The Aryan Circle is a white supremacist , Neo-Nazi prison gang spread throughout many U.S. correctional facilities .
60-704: The Aryan Circle was founded by Mark "Cowboy" Gaspard in 1985 in the Texas Department of Corrections as a splinter group of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT). During the 1980s the ABT had shifted focus away from overt crime towards religion. The Aryan Circle split from the Aryan Brotherhood to maintain criminal gang status and white supremacist beliefs, and to oppose African American and Hispanic prison gangs. The gang began growing during
120-582: A Budget Inn Motel in Bastrop, Louisiana in a shootout, in which he was also killed. Clem and his girlfriend were on the run after Clem shot at an SUV with black teenagers who had opened fire on an acquaintance, wounding him seriously, in front of his house in Houston on July 14. Two of the assaulting teenagers were killed, one was wounded. Although the Aryan Circle was created by white supremacists, in
180-495: A capacity of 2,013 inmates. Originally, many Texas prison farms had no cells; the prisoners were housed in racially segregated dormitory units referred to as "tanks". In the 1960s, the Texas Prison System began referring to the prisons as "units". Chad R. Trulson and James W. Marquart, authors of First Available Cell: Desegregation of the Texas Prison System , said that the word unit was a euphemism that probably
240-513: A controlled substance. As of 1998, 85% of the state jail felons had prior arrest records, and 58% of the state jail felons had previously never been incarcerated. The highest level of educational programming available in state jails are general equivalency diploma classes. The TDCJ operates three psychiatric units, including Jester IV Unit , Skyview Unit, and the John Montford Psychiatric Unit. As of March 2013,
300-410: A grueling eleven-day standoff, the convicts finally made their escape attempt just before 10 p.m. on Saturday, August 3, 1974. They moved out of the library toward the waiting vehicle in a makeshift shield consisting of legal books taped to mobile blackboards that were later dubbed by the press the "Trojan Taco". Inside the shield were the three convicts and four hostages, while eight other hostages ringed
360-509: A lot of other things on my list above the heat. It's hot in Texas, and a lot of Texans who are not in prison don't have air conditioning." That year, a federal judge declared that the TDCJ is making it impossible for Muslim inmates to practice their religion. In 2017, the use of solitary confinement as punishment was ended. The Texas Board of Criminal Justice oversees the TDCJ. The board selects
420-533: A major riot at the Huntsville Walls prison resulted in the murder of two hostages. This was not a riot, but an escape attempt in which the whole Huntsville Unit was shut down. Inmates were Fred Gomez Carrasco , Rudolpho Domingez and Ignacio Cueves . In 1979, Ruiz v. Estelle found that the conditions of imprisonment within the TDC prison system constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of
480-705: A man who served as a prisoner in Texas's state prisons and the author Behind the Walls: A Guide for Families and Friends of Texas Prison Inmates , said usually when an inmate is charged with a prison offense, the sole question to be determined is the severity of the punishment to be given to the inmate. Smoking is prohibited at all TDCJ facilities. On November 18, 1994, the Texas Board of Criminal Justice voted to ban smoking at all TDCJ facilities, beginning on March 1, 1995. The Holliday Unit in Huntsville already had
540-513: A smoking ban in place prior to the TDCJ system-wide ban. Offenders in all TDCJ units wear uniforms consisting of cotton white pullover shirts and white elastic-waist trousers. The TDCJ requires prisoners to wear uniforms so they can easily be identified and to prevent correctional officers from forming associations and giving preferential treatment to any prisoners. The TDCJ retired clothing with belts and buttons and introduced trousers with expandable waists. Shoes worn by prisoners may be issued by
600-569: A state jail who are convicted of a state jail offense must be held for at least 75 days and may not be held longer than 2 years. Individuals may not parole or have mandatory supervision release from state jails. The state jail felony classification was created in 1993 as part of a reformation of sentencing laws. In July 1998, Texas had 18 state jails (including six privately operated facilities) with 9,023 state jail felons and 14,940 people awaiting transfer to prisons. During that year, 53.3% of state jail felons were convicted of possession or delivery of
