prisoners were put in what the inmates called a "kiddie farm."[10] In 1995 the State of Texas lowered its minimum age in which a juvenile can be tried as an adult from 15 to 14. In response, Wayne Scott, the executive director of the TDCJ, established the Youth Offender Program, housing prisoners who arrived as 14- to 16-year-olds and were sentenced as adults, new arrivals into the TDCJ from ages 17–20, and prisoners transferred out of the Texas Youth Commission who are ages 16–18 and had received determinate sentences.[2]
A prisoner named Rodney Hulin reported being raped by fellow inmates around his age after his November 1995 transfer to a division for younger offenders in Clemens. Hulin committed suicide afterwards. He became a symbol of a movement that advocated not placing juvenile offenders in adult institutions.[11]
Operations
As of 2004 Clemens produces agricultural products such as edible and field crops and livestock. As of that year most of the inmates at Clemens are second time offenders of all of the custody levels.[5]
Cemeteries
The prison has two historic cemeteries. One, a cemetery of offenders who died from a virus epidemic, is located near the unit dog kennels. The second cemetery, in the Two Camp area on the Huntington Estate, has the graves of Thomas and Thompson McNeil.[5]
References
- ^ a b "Clemens Unit." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on January 17, 2010.
- ^ a b c Castlebury, Glen. "Texas' Youthful Offender Program." Corrections Today. October 1, 2002. Retrieved on November 19, 2010.
- ^ Staff and Wire Reports. "Parts of Houston join evacuation." Houston Chronicle. September 21, 2005. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.
- ^ a b "Convict Leasing and State Account Farming (1883-1909)." Texas State Library and Archives. Retrieved on April 29, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Turner Publishing Company, 2004. 62. ISBN 1563119641, 9781563119644.
- ^ "1995 Annual Report." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on July 21, 2010.
- ^ a b "Texas Prison System." Handbook of Texas. Retrieved on March 8, 2011.
- ^ 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 0292719833, 9780292719835.
- ^ 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 0292719833, 9780292719835.
- ^ Berryhill, Michael. "What Really Happened To Rodeny Hulin?" [sic] Houston Press. August 7, 1997. 5. Retrieved on January 17, 2010.
- ^ Berryhill, Michael. "What Really Happened To Rodeny Hulin?" [sic] Houston Press. August 7, 1997. 1. Retrieved on January 17, 2010.
External links
Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Correctional Institutions Division prison unitsRegion I Byrd | Eastham | Ellis | Estelle | Ferguson | Goree | Huntsville | Lewis | Polunsky | Wynne
Region II Region III Clemens | Darrington | Hightower | Jester III | Ramsey | Scott | Stiles | Stringfellow | Terrell | VanceRegion IV Region V Region VI Private Former units CentralAbove facilities are male-only unless noted by ♀(female-only)Categories:- Prisons in Brazoria County, Texas
- 1893 establishments in the United States
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