Ramsey Unit

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W. F. Ramsey Unit
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
Location1100 FM 655
Rosharon, Texas 77583
Coordinates29°17′11″N 95°32′47″W / 29.2863889°N 095.5463889°W / 29.2863889; -095.5463889
StatusOperational
Security class
CapacityUnit: 1,570 Trusty Camp: 321
OpenedJuly 1908
Former nameRamsey I Unit
Managed byTDCJ Correctional Institutions Division
WardenKristi Pittman
CountyBrazoria County
CountryUSA
Websitewww.tdcj.state.tx.us/unit_directory../r1.html
Aerial photograph of the Ramsey Units, January 23, 1995, United States Geological Survey
Topographical map of the Ramsey Units, July 1, 1984, United States Geological Survey

The W. F. Ramsey Unit (previously Ramsey I Unit) is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison farm located in unincorporated Brazoria County, Texas, with a Rosharon postal address; it is not inside the Rosharon census-designated place.[1] The prison is located on Farm to Market Road 655, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Farm to Market Road 521,[2] and south of Houston.[3] The 16,369-acre (6,624 ha) unit is co-located with the Stringfellow Unit and the Terrell Unit.[2]

History[]

The unit opened in July 1908.[2] The Ramsey Prison Farm consisted of five former plantations.[4] In 1935, Ramsey housed African American prisoners.[5] In 1963, before racial desegregation took place, the Ramsey I Unit housed white prisoners.[6]

In 2011, the Central Unit closed. The former truck distribution center at Central moved to Ramsey.[7]

Operations[]

The University of Houston–Clear Lake offers a master's degree program at Ramsey. Prisoners may pay the State of Texas after their release.[8]

The Texas Legislature designated portions of Angleton ISD that by September 1, 1995 had not been annexed by Alvin Community College as in the Brazosport College zone.[9] As Ramsey Unit is not in the maps of Alvin CC, it is in the Brazosport College zone.[10] There was a section of H.B. No. 2744,[11] filed on March 6, 2007,[12] which would have changed the boundary between Alvin CC and Brazosport CC to put the Ramsey Unit in the Alvin CC service boundary.

Notable inmates[]

Notable inmates of the Ramsey Unit include:

Current (As of 2015):

Former:

  • David Ruíz, plaintiff of Ruiz v. Estelle, served time at the historic Ramsey Farm.
  • Michael Morton - Exonerated of the crime which he was convicted of. He had requested a transfer to Ramsey so he could complete a master's degree program there.[19]

References[]

  1. ^ "2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Rosharon CDP, TX." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on January 21, 2018.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Ramsey Unit." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on July 16, 2010.
  3. ^ "Texas Department of Criminal Justice offers gang members chance for new life." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. September/October 2009. Retrieved on November 19, 2010.
  4. ^ "Convict Leasing and State Account Farming (1883-1909)." Texas State Library and Archives. Retrieved on April 29, 2011.
  5. ^ Trulson, Chad R., James W. Marquart, and Ben M. Crouch. First Available Cell: Desegregation of the Texas Prison System. University of Texas Press, 2009. 81. Retrieved from Google Books on July 16, 2010. ISBN 0-292-71983-3, ISBN 978-0-292-71983-5.
  6. ^ Trulson, Chad R., James W. Marquart, and Ben M. Crouch. First Available Cell: Desegregation of the Texas Prison System. University of Texas Press, 2009. 82. Retrieved from Google Books on July 16, 2010. ISBN 0-292-71983-3, ISBN 978-0-292-71983-5.
  7. ^ Ward, Mike. "Texas closing prison as part of cutbacks" (Archive). Austin American-Statesman at the Killeen Daily Herald. Wednesday August 3, 2011. Retrieved on September 23, 2011.
  8. ^ Stevens, Wesley. Learning to Sing in a Strange Land: When a Loved One Goes to Prison. Wipf and Stock Publishers, January 8, 2009. ISBN 1621897966, 9781621897965. p. 83 (Google Books PT97).
  9. ^ Texas Education Code Sec. 130.170. BRAZOSPORT COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.: "(2) the Angleton Independent School District, except the part annexed by the Alvin Community College District before September 1, 1995."
  10. ^ The Taxation Map and College Zone map of Alvin Community College do not show Ramsey Unit, and based upon Texas Education Code Sec. 130.170. it would be in the Brazosport College zone.
  11. ^ "H.B. No. 2744." Texas Legislature. Retrieved on March 11, 2011. "(3) the territory located in Brazoria County, situated to the west of the Alvin Community College District boundary as it existed on January 1, 2003, extending west to the eastern border of Fort Bend County, and south to County Roads 49, 34, and 255, including the City of Rosharon and the Darrington and Ramsey Units of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice."
  12. ^ "Bill: HB 2744." Texas Legislature. Retrieved on March 11, 2011.
  13. ^ Keys, Perryn. "JASPER: THE ROAD BACK: Did prison time turn man into one of Byrd's killers?" Beaumont Enterprise. June 9, 2008. Retrieved on July 23, 2010.
  14. ^ "Berry, Shawn Allen" (Archive). Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on December 28, 2015.
  15. ^ "Offender Information Detail Brooks, David Owen" (Archive). Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on December 28, 2015
  16. ^ Perkinson, Robert. Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire. First Edition. Metropolitan Books, 2010. 254. ISBN 978-0-8050-8069-8.
  17. ^ "Tuck, David Henry" (Archive) Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on December 28, 2015.
  18. ^ "Routh, Eddie Ray" ([1]). Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on April 15, 2021.
  19. ^ Colloff, Pamela (December 2012). "The Innocent Man, Part Two". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 2019-05-12.

External links[]

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