660-526: A swastika and the letters "AC" in the center of a circle. However, due to the group being classified as a Security Threat Group , many of its members no longer have the patch tattooed. Older members will have a small circle just below their left pectoral. They also acknowledge each other with patch numbers. Aryan Circle members have been convicted of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute large amounts of methamphetamine . On August 10, 2007, Aryan Circle member Dennis Leighton Clem killed two police officers at
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#1732775881117720-520: Is intended to establish governance over all aspects of prison life. The prison rule system is modeled on the free-world penal system, but it does not have judicial review and rights. The number of regulations has increased due to court orders, incidents, and managerial initiative. Robert Perkinson , author of Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire (2010), wrote that the Offender Orientation Handbook "encapsulates
780-545: Is invoked by officials whenever a daily conflict occurs. In case of an escalated dispute, officers submit a "case" and an inmate or multiple inmates appear in front of a court described by Perkinson as "makeshift." Perkinson explains that several federal court orders have shaped the prison courts, which "have all of the trappings of adversarial justice," including a counsel substitute and a presiding captain, physical evidence, and witnesses. According to Perkinson, though, "the house [(the prosecution)] rarely loses." Jorge Renaud,
840-425: Is not established in the prison because the "churlish" inmates do not have the inclination and "often," the reading ability to follow the "finer dictates" of the handbook, and the correctional officers, "moderately trained, high-turnover stiffs earning Waffle House wages," do not have the energy and time to enforce the rules strictly. According to Perkinson, the handbook is never consistently or fully enforced, but it
900-555: Is the location of the state of Texas execution chamber. The Polunsky death row has about 290 prisoners. As of March 2013, eight male death-row prisoners are housed in Jester IV Unit, a psychiatric unit, instead of Polunsky. 1974 Huntsville Prison siege The 1974 Huntsville Prison siege was an eleven-day prison uprising that took place from July 24 to August 3, 1974, at the Huntsville Walls Unit of
960-496: The Houston Press compiled lists of some books that have been banned by the TDCJ, noting some are considered classics of the literary canon. The TDCJ uses regional release centers for male prisoners. Most male prisoners are released to be closer to their counties of conviction, approved release counties, or residences. Male prisoners who have detainers, are classified as sex offenders, have electronic monitoring imposed by
1020-594: The Allan B. Polunsky Unit , and female death-row offenders go to the Mountain View Unit . The prisoner transportation network of the TDCJ is headquartered in Huntsville. As of 2005, the network has 326 employees, including 319 uniformed employees. The TDCJ's regional prisoner transportation hubs are located in Abilene , Amarillo , Beeville , Huntsville, Palestine , and Rosharon . Of the transportation hubs,
1080-935: The French M. Robertson Unit in Abilene; and the William G. McConnell Unit near Beeville. All female prisoners who are not state jail prisoners or Substance Abuse Felony Punishment Facility prisoners are released from the Christina Crain Unit (formerly the Gatesville Unit) in Gatesville. Rick Thaler, the director of the Correctional Institutions Division, predicted in 2010 that the Huntsville Unit, which serves as
1140-742: The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles , or have certain special conditions of the Super Intensive Supervision Program are released from Huntsville Unit, regardless of their counties of conviction, residences, or approved release counties. Regional release facilities for men include the Huntsville Unit, the William P. Clements Jr. Unit near Amarillo; the Hutchins State Jail in Hutchins , near Dallas ;
1200-629: The Texas House of Representatives , mayors, police officers, and judges. In previous eras, prisons were only named after deceased TDCJ employees and state governors. By the 2000s, so many new prisons were being built that the TDCJ had to change its naming policy. Regional offices of the CID are: Region I, headquartered in Huntsville; Region II, headquartered on TDCJ prison property in Anderson County, near Palestine ; Region III, headquartered on
1260-602: The United States Constitution . The decision led to federal oversight of the system, with a prison construction boom and "sweeping reforms ... that fundamentally changed how Texas prisons operated." In 1989, the TDCJ and the Board of Criminal Justice were created. The board is composed of nine members appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate to six-year, overlapping terms. This new agency absorbed functions of three state agencies -
