Fear, Force, and Leather - The Texas Prison System's First Hundred Years, 1848-1948
The Lease Era 1871-1883
The Problem of Prisoner Abuse
In 1874, Huntsville took custody of a group of U.S. Army prisoners. When the prisoners were transferred to a military prison in Kansas, they arrived so emaciated that their appearance drew comparisons to the shocking wartime photos from the Andersonville prison camp. The prisoners testified that they had been starved, denied warm clothing, threatened with shotguns, and subjected to whippings and torture. They also reported that a prisoner who tried to escape was shot.
Embarrassed at the revelations, the Legislature ordered an investigation. A special committee found that under Ward-Dewey’s management, a number of convicts had died of preventable illnesses or been shot trying to escape, while several others had committed suicide.
A convict testifies for the 1875 committee about punishments such as the stocks, the horse, and the blind cell.
A list of convicts under age 17 runs to 10 pages. This page shows statistics for nine youths, one only twelve years old.
Some of the conditions reflected societal problems. After the Civil War, Texas led the nation in murders. At least 900 people were murdered in Texas during 1869-70, almost 200 more than second-place Louisiana. Violent criminals were packed in with petty offenders and the young. A third of all prisoners were under 21 years of age, and the youngest was only seven.
Moreover, the prison was housing a number of disabled and elderly offenders, one of whom was 94 years old. These men were generally in prison on trumped-up charges to relieve their local communities of the burden of caring for them.
Ward-Dewey was given the opportunity to improve, but after more revelations about brutal conditions and missing equipment, the legislature authorized Governor Richard B. Hubbard to terminate the contract. The firm of Cunningham & Ellis, the founders of the Imperial Sugar Company, won the next bidding process and signed a five-year lease on January 1, 1878.
Learn More About Rusk Penitentiary (1883-1917)
As a result of the investigation of 1875, the Legislature authorized the construction of a second state penitentiary at Rusk. Learn more about Rusk Penitentiary (1883-1917) and its famous iron works.