The John M. Wynne Unit (WY) is a men's prison of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,[1] located in northern Huntsville, Texas, at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 2821 West and Texas State Highway 75 North.[2] The Windham School District has its headquarters in the unit. Wynne, the second oldest prison in Texas, was named after John Magruder Wynne, who served as a prison employee and later as a board member of the prison system from 1878 to 1881.[2] The unit, on a 1,412 acres (571 ha) plot of land, is co-located with the Holliday Unit.[1]
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The State of Texas bought Wynne from the last lessees of the facility (Cunningham and Ellis) in 1883. Wynne initially had about 1,970 acres (800 ha) of terrace gardens used to fulfill the gardening needs of the Huntsville Unit. The current unit was dedicated in 1937 and completed in 1939.[2]
In the 1970s, the prison had 17 prison guards in its day shift to oversee 2,600 prisoners. The prison system arranged to have building tenders used to guard the prisoners, making up for the small number of prison guards.[3]
On August 8, 2000 an inmate escaped from the prison by driving a tractor trailer cab through the prison wall while avoiding gunshots fired by prison guards. The prisoner left the truck on the runway of Huntsville Airport and fled into a vehicle; state officials believed that the man's wife drove the vehicle. Police officers with tracking dogs found the man and his wife under a tree less than 7 miles (11 km) from the Wynne Unit. The state said that the offender "reportedly" was taken with force, while the wife surrendered peacefully.[2]
In 2007 two inmates from Wynne escaped. During the incident the escape vehicle hit 59-year old prison guard Susan Canfield, killing her. One inmate was re-arrested.[4]
Wynne has a box factory, a computer recovery factory, a license plate factory, a mattress factory, a mechanic shop with diesel repair, a signs and plastics plant, and a sticker plant.[2] The Windham School District has its headquarters in Building B in the Wynne Unit.[5][6]
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