TDCJ's 'meanest day'

TDC Director W. J. Estelle Jr. called Aug. 3, 1974 the “meanest day in the history of our agency.” That's an awfully mean day. The Huntsville Item published a column this morning by Lyndol Richardson commemorating the lingering trauma to the town caused by a deadly, 11-day hostage episode 34 years ago stemming from an escape attempt gone bad:

the siege ended with the deaths of two Windham School District employees, two of the hostage-takers and two hostages. A Catholic priest, who volunteered himself in exchange for some or all of the hostages, lay injured along with the last living convict abductor.