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#17327758811171320-442: The 1990s, becoming the second-largest prison gang in Texas by 2008, with 730 confirmed members in state prisons. The gang also had an operational presence in neighboring states and isolated members throughout the country. The Anti-Defamation League estimated their 2009 nationwide membership to be approximately 1,400, including 150 confirmed members in federal prisons. Membership in the group usually requires an assault on an enemy of
1380-501: The 22 units that are staffed below 80% of their employee capacities, eight (36%) of the units have officers' quarters. As of that year, the TDCJ requested funding from the Texas Legislature for three 80-bed officers' quarters to be built next to three prisons that the agency considers to be "critically staffed." An employee who obtains a residence in a state-owned house on or after September 1, 1997, pays $ 50 per month during
1440-603: The Central Region hub in Huntsville transports the largest number of prisoners to the greatest number of units. The Abilene hub controls the largest land area. Prisoners in the general population are seated together, with prisoners handcuffed in pairs. Prisoners in administrative segregation and prisoners under death sentences are seated individually; various restraints, including belly chains and leg irons, are placed on those prisoners. Each prisoner transport vehicle has two urinals and two water dispensers. As of 2005, all of
1500-682: The Human Rights Clinic of the University of Texas School of Law released a report stating that the temperatures in many TDCJ units are too high over the summer and that at least 14 inmates had been killed by the heat since 2007. In 2013, the TDCJ had signed a deal for a climate-controlled housing system for pig breeding; this was worth $ 750,000. In response, John Whitmire of the Texas State Senate stated, "the people of Texas don't want air-conditioned prisons, and there's
1560-626: The Huntsville Unit. However, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, most inmates are now released from the last unit they were assigned to in their incarceration. Male inmates with health and mental health difficulties and sex offenders are still mostly released from Huntsville. The TDCJ houses male death-row inmates in the Polunsky Unit and female death-row inmates in the Mountain View Unit. The Huntsville Unit
1620-596: The Institutional Division operated prisons and the State Jail Division (TDCJ-SJD ) operated state jails. As of 2010, of the counties in Texas, the five with the highest numbers of state prisons and jails were Walker , Brazoria and Coryell (tie), and Anderson and Liberty (tie). As of 2001, prisons may be named after people who are dead or who are still alive, and namesakes have included Governors of Texas, TDCJ employees, members of
1680-558: The Operations Division, the Private Facilities Division, and the State Jail Division. The division operates prisons, which are facilities for people convicted of capital offenses and people convicted of first-, second-, and third-degree felony offenses, and state jails, facilities for people convicted of state jail felony offenses. Before the 2003 formation of the Correctional Institutions Division,
1740-706: The Texas Department of Corrections in Huntsville , Texas . The standoff was one of the longest hostage-taking sieges in United States history. From July 24 to August 3, 1974, Federico "Fred" Gomez Carrasco and two other inmates laid siege to the education/library building of the Walls Unit . Fred Carrasco was a powerful heroin kingpin in South Texas who was serving a life sentence for
1800-917: The Texas Department of Corrections, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles , and the Texas Adult Probation Commission. In the 1980s, the government of Texas began building more prisons. During that decade, impoverished rural communities viewed the prisons as a boon, as they provided jobs. In 1987, the Texas State Board of Corrections voted to build two new 2,250-inmate maximum-security prisons in Gatesville and Amarillo and several 1,000-inmate medium-security prisons in Liberty County , Marlin , Snyder , and Woodville . The TDC units in Amarillo and Snyder were
1860-524: The United States with the highest numbers of reported prison rape cases in 2006. In 2007, the TDCJ reported a total of 234 reported sexual assaults in its prisons. Michelle Lyons , the TDCJ spokesperson, said, "The actual reports we have are not consistent with the results in the survey, but because it's anonymous, there's no way for us to verify that additional number." In 2008, the TDCJ planned to install cell phone-jamming devices at its units, but encountered resistance from cell phone companies. In 2014,
