James V. Allred Unit

James V. Allred Unit
Location 2101 FM 369 North
Iowa Park, Texas 76367
Coordinates 33°58′28″N 98°35′44″E / 33.9744444°N 098.5955556°E / 33.9744444; 098.5955556
Status Operational
Security class G1-G5, Administrative Segregation, Safekeeping
Capacity 3,722
Opened June 1995
Managed by TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division
Warden Richard Wathen
County Wichita County
Country USA
Website www.tdcj.state.tx.us/unit_directory../ja.html

The James V. Allred Unit[1] is a prison for males located on Farm to Market Road 369 in Wichita Falls, Texas, United States, 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of downtown Wichita Falls.[2][3][4][5][6] The prison is in proximity to Iowa Park.[7] The prison, with about 320 acres (130 ha) of land, is a part of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Region V.[2]

It opened in the summer of 1995 and is one of the largest maximum security units in Texas housing approximately 3600 offenders. It consists of four departments, General Population, Administrative segregation and one of the first "Expansion cell blocks" (High Security) to be built housing some level ones Seg overflow and close custody offenders. It also contains one of Texas's "Safe Keeping Units", which are designed to house prisoners that would be in danger from other inmates.[8]

History

Allred opened in June 1995.[2] It was named after James V. Allred, a Governor of Texas.[9]

A former inmate, a homosexual African-American named Roderick Johnson, reported that he was forced into sexual slavery by prisoners at the Allred Unit after he arrived there in September 2000. Johnson reported that prisoners forced him to go by the name "Coco" and that he was forced to submit to anal sex and oral sex.[10] Johnson said that Allred authorities denied his pleas for safekeeping until Johnson contacted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).[11] After Johnson left the prison, he filed a lawsuit against the prison authorities. In September 2004 a federal appeals court allowed Johnson's civil rights lawsuit to go to trial.[10] On October 18, 2005, a federal jury rejected all of Johnson's claims, finding that he produced no evidence of rape and lied in his testimony.[12]

On August 13, 2007, Edward Brooks, 52, who is serving a life sentence for an aggravated robbery, broke out shortly after 3 p.m., according to the Wichita Falls Times Record News. Brooks was authorized to work in the unit without supervision. He pulled a visiting soft-drink vendor from her black Dodge, then sped through the front gate, according to Assistant Warden Tommy Norwood. The getaway car ran out of gasoline in Burkburnett. Officers spotted him and took him in custody within an hour of the breakout.[13]

Notable inmates

References

  1. ↑ Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Turner Publishing Company, 2004. 50. ISBN 1-56311-964-1, ISBN 978-1-56311-964-4.
  2. 1 2 3 "Allred Unit." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Sheet Number 1." City of Wichita Falls. Retrieved on September 22, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Sheet Number 2." City of Wichita Falls. Retrieved on September 22, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Sheet Number 9." City of Wichita Falls. Retrieved on September 22, 2010.
  6. ↑ "Sheet Number 10." City of Wichita Falls. Retrieved on September 22, 2010.
  7. ↑ "ACLU Says Faulty Investigation by Texas Corrections Department Led to Grand Jury's Failure to Indict Rape Suspects." ACLU. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.
  8. ↑ "OFFENDER ORIENTATION HANDBOOK", p. 6, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, November 2004, Retried on 2014-01-09
  9. ↑ "1995 Annual Report." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on July 21, 2010.
  10. 1 2 Liptak, Adam. "Ex-Inmate's Suit Offers View Into Sexual Slavery in Prisons." The New York Times. October 16, 2004. 1. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.
  11. ↑ Johnson, Roderick. "What It Feels Like...to Be a Prison Sex Slave." Esquire. August 1, 2005. Retrieved on September 22, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Texas jury rejects gay convict's prison rape claims The Advocate. October 19, 2005. Retrieved on December 7, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Inmate escapes: Convicted burglar captured after fleeing Allred", Author: Carmen Castro, Times Record News, 2007-08-13, Retrieved: 2014-01-09
  14. ↑ "Offender Information Detail". Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved 2010-09-22. TDCJ Number 01110642, SID Number 04236244
  15. ↑
  16. ↑

External links

Coordinates: 33°58′28″N 98°35′44″W / 33.97444°N 98.59556°W / 33.97444; -98.59556

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