Texas Department of Criminal Justice: The facts

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, also referred to as the TDCJ, is the department of the state government of Texas which is responsible for the administration of adult criminal justice across the state. The department's headquarters are located in the BOR Complex in Huntsville. It also has an office at the Price Daniel Sr. bulding in Austin.

History

Background
A criminal justice department in Texas owes its origins to an 1848 act passed by the Texas State Legislature.
This 'Act to Establish a State Penitentiary' created an oversight board to manage the treatment of convicts and administration of the penitentiaries.
Huntsville and Rusk were the first places where land was acquired for building premises. Originally, the prison system consisted of just one building, at Huntsville, though the site at Rusk began taking inmates in 1883. In 1989 the Texas Department of Criminal Justice was created, which took on the services previously managed by the Texas Department of Corrections, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, and the Texas Adult Probation Commission. The Texas Board of Criminal Justice acts oversees the TDCJ.
This board chooses the executive director, who manages the TDCJ.
The Governor of Texas appoints the members of the board.

Death row and other points of interest

Death row
Male death penalty cases are housed in a death row the Polunsky Unit, while their female counterparts are kept in the Mountain View United.
Prisoners on death row were originally housed from 1928 in the Huntsville Unit.
In 1965, the male TDCJ death row inmates were moved to the Ellis Unit before the current location was used in 1999.
The Huntsville Unit is where death row executions take place. Location
The TDJC is located at the BOT Complex in Huntsville, which makes it the only Texas State Government without its headquarters in the state capital, Austin.
Sections
There are three main sections to the TDJC: the Correctional Institutions Division, Parole Division and the Community Justice Assistance Division. The Correctional Institutions Division operates secure state facilities where adults are incarcerated.
The Parole Division manages prisoners who are on parole, prisoners in the pre-parole transfer program and inmates in the work program.
Although it administers much of the process of parole, it does not make decisions in individual cases. Final word
The Community Justice Assistance Division supervises adults who are on probation, although the term used for that in the state of Texas nowadays is community supervision.
This part of the organisation does have its headquarters in Austin.