Randy Halprin - Virtual Tour Of Death Row

Allan B. Polunsky Unit (TL, formerly the Terrell Unit) is a prison in West Livingston, unincorporated Polk County, Texas, located approximately 5 miles southwest of Livingston along Farm to Market Road 350. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice operates the facility. The unit houses the State of Texas death row, and it has a maximum capacity of 2,900. The unit, along the Big Thicket, is 60 miles east of Huntsville. Polunsky houses Texas's 'supermax' units.

If you look into the distance, you will see some large cell block buildings. They are 4 and 3 buildings, which house population inmates. Whereas 12 building houses inmates individually, these buildings house two inmates per cell.

This is a gun tower. A guard watches over his specific sector with an AR-15 assault rifle for anything out of the ordinary or if someone escapes. They are permitted to use lethal force if necessary.

If you look at the background, you will see the actual Death Row building. These pictures are a bit outdated as there are numerous stadium lights that litter the prison grounds.

This sidewalk leads to a back door of the visitation area that Death Row inmates enter from. The building on the right side is 11 building or Pre-Hearing Detention (PHD). PHD is used to house inmates in general population if they've gotten into a fight or broken a rule. They hold the inmate in a secluded cell until he has been taken to disciplinary court. Their punishment is decided and they are either returned back to general population, put in AD-SEG, and/or shipped to another prison unit. It has been an effective (if not questionable) tool in limiting gang violence/violence in general.

This is the B.O.S.S. chair. Basically a metal detector to see if a person is holding a weapon in their, uh, butt.

State seal outside the entrance to 12 building.

I wish I had a comment for this. It makes me chuckle.

This door is actually green now.

These are the 'crash gates.' Between every two pods there are a series of gates. The purpose is to easily maintain/contain an incident should it occur. If you look closely at the unit gate, you'll see a lock box. This box now houses a security camera, so that '12 control' can see who is coming and going down the hallway. Each gate has a camera.

Another gate.

This is A-Pod entrance. A-Pod houses the actual 'Death Watch' area that has men who have received execution dates and are waiting to be executed. They isolate these men from all other death row prisoners.

This is the Death Watch section. Each cell contains a security camera that monitors the prisoners. These were put in place after an inmate slit his own throat the night before his execution. They want to prevent the inmate from killing himself so that the state can kill. Tax dollars at work!

This is what an individual cell looks like.

Self explanatory. Though, people do have interesting phrases for using it, like "I'm gonna feed the warden," or "Gonna ride the silver Harley." You get the gist. The unspoken rule of using the toilet is drop one, flush one.

Full view of an empty cell.

Imagine a loud BANG as it slams shut.

This is where we shower. They lock the inmate in. On each pod there are two showers for each section, one upstairs and one downstairs, for a total of 12 showers on each pod. You can't see it in the picture, but the shower door is heavy stainless steel with a steel mesh window so we can breath. Otherwise, we'd suffocate completely.

This is the food or 'bean' slot that they use to feed us through or place handcuffs on.

This picture makes the window seem smaller than it actually is. Depending on what part of the building you're in, you can actually get a pretty decent panoramic view. It isn't the best, but it beats staring at concrete walls all day.

Picture of the stairs leading to 2 row.

Downstairs view of 16/17 cell. To the left is the gate to the day room where we recreate inside. The day room is right in front of a few cells so it is easy to talk to one another. There's never any physical contact with anyone, but at least you can talk.

In February of 2023, Death Row was finally allowed to watch television after 24 years without.

Cage to hold inmates. This is an interesting contraption. It serves a few purposes. If medical needs to draw, but to do so requires removal of handcuffs, they will place you in this cage so that a nurse can securely take blood. Mostly, though, this cage is used to put you in a 'secure area' as guards search your cell or to contain a person after a use of force.

There are two concrete areas with a basketball net each side. In the distance you can see the urinal and water fountain that rarely works. Oh and it smells like one of those portable bathrooms outside - you know that smell?

This is the 'management cell.' The cell is primarily used for the most aggressive inmates. Those who have 'chunked' (i.e. throw feces or urine an inmate or officer) or who are being disciplined. The purpose of the box is so that the guards can give you food without having direct contact with you.

These doors have plexiglass on them. This is F-Pod or what we like to call 'the dungeon.' The paint scheme is no longer blue, but a dark green, which makes it all the more oppressive feeling. These cells house inmates who have, for some reason or another, violated a rule and are being punished. Generally, a punishment lasts about 90 days for any given offense.

Loyalty sign. Never seen this sign before, so this is clearly the officer break room. Reading it gives me the heebie jeebies. It's like something out of a war movie. It might as just say, "Kill yourself if you betray the state." Who authored this? A member of the freakin' Gestapo?

Code of ethics sign. This seems to be direct contradiction with the loyalty oath.

This is the property storage room. The boxes you see contain the property of inmates who are are either back in county jail for hearings or on disciplines, as you aren't allowed to keep your everyday items.

This is the 'Hot Box.' General population inmates prepare our food on blue trays and then place them in these boxes to keep them warm until the guards can feed us.

This is the booth that family and loved ones share with a person with an execution date - their last visits.

This room is generally used for state mental evaluations for reasons of appeal or whatever.

Visitation booths.

Interior of one of the visitation booths.

Full view of the visitation.

Legal booth.

Take a 'Picture Tour' of Death Row on Polunsky Unit...