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Allan B. Polunsky Unit
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Allan B. Polunsky Unit
Allan B. Polunsky Unit (TL, formerly the Terrell Unit) is a prison in West Livingston, unincorporated Polk County, Texas, United States, located approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Livingston along Farm to Market Road 350. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the facility. The unit houses the State of Texas death row for men, and it has a maximum capacity of 2,900. Livingston Municipal Airport is located on the other side of FM 350.
Polunsky was named after Allan B. Polunsky, a former chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice and former chairman of the Public Safety Commission, the governing board of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Polunsky houses Texas' "supermax" units and is notable for being the location of Texas's death row for men. Executions, though, are conducted at the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, 60 miles (97 km) to the west.
The Polunsky Unit opened in November 1993. At the time of its opening the public did not associate the prison with the death penalty, as the state's male death row inmates were housed at the Ellis Unit near Huntsville. In November 1998 Martin Gurule, a death row inmate in the Ellis Unit, escaped. He drowned in a nearby creek and his body was found a week later.
After the incident occurred, the TDCJ considered moving the death row for men, and the Polunsky Unit was the favored choice for the relocation. According to the TDCJ, the prison escape attempt had hastened the agency's decision to move death row inmates to a new location. TDCJ officials also stated that overcrowding at Ellis was another factor in the death row move. Six months after the escape attempt, the TDCJ decided to move the death row. The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty criticized the move of the death row, saying that the conditions of the prisoners were worse than those in their previous location. The Texas Board of Criminal Justice approved the relocation of the men's death row on Friday May 21, 1999.
Polunsky took the death row inmates on Friday June 18, 1999, with the first 55 inmates all classified as being troublesome. The death row transfer, which took ten months, was the largest transfer of condemned prisoners in history and was performed under heavy security.
In February 2000 two death row inmates took a 57-year-old female corrections officer hostage, forcing negotiations involving the warden. One of the hostage-takers, Ponchai Wilkerson (TDCJ#999011), was scheduled to be executed on March 14, 2000, and was, in fact, later executed on that date. The other, Howard Guidry, had no scheduled execution date. Guidry remains on death row.
On May 9, 2000, 33-year-old death row inmate Juan Salvez Soria (TDCJ#837), who was scheduled to be executed on July 26, 2000, pulled the arm of 78-year-old William Paul Westbrook, a prison chaplain from Livingston, into his cell. The offender tied a sheet around the chaplain's arm and tied the other end to a toilet; Soria began cutting Westbrook's arm with a razor blade. The offender nearly tore Westbrook's arm off. The authorities used tear gas to stop the attack. Authorities treated Soria's former cell as a crime scene and moved Soria to a more restricted area within the prison. Soria was executed on schedule.
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Allan B. Polunsky Unit
Allan B. Polunsky Unit (TL, formerly the Terrell Unit) is a prison in West Livingston, unincorporated Polk County, Texas, United States, located approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Livingston along Farm to Market Road 350. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the facility. The unit houses the State of Texas death row for men, and it has a maximum capacity of 2,900. Livingston Municipal Airport is located on the other side of FM 350.
Polunsky was named after Allan B. Polunsky, a former chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice and former chairman of the Public Safety Commission, the governing board of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Polunsky houses Texas' "supermax" units and is notable for being the location of Texas's death row for men. Executions, though, are conducted at the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, 60 miles (97 km) to the west.
The Polunsky Unit opened in November 1993. At the time of its opening the public did not associate the prison with the death penalty, as the state's male death row inmates were housed at the Ellis Unit near Huntsville. In November 1998 Martin Gurule, a death row inmate in the Ellis Unit, escaped. He drowned in a nearby creek and his body was found a week later.
After the incident occurred, the TDCJ considered moving the death row for men, and the Polunsky Unit was the favored choice for the relocation. According to the TDCJ, the prison escape attempt had hastened the agency's decision to move death row inmates to a new location. TDCJ officials also stated that overcrowding at Ellis was another factor in the death row move. Six months after the escape attempt, the TDCJ decided to move the death row. The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty criticized the move of the death row, saying that the conditions of the prisoners were worse than those in their previous location. The Texas Board of Criminal Justice approved the relocation of the men's death row on Friday May 21, 1999.
Polunsky took the death row inmates on Friday June 18, 1999, with the first 55 inmates all classified as being troublesome. The death row transfer, which took ten months, was the largest transfer of condemned prisoners in history and was performed under heavy security.
In February 2000 two death row inmates took a 57-year-old female corrections officer hostage, forcing negotiations involving the warden. One of the hostage-takers, Ponchai Wilkerson (TDCJ#999011), was scheduled to be executed on March 14, 2000, and was, in fact, later executed on that date. The other, Howard Guidry, had no scheduled execution date. Guidry remains on death row.
On May 9, 2000, 33-year-old death row inmate Juan Salvez Soria (TDCJ#837), who was scheduled to be executed on July 26, 2000, pulled the arm of 78-year-old William Paul Westbrook, a prison chaplain from Livingston, into his cell. The offender tied a sheet around the chaplain's arm and tied the other end to a toilet; Soria began cutting Westbrook's arm with a razor blade. The offender nearly tore Westbrook's arm off. The authorities used tear gas to stop the attack. Authorities treated Soria's former cell as a crime scene and moved Soria to a more restricted area within the prison. Soria was executed on schedule.
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