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1920-501: The attempted murder of a police officer. He was also suspected in the murder of dozens of people in Mexico and Texas. Having smuggled pistols and ammunition into the prison, he and two other convicts took eleven prison workers and four inmates hostage . The pistols were smuggled by a bribed prison worker who put three .357 magnum pistols in a can of ham. More than 300 rounds of ammunition were also smuggled inside cans of peaches. When
1980-462: The drug king's surname. "When I was playing with the Mexican bands, they couldn't say Teusch," he says. "That was when Fred Carrasco had tried to break out of Huntsville back in 1974 with a big shootout. Carrasco was killed, so that week the Mexican guys said, "We're going to call you Carrasco." Los Socios de San Antonio have a tribute song entitled "La Muerte de Fred Gomez Carrasco". The Riot and
2040-654: The executive director, who manages the TDCJ. The members of the board are appointed by the Governor of Texas . The department encompasses these major divisions: The Correctional Institutions Division, which operates secure correctional facilities for adults, has its headquarters in the Brad Livingston Administrative Headquarters in Huntsville. TDCJ-CID, formed in 2003, was a merger of the Institutions Division,
2100-399: The exterior of the "taco". Acting on a prearranged plan, prison guards and Texas Rangers blasted the group with fire hoses. However, a rupture in the hose gave the convicts time to fatally shoot the two women hostages who had volunteered to join the convicts in the armored car. When prison officials returned fire, Carrasco committed suicide and one of his two accomplices, Rodolpho Dominguez,
2160-517: The first ones located outside of Central Texas and East Texas . James Anthum "Andy" Collins, the executive director of the TDCJ from April 10, 1994, to around December 1995, became a consultant for VitaPro, a company selling a meat substitute that was used in Texas prisons. Shirley Southerland, a prisoner at the Hobby Unit , stated that her fellow prisoners discovered that the VitaPro product
2220-864: The fiscal year of 1998, and for each subsequent year, 20% of the fair market rental valuation of the property. A resident of state-owned bachelor officers' quarters or a renter of a state-owned mobile home lot pays $ 50 per month. The Texas Prison System purchased its first prison farm in 1885. The oldest TDCJ units still in operation, originally established between 1849 and 1933, include Huntsville Unit (1849), Wynne Unit (1883), Jester I Unit (1885, brick building in 1932), Vance (Harlem/Jester II) Unit (1885, brick building in 1933), Clemens Unit (1893), Ramsey (I) Unit (1908), Stringfellow (Ramsey II) Unit (1908), Goree Unit (1907), Memorial (Darrington) Unit (1917), and J. Dale Wainwright (Eastham) Unit (1917); prior to their closures Central Unit (1909, rebuilt in 1932) and Retrieve (later Wayne Scott) Unit (1919) were among
2280-541: The largest prison farms and prison properties in the state, including Goree Unit , the Jester units , Polunsky Unit , the Ramsey units, and Wynne Unit , are located in those counties. The state of Texas began building adult prisons outside of the historic cotton belt in the 1980s. Some units have employee housing; most employee housing was constructed prior to the TDCJ's early to mid-1990s prison expansion. As of 2008, of
2340-531: The largest prison system in the United States. The department has its headquarters in the Brad Livingston Administrative Headquarters in Huntsville and offices at the Price Daniel Sr. Building in downtown Austin . In 1848, the Texas Legislature passed "An Act to Establish a State Penitentiary", which created an oversight board to manage the treatment of convicts and administration of
2400-466: The media descended on Huntsville. Over the next several days the convicts made a number of demands, including tailored suits, dress shoes, toothpaste, cologne, walkie-talkies and bulletproof helmets, all of which were provided promptly. With the approval of Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe , an armored getaway car was provided and rolled into the prison courtyard. Carrasco claimed that they were planning to flee to Cuba and appeal to Fidel Castro . After
2460-727: The mid-1990s it was caught up in a bloody war with another white supremacist prison gang called the White Knights that cost the life of one White Knights member. Texas Department of Corrections 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
