Danigran
09-16-2009, 03:08 PM
New prisons lockdown under way
By Mike Ward | Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 02:22 PM
More than 35,000 convicts at 14 of Texas’ toughest prisons have been
placed on lockdown status in a new crackdown on contraband smuggling
— the largest in months, officials just confirmed.
The shakedown involves cell-by-cell searches and is the most
significant such action in Texas’ prison system in almost a year,
since Gov. Rick Perry ordered a lockdown of all 112 state prisons in
October 2008 after a death row inmate used a smuggled cell phone to
call — and later threaten to kill — the state senator who heads a
legislative prisons committee.
“We’re doing cell searches, and the units will remain locked down
until we complete that,” said Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice that operates the state
corrections system.
“The units we have locked down are the ones that have the most
contraband seizures … from inmates and on visitors. The goal is to
keep contraband out.”
Prison officials identified the prisons as the Polunsky Unit that
houses death row outside Livingston, the Ferguson Unit in Midway, the
Lewis Unit in Woodville, the Michael, Beto and Coffield units near
Tennessee Colony, the Central Unit in Sugar Land, the Clemons Unit
near Brazoria, the Scott Unit in Angleton, the Darrington Unit in
Rosharon, the Stiles Unit in Beaumont, the McConnell Unit in
Beeville, the Connally Unit in Kenedy and the Allred Unit outside
Wichita Falls.
All are maximum-security prisons, Lyons said.
Today’s crackdown came after Senate Criminal Justice Committee
Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston, blasted prison security earlier
this month after discovering a threatening letter attributed to death-
row inmate Richard Tabler posted on a Web site, blogginginmates.com (http://blogginginmates.com/).
In November 2008, Tabler threatened to kill Whitmire and this
reporter in a letter mailed to prison investigators. Tabler had
called Whitmire the month before and Whitmire had summoned
authorities, who busted Tabler, his mother and sister for contraband.
The subsequent shakedown of all state prisons resulted in the seizure
of dozens of cell phones and other contraband, including more than
two dozen cell phones and cell gear from death row — arguably
supposed to be the most secure part of the prison system.
In a lockdown, convicts are kept locked in their cells and routine
operations and programs are suspended as special teams of
correctional officers conduct a cell-by-cell search for contraband
and other prohibited items. Such shakedowns can take several days to
complete.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/09/16/new_prisons_lockdown_under_way.html (http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/09/16/new_prisons_lockdown_under_way.html)
By Mike Ward | Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 02:22 PM
More than 35,000 convicts at 14 of Texas’ toughest prisons have been
placed on lockdown status in a new crackdown on contraband smuggling
— the largest in months, officials just confirmed.
The shakedown involves cell-by-cell searches and is the most
significant such action in Texas’ prison system in almost a year,
since Gov. Rick Perry ordered a lockdown of all 112 state prisons in
October 2008 after a death row inmate used a smuggled cell phone to
call — and later threaten to kill — the state senator who heads a
legislative prisons committee.
“We’re doing cell searches, and the units will remain locked down
until we complete that,” said Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice that operates the state
corrections system.
“The units we have locked down are the ones that have the most
contraband seizures … from inmates and on visitors. The goal is to
keep contraband out.”
Prison officials identified the prisons as the Polunsky Unit that
houses death row outside Livingston, the Ferguson Unit in Midway, the
Lewis Unit in Woodville, the Michael, Beto and Coffield units near
Tennessee Colony, the Central Unit in Sugar Land, the Clemons Unit
near Brazoria, the Scott Unit in Angleton, the Darrington Unit in
Rosharon, the Stiles Unit in Beaumont, the McConnell Unit in
Beeville, the Connally Unit in Kenedy and the Allred Unit outside
Wichita Falls.
All are maximum-security prisons, Lyons said.
Today’s crackdown came after Senate Criminal Justice Committee
Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston, blasted prison security earlier
this month after discovering a threatening letter attributed to death-
row inmate Richard Tabler posted on a Web site, blogginginmates.com (http://blogginginmates.com/).
In November 2008, Tabler threatened to kill Whitmire and this
reporter in a letter mailed to prison investigators. Tabler had
called Whitmire the month before and Whitmire had summoned
authorities, who busted Tabler, his mother and sister for contraband.
The subsequent shakedown of all state prisons resulted in the seizure
of dozens of cell phones and other contraband, including more than
two dozen cell phones and cell gear from death row — arguably
supposed to be the most secure part of the prison system.
In a lockdown, convicts are kept locked in their cells and routine
operations and programs are suspended as special teams of
correctional officers conduct a cell-by-cell search for contraband
and other prohibited items. Such shakedowns can take several days to
complete.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/09/16/new_prisons_lockdown_under_way.html (http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/09/16/new_prisons_lockdown_under_way.html)