The James V. Allred Unit''Texas Department of Criminal Justice''. Turner Publishing Company, 2004
50
, . is a prison for males located on Farm to Market Road 369 in

Wichita Falls Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita Counties. According to ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, northwest of downtown Wichita Falls.Allred Unit
."

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails ...

. Retrieved on May 10, 2010. "2101 FM 369 North, Iowa Park, Texas 76367 " - Despite the

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

designating the city name as "Iowa Park" the prison is in the city limits of Wichita Falls. The prison is near Iowa Park. The prison, with about of land, is a part of the

Region V. It opened in June 1995 and is one of the largest maximum security units in Texas housing approximately 3600 offenders. It consists of four departments, General Population, Administrative segregation and one of the first "Expansion cell blocks" (High Security) to be built housing some level ones Seg overflow and close custody offenders. It also contains one of Texas's "Safe Keeping Units", which are designed to house prisoners that would be in danger from other inmates.

History

Allred opened in June 1995. It was named after James V. Allred, a

Governor of Texas The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Established in the Constit ...

. A former inmate, a homosexual African-American named Roderick Johnson, reported that he was forced into sexual slavery by prisoners at the Allred Unit after he arrived there in September 2000. Johnson reported that prisoners forced him to go by the name "Coco" and that he was forced to submit to

anal sex Anal sex or anal intercourse principally means the insertion and pelvic thrusting, thrusting of the Erection, erect human penis, penis into a person's Human anus, anus, or anus and rectum, for sexual pleasure.Sepages 270–271for anal sex inform ...

and

oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth). Cunnilingus is oral sex performed on the vu ...

.Liptak, Adam
"Ex-Inmate's Suit Offers View Into Sexual Slavery in Prisons"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', October 16, 2004. Retrieved on May 10, 2010. Johnson said that Allred authorities denied his pleas for safekeeping until he contacted the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

. After Johnson left the prison, he filed a lawsuit against the prison authorities. In September 2004 a federal appeals court allowed Johnson's civil rights lawsuit to go to trial. On October 18, 2005, a federal jury rejected all of Johnson's claims, finding that he produced no evidence of rape and had lied in his testimony. On August 13, 2007, Edward Brooks, 52, who is serving a life sentence for an

aggravated robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...

, broke out shortly after 3 pm, according to the '' Wichita Falls Times Record News''. Brooks was authorized to work in the unit without supervision. He pulled a visiting soft-drink vendor from her black Dodge car, then sped through the front gate, according to Assistant Warden Tommy Norwood. The getaway car ran out of gasoline in

Burkburnett Burkburnett () is a city in Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Wichita Falls, Texas metropolitan statistical area. Its population was 10,939 at the 2020 census. History Originally settled by ranchers as early as 1856, thi ...

. Officers spotted him and took him into custody within an hour of his escape.

Notable current inmates

* David Graham – A former

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

who murdered a female acquaintance to prove loyalty to his girlfriend, who was also in the U.S. armed forces * Randy Lee Wood- One of three perpetrators of the 1996 rape and

Murder of Heather Rich The murder of Heather Rich was the 1996 child murder of a Waurika, Oklahoma, 16-year-old by three local teenagers. After Rich's body was found, an investigation led to the trials and convictions of the three perpetrators. Saddled with a recent ...

Notable former inmates

Mel Hall Melvin Hall Jr. (born September 16, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1981 to 1992 with the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, and New York Yankees, and in 1996 with the San Fra ...

, former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player convicted of two counts of sexual assault against minors * Carlos Coy, a.k.a.

South Park Mexican Carlos Coy (born October 5, 1970), known professionally as SPM (an initialism for South Park Mexican), is an American rapper and convicted sex offender. His stage name was incorporated from his Mexican heritage and the South Park neighborhood ...

, convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child * Alvaro Luna Hernandez, anarchist and Chicano liberationist convicted of

aggravated assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result ...

of a police officer after knocking a gun from the hand of a police officer

References

External links

Allred Unit

List of prisoners in the Allred Unit
- ''

The Texas Tribune ''The Texas Tribune'' is a nonprofit politics and public policy news website headquartered in Austin, Texas, United States. Its stated aim is to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events. ''The Texas T ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Allred, James V. Unit 1995 establishments in Texas Buildings and structures in Wichita County, Texas Buildings and structures in Wichita Falls, Texas Prisons in Texas