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2520-545: The number of the prison units increased from 65 to 108 – and trying to establish favorable business contracts and get prisons named after them. Draper reasoned, "If [ Allan B. Polunsky ] and other board members didn't care about ethics, why should Andy Collins?" According to a December 2007 survey of prisoners from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics , five TDCJ units, Allred Unit , Clemens Unit , Coffield Unit , Estelle Unit , and Mountain View Unit , were among those in
2580-610: The oldest prisons. In addition, the Hilltop Unit uses buildings from the former Gatesville State School , a juvenile correctional facility, making the Hilltop Unit's prison facility the third-oldest correctional facility still-used in Texas after the Huntsville and Jester I. The largest TDCJ prison is the Coffield Unit , with a capacity of 4,021 inmates. The largest female prison is the Christina Crain Unit , with
2640-466: The one o'clock work bell sounded, Carrasco walked up a ramp to the third-story library and forced several prisoners out at gunpoint. When two guards tried to go up the ramp, Carrasco fired at them. His two accomplices, who were also armed, immediately joined him in the library. The prison warden and the director of the Texas Department of Corrections immediately began negotiations with the convicts. FBI agents and Texas Rangers arrived to assist them, as
2700-409: The organization of the managing board of the department occurred over the next 100 years. In 1921, George W. Dixon of The Prison Journal published a report on the Texas Prison System facilities. His article stated that the prisons were among the most "brutal" in the world. Dixon said that the prisons featured corporal punishment such as whipping, beatings, and isolation. In July and August 1974,
2760-404: The organization. The Aryan Circle touts four tenets: brotherhood, solidarity, loyalty, and dedication; these beliefs are represented on each side of a diamond patch. Aryan Circle members sport common white supremacist/separatist tattoos such as swastikas , SS lightning bolts , and Celtic or Germanic symbols. The main patch of the Aryan Circle is a diamond with wood in grade under the heart with
2820-532: The penitentiaries. Land was acquired in Huntsville and Rusk for later facilities. The prison system began as a single institution , located in Huntsville. A second prison facility, Rusk Penitentiary, began receiving convicts in January 1883. Before the Ruiz v. Estelle court case, the Texas Department of Corrections had 18 units, including 16 for males and two for females. Various administrative changes where
2880-813: The property of the Darrington Unit in Brazoria County, near Rosharon ; Region IV, headquartered in the former Chase Field Industrial Complex (a TDCJ property) in Beeville ; Region V, headquartered in Plainview ; and Region VI, headquartered on TDCJ property in Gatesville . Most of the TDCJ prisons are located in the historic cotton slavery belt around the former location of Stephen F. Austin 's colony. Counties that have housed adult correctional facilities, such as Brazoria, Fort Bend , Polk , and Walker , once had slave majority populations. Many of
2940-789: The regional release center for greater Houston , would remain the TDCJ's largest release center despite the decrease of traffic of released prisoners. State jail offenders are released from their units of assignment. All people released receive a set of nonprison clothing and a bus voucher. State jail offenders receive a voucher to their counties of conviction. Prison offenders receive $ 50 upon their release and another $ 50 after reporting to their parole officers. Released state jail offenders do not receive money. Inmates in Substance Abuse Felony Punishment Facilities are also directly released. Prior to September 2010, most male prison offenders were released from
3000-845: The right to wear long hair after court action. Robert Perkinson, author of Texas Tough , says that the uniforms make prisoners "look like shapeless hospital orderlies." Jorge Renaud, a former prisoner, states that the uniforms are part of the prison system's depersonalization process. The TDCJ reviews books to determine whether they are appropriate for prisoners. In 2010, the agency disclosed that it reviewed 89,795 books, with 40,285 authors represented. The agency did not disclose how many of those books were banned. The system's banned list includes some novels that were written by National Book Award winners, Nobel laureates , and Pulitzer Prize -winners, and some books of paintings made by notable artists. The Austin American-Statesman and
