James V. Allred Unit

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] The prison is near Iowa Park.[4] The prison, with about 320 acres (130 ha) of land, is a part of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Region V.[2]

James V. Allred Unit
Location in Texas
James V. Allred Unit (the United States)
Location2101 FM 369 North
Iowa Park, Texas 76367
Coordinates33°58′28″N 98°35′44″W
StatusOperational
Security classG1-G5, Administrative Segregation, Safekeeping
Capacity3,722
OpenedJune 1995
Managed byTDCJ Correctional Institutions Division
WardenJimmy Smith
CountyWichita County
CountryUSA
Websitewww.tdcj.state.tx.us/unit_directory/ja.html

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.[5]

History

Allred opened in June 1995.[2] It was named after James V. Allred, a Governor of Texas.[6]

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.[7] Johnson said that Allred authorities denied his pleas for safekeeping until he contacted the American Civil Liberties Union.[8] 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.[7] 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.[9]

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.[10]

Current notable inmates

Former 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. "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.
  3. "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.
  4. "ACLU Says Faulty Investigation by Texas Corrections Department Led to Grand Jury's Failure to Indict Rape Suspects." ACLU. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.
  5. "OFFENDER ORIENTATION HANDBOOK", p. 6, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, November 2004, Retrieved on 2014-01-09
  6. "1995 Annual Report." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on July 21, 2010.
  7. 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.
  8. Johnson, Roderick. "What It Feels Like...to Be a Prison Sex Slave", Esquire, August 1, 2005. Retrieved on September 22, 2010.
  9. ""Texas jury rejects gay convict's prison rape claims", The Advocate, October 19, 2005. Retrieved on December 7, 2015.
  10. Carmen Castro, "Inmate escapes: Convicted burglar captured after fleeing Allred", Times Record News, August 13, 2007. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  12. Boyd, Deanna (2018-07-25). "Texas killer cadet Diane Zamora was unhappy with her housing. Court declines to help". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved 2019-01-08. Graham, who becomes eligible for parole at that same time, is held at the Allred Unit in Iowa Park, prison records show.
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. "Offender Information Detail". Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Archived from the original on 2011-06-22. Retrieved 2010-09-22. TDCJ Number 01110642, SID Number 04236244


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