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Allan B. Polunsky Unit (TL, formerly the Terrell Unit) is a prison in West Livingston, unincorporated Polk County, Texas, located approximately southwest of Livingston along Farm to Market Road 350.〔"(West Livingston CDP, Texas )." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on May 9, 2010.〕〔"(Polunsky Unit )." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on January 27, 2012.〕 The Texas Department of Criminal Justice operates the facility. The unit houses the State of Texas death row, and it has a maximum capacity of 2,900.〔 Livingston Municipal Airport is located on the other side of FM 350.〔"(Plane makes emergency landing near prison )." ''Associated Press'' at ''The Victoria Advocate''. Friday April 30, 2004. Local/State 7A. Retrieved on ''Google News'' (page 4 of 43), May 9, 2010.〕 The unit, along the Big Thicket, is east of Huntsville.〔Perkinson, Robert. ''Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire''. First Edition. Metropolitan Books, 2010. p. (37 ); ISBN 978-0-8050-8069-8.〕 Polunsky houses Texas's "supermax" units.〔Ward, Mike. ("Death row inmates free guard, meet with activists" ), ''Austin American-Statesman''. February 23, 2000. "A prison guard held hostage by two execution-bound killers inside Texas' ''super max'' death row ()" and "Tuesday deep inside the maximum-security Terrell Unit just outside ()"〕 Polunsky was named after Allan B. Polunsky, a former chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice who is now the chairman of the Public Safety Commission, the governing board of the Texas Department of Public Safety.〔''Texas Department of Criminal Justice''. Turner Publishing Company, 2004. (103 ). ISBN 1-56311-964-1, ISBN 978-1-56311-964-4.〕〔(Public Safety Commission website ). Texas Department of Public Safety. Retrieved on September 26, 2010.〕 ==History== The Terrell 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 death row inmates were housed at the Ellis Unit in 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.〔Staff and Wire Reports. ("Death-row inmates take officer hostage Warden negotiates with prisoners" ). ''The Dallas Morning News''. February 22, 2000. Retrieved on May 7, 2010. "He was later found dead near the prison, but his escape hastened the decision to house death-row inmates at Terrell Unit, prison officials have said."〕 After the incident occurred, the TDCJ considered moving the death row for men, and the Terrell Unit was the favored choice for the relocation.〔Graczyk, Michael. ("Texas considers move of death row" ). ''Associated Press'' at ''The Nevada Daily Mail''. Sunday January 24, 1999. Page 10 Classifieds. Retrieved from Google News (page 6 of 81) on November 14, 2010.〕 According to the TDCJ, the prison escape attempt had hastened the agency's decision to move death row inmates to a new location.〔 Six months after the escape attempt, the TDCJ decided to move the death row.〔("Prisoners at new Death Row unit face increased isolation Inmates caged 'like animals waiting for slaughter', activist says" ). ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram''. February 28, 2000. 1 News. Retrieved on May 7, 2010.〕 Polunsky took the death row inmates in 1999.〔"(Death Row Facts )." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on January 27, 2012.〕 The death row transfer, which began in March 1999 and 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.〔Staff and Wire Reports. ("Death-row inmates take officer hostage – warden negotiates with prisoners" ). ''The Dallas Morning News''. February 22, 2000. Retrieved on May 7, 2010.〕 One of the hostage-takers, Ponchai Wilkerson (TDCJ#999011〔(Ponchai Wilkerson profile at Texas Department of Criminal Justice website ). Retrieved on January 27, 2012.〕), was scheduled to be executed on March 14, 2000, and was, in fact, later executed on that date.〔〔"(Executed Offenders )." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on January 27, 2012.〕 The other, Howard Guidry, had no scheduled execution date.〔 Guidry remains on death row.〔("Offenders on Death Row" ). Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on January 27, 2012.〕 On May 9, 2000,〔 33-year-old death row inmate Juan Salvez Soria (TDCJ#837〔(Juan Salvez Soria profile at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice website ). Retrieved on January 27, 2012.〕), 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.〔("Texas death row inmate severs chaplain's arm with razor" ). ''CNN''. June 9, 2000. Retrieved on May 9, 2010.〕 Soria was executed on schedule.〔 The Texas Board unanimously approved giving former Terrell Unit its current name, ''Allan B. Polunsky Unit'',〔Timms, Ed. ("Terrell Unit is renamed" ). ''The Dallas Morning News''. July 21, 2001. Retrieved on January 1, 2010.〕 on July 20, 2001. The board also voted to rename the Ramsey III Unit in Brazoria County, Texas to the Terrell Unit.〔 The former namesake, a Dallas insurance executive named Charles Terrell, requested the name change because he did not want his name associated with death row because of questions about the administration of the death penalty.〔 In addition he reportedly was ambivalent regarding capital punishment.〔("Terrell weary of death row link" ). ''San Antonio Express-News''. July 15, 2001. Metro/South Texas 5B. Retrieved on January 1, 2010.〕 In exchange, the former Ramsey III Unit was renamed the Terrell Unit.〔Timms, Ed. ("Uneasy about death row, Terrell wants name off unit Prison expected to be renamed" ). ''The Dallas Morning News''. July 14, 2001. Retrieved on May 9, 2010. "Another prison the Ramsey III unit in Brazoria County probably will be renamed for Mr Terrell."〕 In 2010, the TDCJ accused five men who were serving life sentences of attempting to break out of the unit.〔Apodaca, Gene. ("Three shot, two injured after attempted prison break" ). ''KTRK-TV''. Saturday, January 30, 2010. Retrieved on May 12, 2010.〕 Robert Perkinson, author of ''Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire'', said in 2010 that Polunsky "probably" is "the hardest place to do time in Texas." Perkinson added that while the prison is not in a "gloomy" location and that the facility is not "dangerously dilapidated", the prison's "existential" "problem" is the fact that it is the state death row.〔 In May 2013 ''Mother Jones'' magazine ranked Polunsky as one of the ten worst prisons in the US, based on Congressional testimony from former inmate Anthony Charles Graves (TDCJ Death Row#999127,〔"(Anthony Charles Graves )." ((Archive )) Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on March 16, 2014.〕 released due to overturning of conviction on September 7, 2006〔"(Offenders No Longer on Death Row )" ((Archive )) Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on March 16, 2014.〕) and research conducted by the magazine during a three-year period.〔Moravec, Eva Ruth. "(Texas prison named second-worst in U.S. )" ''San Antonio Express-News''. Thursday May 2, 2013. Retrieved on August 11, 2013.〕〔http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/05/10-worst-prisons-america-allan-polunsky-unit-texas-death-row〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Allan B. Polunsky Unit」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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