3060-739: The state or purchased from the commissary. Male prisoners must be clean-shaven, unless they have been approved to grow a 1/2 inch religious beard, a provision that went into effect August 1, 2015. Usually their hair is required to be trimmed to the backs of their heads and necks. TDCJ-CID says that "Female offenders will not have extreme haircuts." In 2016, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that religious inmates such as Muslims are allowed to grow 4-inch beards as well as wear religious clothing, so long as prisoners do not hide contraband. Inmate with longer hair are inspected by shaking their hair with their fingers. Prisoners must have hair cut around their ears. Native American prisoners, since 2019, received
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#17327758811173120-558: The surviving perpetrator, received the Texas Department of Corrections Death Row ID #526. Cuevas was received as a death row prisoner on May 30, 1975. Cuevas was held at the Ellis Unit , and he was executed on May 23, 1991. Cuevas's last meal request consisted of chicken dumplings, steamed rice, sliced bread, black-eyed peas, and iced tea. Cuevas's last words were "I'm going to a beautiful place. O.K., warden, roll 'em." Tex-Mex musician Joe "King" Carrasco (born Joe Teusch) adopted
3180-493: The transportation vans and half of the chain buses have air conditioning. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has the Offender Orientation Handbook, a guidebook explaining the rules prisoners are required to follow, posted on its website in English and Spanish . Individual prisoners receive formal orientations and copies of the manual after undergoing initial processing. The manual has 111 pages of rules of behavior. It
3240-551: The unit closest to his or her county of residence. Death-row offenders and offenders with life imprisonment without parole enter the TDCJ system through two points; men enter through the Byrd Unit in Huntsville, and women enter through the Reception Center in Christina Crain Unit , Gatesville. From there, inmates with life without parole sentences go on to their assigned facilities. Male death-row offenders go to
3300-591: The units are at capacity. Brandi Grissom of the Texas Monthly said, "So acute is the need for psychiatric prisoners that if Texas built a fourth facility, it would be full as soon as it opened." The State Classification Committee and designated Classification and Records Office staff members assign each institutional prisoner to his or her first unit after the prisoner completes his or her tests and interviews; offenders are not allowed to choose their units of assignment. The state assigns each state jail offender to
3360-448: The weary institutional dream of imposing perfect discipline on potential chaos" and that the "sweeping and tedious rules" "cover a bewildering range of restrictions and obligations." As examples Perkinson referred to the "no fighting," "offenders will brush their teeth daily," and "horseplay is prohibited," which he refers to, respectively, as "sensible," "well meaning," and a "catchall." Perkinson said that in practice, "totalitarian order"
3420-485: Was intended for consumption by canines. Collins arranged for VitaPro to be used while he was still the head of the TDCJ. Collins had awarded a $ 33.7 million contract to the company. Robert Draper of the Texas Monthly accused various TDCJ board members and state officials in the early to mid-1990s of capitalizing on the rapid expansion of Texas prisons – from 1994 to 1996 the number of prisoners almost doubled and
3480-406: Was intended to refer to progressive penal practices, professionalism, and a distancing from a legacy of racism. State jails house inmates convicted of state jail felony offenses, which include lower-level assault and drug, family, and property offenses. In addition the Texas Board of Criminal Justice designated state jails as transfer units for individuals who are bound for prisons. Individuals in
3540-508: Was killed. Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas , who was an onsite reporter for Houston 's KPRC-TV at the time, later wrote, "It is a tragedy that two hostages died. It is a miracle all the rest lived." The two female hostages who were killed during the incident were Yvonne Beseda and Julia Standley. In 1999 on the 25th anniversary of the siege, the Huntsville Unit Education Building where the siege occurred
3600-619: Was renamed The Standley-Beseda Education Building with a renaming ceremony attended by members of the siege and families. The renaming was due to the efforts of the Huntsville Unit School principal, Dr. Gregory Gathright and the Unit Warden Jim Willett. The renaming process necessitated a resolution by the Texas Legislature required for any name change to a state-owned facility. The vote was unanimous for approval. Ignacio Cuevas (July 31, 1931 – May 23, 1991),
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