The James V. Allred Unit[1] is a prison for males located on Farm to Market Road 369 in Wichita Falls, Texas, United States,[2] 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of downtown Wichita Falls.[3][4] The prison is near Iowa Park.[5] The prison, with about 320 acres (130 ha) of land, is a part of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Region V.[3]
  Location in Texas  James V. Allred Unit (the United States) | |
| Location | 2101 FM 369 North Iowa Park, Texas 76367 |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°58′28″N 98°35′44″W / 33.97444°N 98.59556°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Security class | G1-G5, Administrative Segregation, Safekeeping |
| Capacity | 3,722 |
| Opened | June 1995 |
| Managed by | TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division |
| Warden | Kevin Smith |
| County | Wichita County |
| Country | USA |
| Website | www |
It opened in June 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.[6]
History
editAllred opened in June 1995.[3] It was named after James V. Allred, a Governor of Texas.[7]
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.[8] Johnson said that Allred authorities denied his pleas for safekeeping until he contacted the American Civil Liberties Union.[9] 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.[8] On October 18, 2005, a federal jury rejected all of Johnson's claims, finding that he produced no evidence of rape and had lied in his testimony.[10]
On August 13, 2007, Edward Brooks, 52, who is serving a life sentence for an aggravated robbery, broke out shortly after 3 pm, 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 car, 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 into custody within an hour of his escape.[11]
Notable current inmates
edit- David Graham – A former United States Naval Academy midshipman who murdered a female acquaintance to prove loyalty to his girlfriend, who was also in the U.S. armed forces[12]
Notable former inmates
edit- Mel Hall, former MLB player convicted of two counts of sexual assault against minors[13]
- Carlos Coy, a.k.a. South Park Mexican, convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child[14]
- Alvaro Luna Hernandez, anarchist and Chicano liberationist convicted of aggravated assault of a police officer after knocking a gun from the hand of a police officer[15]
References
edit- ^ Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Turner Publishing Company, 2004. 50. ISBN 1-56311-964-1, ISBN 978-1-56311-964-4.
- ^ "2020 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Wichita Falls city, TX" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. p. 1 (PDF p. 2/10). Retrieved August 13, 2022.
James V Allred Unit
- Despite the postal address stating "Iowa Park", the prison is in the Wichita Falls city limits. - ^ a b c "Allred Unit Archived 2010-07-25 at the Wayback Machine." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 10, 2010. "2101 FM 369 North, Iowa Park, Texas 76367 " - Despite the U.S. Postal Service designating the city name as "Iowa Park" the prison is in the city limits of Wichita Falls.
- ^ "Sheet Number 1." City of Wichita Falls. Retrieved on September 22, 2010.
- "Sheet Number 2." City of Wichita Falls. Retrieved on September 22, 2010.
- "Sheet Number 9." City of Wichita Falls. Retrieved on September 22, 2010.
- "Sheet Number 10." City of Wichita Falls. Retrieved on September 22, 2010. - ^ "ACLU Says Faulty Investigation by Texas Corrections Department Led to Grand Jury's Failure to Indict Rape Suspects." ACLU. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.
- ^ "OFFENDER ORIENTATION HANDBOOK", p. 6, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, November 2004, Retrieved on 2014-01-09
- ^ "1995 Annual Report." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on July 21, 2010.
- ^ a b Liptak, Adam, "Ex-Inmate's Suit Offers View Into Sexual Slavery in Prisons", The New York Times, October 16, 2004. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.
- ^ Johnson, Roderick. "What It Feels Like...to Be a Prison Sex Slave", Esquire, August 1, 2005. Retrieved on September 22, 2010.
- ^ ""Texas jury rejects gay convict's prison rape claims", The Advocate, October 19, 2005. Retrieved on December 7, 2015.
- ^ Carmen Castro, "Inmate escapes: Convicted burglar captured after fleeing Allred", Archived January 9, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Times Record News, August 13, 2007. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
- ^ Boyd, Deanna (July 25, 2018). "Texas killer cadet Diane Zamora was unhappy with her housing. Court declines to help". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
Graham, who becomes eligible for parole at that same time, is held at the Allred Unit in Iowa Park, prison records show.
- ^ "Melvin Hall, Jr | Texas Prison Inmates". Texas Tribune. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
- ^ "Offender Information Detail". Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Archived from the original on June 22, 2011. Retrieved September 22, 2010. TDCJ Number 01110642, SID Number 04236244
- ^ "freealvaro.net – Free Alvaro Now". Retrieved June 6, 2023.
