Wynne Unit

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American prison

title: "Wynne Unit" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["prisons-in-huntsville,-texas", "1883-establishments-in-texas", "buildings-and-structures-in-walker-county,-texas"] description: "American prison" topic_path: "general/prisons-in-huntsville-texas" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynne_Unit" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American prison ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox prison"]

FieldValue
nameJohn M. Wynne Unit
imageWynneUnitHuntsvilleTX.JPG
pushpin_mapUSA Texas
pushpin_map_captionLocation in Texas
location810 FM 2821
Huntsville, Texas 77349
coordinates
statusOperational
classificationG1-G5, Outside Trusty
capacityUnit: 2,300 Trusty Camp: 321
opened1883
managed_byTDCJ Correctional Institutions Division
wardenRodger Bowers
countyWalker County
countryUS
website
::

| name = John M. Wynne Unit | image = WynneUnitHuntsvilleTX.JPG | caption = | pushpin_map = USA Texas | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Texas | location = 810 FM 2821 Huntsville, Texas 77349 | coordinates = | status = Operational | classification = G1-G5, Outside Trusty | capacity = Unit: 2,300 Trusty Camp: 321 | population = | populationdate = | opened = 1883 | closed = | former_name = | managed_by = TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division | director = | governor = | warden = Rodger Bowers | county = Walker County | country = US | website = | prisoners = ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/WynneUnitAerialphoto.PNG" caption="Huntsville Municipal Airport]] - [[U.S. Geological Survey]] - January 23, 1995"] ::

The John M. Wynne Unit (WY) is a men's prison of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, located in northern Huntsville, Texas, at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 2821 West and Texas State Highway 75 North. The Windham School District has its headquarters in the unit. Wynne, the second oldest prison in Texas, was named after John Magruder Wynne, who served as a prison employee and later as a board member of the prison system from 1878 to 1881. The unit, on a 1412 acre plot of land, is co-located with the Holliday Unit.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/WynneUnitTopoMapNew.PNG" caption="Topographical map of the Wynne Unit - [[U.S. Geological Survey]] - July 1, 1976"] ::

The State of Texas bought Wynne from the last lessees of the facility (Cunningham and Ellis) in 1883. Wynne initially had about 1970 acre of terrace gardens used to fulfill the gardening needs of the Huntsville Unit. The current unit was dedicated in 1937 and completed in 1939.

In the 1970s, the prison had 17 prison guards in its day shift to oversee 2,600 prisoners. The prison system arranged to have building tenders used to guard the prisoners, making up for the small number of prison guards.

On August 8, 2000, an inmate escaped from the prison by driving a tractor trailer cab through the prison wall while avoiding gunshots fired by correctional officers. The prisoner left the truck on the runway of Huntsville Airport and fled into a vehicle; state officials believed that the man's wife drove the vehicle. Police officers with tracking dogs found the man and his wife under a tree less than 7 mi from the Wynne Unit. The state said that the offender "reportedly" was taken with force, while the wife surrendered peacefully.

In 2007 two inmates from Wynne escaped. During the incident the escape vehicle hit 59-year-old correctional officer Susan Canfield, killing her. Both inmates have been found and rearrested. The driver, Jerry Duane Martin (TDCJ#999552), was executed on December 3, 2013. The other inmate, John Ray Falk was sentenced to death in 2017. At the time of the escape, Falk was serving a life sentence for the 1986 murder of Donald Owen in Matagorda County. Martin, on the other hand, was serving a 50 year sentence for a 1994 shooting incident in which he attempted to murder several police officers in Collin County, none of whom were physically injured.

In 2008 an Offender escaped the Wynne Unit using a child's bicycle. He was taken back into custody less than 24 hours later.

Operations

Wynne has a box factory, a computer recovery factory, and a license plate factory (the only one for the state and works with the 3M company). A mattress factory, which provides all of the beds for the state colleges, is at the Wynne Unit, as well as a mechanic shop with diesel repair, a signs and plastics plant, and a sticker plant. All of the state issued car registration stickers are also made at the Wynne Unit. It has been shown that the Wynne Unit generates around $1 Million a week for the State of Texas. The Windham School District has its headquarters in Building B in the Wynne Unit.

Notable inmates

::data[format=table]

Inmate NameRegister NumberStatusDetails
Efrain Pérez05123668 / 01306199Serving a life sentence. Eligible for parole in 2029.One of six perpetrators of the 1993 Murders of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña in which the two girls were brutally gang raped and tortured before being killed. Perez was originally given a death sentence.
::

References

References

  1. "[http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/unitdirectory/wy.htm Wynne Unit] {{webarchive. link. (July 25, 2010 ." [[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]]. Retrieved on September 29, 2011.)
  2. 1-56311-964-1, {{ISBN. 978-1-56311-964-4.
  3. Walt, Kathy. "[http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1999_3127510 TEXAS PRISONS AFTER THE REFORM/ WHAT RUIZ WROUGHT/ New challenges confront a prison system that has undergone a profound transformation]." ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. Sunday March 28, 1999. A1. Retrieved on December 31, 2011. Alternate version: "What the Ruiz Ruling Wrought." Volume 98, Issue 166. [[Newspapers.com]]: pages [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/183846015/ 1A], [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/183846032/ 18A], [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/183846072/ 19A].
  4. Glenn, Mike and Terri Langford. "[http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5159811.html Second escapee caught after prison guard's death]." ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. September 25, 2007. Retrieved on June 3, 2010.
  5. "[http://tdcj.state.tx.us/death_row/dr_info/martinjerry.html Martin, Jerry Duane ]." [[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]]. Retrieved on February 3, 2016.
  6. "Jerry Duane Martin #1356".
  7. Stark, Cody. "Falk gets death penalty for correctional officer's slaying". The Huntsville Item.
  8. (September 25, 2007). "Huntsville escapees took guns from prison guards".
  9. "[http://wsdtx.org/contact.htm Contact Information]." [[Windham School District (Texas). Windham School District]]. Retrieved on January 1, 2010.
  10. "[http://www.windhamschooldistrict.org/csd/policy/7.28.doc Travel Regulations for Employees]" 7.28-4. Windham School District. September 1, 2005. Page 5 of 15. Retrieved on January 1, 2010.
  11. "Watch Prosecuting Evil with Kelly Siegler Clip: Remembering Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña - NBC.com".
  12. (1994-09-25). "Death Row For 5th Youth In 2 Killings". The New York Times.
  13. (2005-03-01). "Snapshots of some death row juveniles".
  14. 978-0-8050-8069-8.
  15. Colloff, Pamela. (2013-01-21). "The Innocent Man, Part One".
  16. "[http://offender.tdcj.texas.gov/OffenderSearch/offenderDetail.action?sid=07527605 Turner, Keith Robert]" ([https://archive.today/20151227194718/http://offender.tdcj.texas.gov/OffenderSearch/offenderDetail.action?sid=07527605 Archive]). [[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]]. Retrieved on December 28, 2015.

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prisons-in-huntsville,-texas1883-establishments-in-texasbuildings-and-structures-in-walker-county,-texas