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Area Prison Temporarily Closing

Gurney Unit to Shut Down by Year End

By Will Johnson                                          

Messenger Reporter

EAST TEXAS – In a somewhat unexpected byproduct from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) announced earlier this week it would be closing one prison permanently and two others at least temporarily. 

According to the TDCJ, the Scott Prison Unit will be permanently closed on Dec. 15 while the Gurney Transfer Unit outside of Palestine and the Neal Unit near Amarillo will see current TDCJ employees and offenders transferred to other units 

The Texas prison system closed three units in the fall because of the lessened inmate population, attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an article published by The Texas Tribune, it was stated, “From March to October, 18,000 fewer inmates resided in the Texas prison system after the coronavirus caused a months’ long halt of transfers from county jails and a backlogged, sluggish court system.”

TDCJ spokesperson Jeremy Desel indicated, “The population is 122,000 and change, and it’s been fairly stable in the 121 to 122,000 range for a couple months now. But that’s the lowest prison population for TDCJ since 1995.”

Earlier this year, the Garza East Unit in Beeville and the Jester I Unit near Sugar Land were permanently closed. In addition, the Bradshaw State Jail, outside of Henderson, was temporarily closed.

“Although the pandemic has spurred a dramatic decline in the prison population,” the Texas Tribune reported, “the number of inmates and units has also steadily decreased for more than a decade as crime rates fall and officials turn toward things like mental health services and diversion programs. And although it’s unclear if the prison population will again bounce up as restrictions of the pandemic are lifted, having fewer prisons means the agency can try to stanch the bleeding of its corrections workforce.”

TDCJ has long struggled against dangerous, chronic understaffing, but the number of officers has reached critical lows in recent months. In October, the agency was short by more than 5,500 officers, or about 22%, according to an agency report. Many prison units are short hundreds of officers, and several are less than 50% staffed, the Tribune reported.

Gurney employed more than 240 corrections officers in October. In the same county, Michael and Coffield prisons were both under 60 percent staffed, with a shortage of about 235 and 340 officers, respectively, according to a TDCJ report.

As of Dec. 3, TDCJ reported 26,522 offenders had contracted the virus with 1,749 current active cases and 219 deaths attributed to COVID-19. There have also been 7,051 TDCJ employees who have come down with COVID-19 with 945 current, active cases. There have also been 24 TDCJ employees who have perished because of the disease.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].    

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