There are quite a few reasons to
close the Dawson State Jail in Dallas. One we haven't discussed is to reduce TDCJ's A/C bill. A drawback of having a prison in an urban highrise instead of a more traditional design is that it requires A/C, which otherwise is mostly only available at a handful of medical units. Air conditioning went out recently at Dawson and
repairs are reportedly underway - bad for the prisoners, certainly, but also for employees. We're talking about a 10-story high-rise situated in the Trinity River bottoms. What's more, the building is
standing in the way of a proposed redevelopment project being pushed by the Dallas City Council, which wants the facility removed. Dawson is a private facility operated by Corrections Corporation of America housing more than 2,000 Texas state jail inmates.
Dawson isn't air conditioned because anybody's soft on state jail inmates there, it's because its placement was political, putting an inappropriately designed and located facility in South Dallas on the misguided premise that prisons were going to bring jobs to rural communities and South Dallas could use jobs, too. Just a few years later, the prison has become an impediment to job creation. Its
contract is up for renewal in January.
So that means "Crime doesn't pay"?
ReplyDelete:)
In this case, it does if you're an A/C repairman! :)
ReplyDeleteThere's a preventative maintenance (lack of one) conspiracy with the a/c repairman! :)
ReplyDeleteI don't feel sorry for them! I worked at Woodman State Jail -MEDICAL DEPT(which was only built in 1997)in Gatesville while pregnant and the AC didn't work all summer! I'm talking 7-8-9 months pregnant and it was hotter than dirt. And ONE bathroom for 25-employees. TDCJ SUCKS!
ReplyDeleteDawson State Jail isn't located in south Dallas. It's in Downtown closer to west dallas. Open a map before you comment on every story you read..
ReplyDelete11:27
ReplyDeleteThink you had it bad working while pregnant, go read Pearl Buck. Her description of the chinese peasent working the rice patty, stoping to give birth and returning to work is really bad. Oh I know this has nothing to do with a poorly designed building run by a for profit corporation. Who cuts corners on maintenance.
9:09, looking at the map I agree with your criticism. The South Dallas reference came from hearing Terri Hodge in the past refer to Dawson as being "in my district," from which I drew the inference.
ReplyDeleteAll I know is, it is HOT in there. Unbearable for staff. Offenders fighting. Very dangerous. Staff and patients falling like flies left and right. Security issues. CLOSE THIS PLACE NOW!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAll I know is, it is HOT in there. Unbearable for staff. Offenders fighting. Very dangerous. Staff and patients falling like flies left and right. Security issues. CLOSE THIS PLACE NOW!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was so bad for us that we had to shut down two floors of dorms this week! ALL WEEK! We are hard working officers and this is what we get? Hmmph
ReplyDelete11:27, never said I had it bad "working", I said that I had it bad working without AC in Texas, in the middle of the summer. The pregnant inmates didn't work but I did. They had AC, I didn't. I didn't commit crimes, they did. Just sayin'...Jerk!
ReplyDeleteMy husband is in this facility and there is alot that goes on that the public knows nothing about. I would love to tell the "truth" about things that happen in here. But fear that my exposing some of the guards and the illegal activity would cause trouble for my loved one. And as for a/c being broken...even when it worked it wasn't working properly.
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 6.01 ~ no one is forcing you to work there. You took the job, then you chose to get pregnant.
ReplyDeleteAnon 11.54 ~ silence and the fear of retaliation is what most bullies rely on to maintain their behaviour. I would hope that when your husband gets out, you do at least make some official complaints, backed up with evidence, so that those unprofessional individuals you are referring to are investigated.
Sunray- What a stupid statement. You totally didn't get the point.
ReplyDeleteAnon @12.14 ~ if you're the same Anon, you're one very angry lady and probably not the kind of person who should be working with inmates at all. I get the point you made completely: you work(ed) in a prison, you got pregnant, there was no AC, you got hot. What else is there to understand? So what if the inmates didn't work but you did - you still chose to work there, you still chose to do so while pregnant. They chose their lifestyle, you chose yours.
ReplyDeleteI went to work at a facility that had AC. I chose to get pregnant while working at a facility with AC...it later broke and was not fixed for 3-months. These are the facts. Are you saying it's okay because I didn't quit right then and there or what?
ReplyDeleteYou are obviously an inmate lover. That being said, the reason I eventually did quit was because I can't stand watching inmates repeatedly come back to prison pregnant. They don't have to work, they sit on their butts (in the AC!) and get fatter, they get free medical care and the taxpayers pay are paying for it all.
Anny 9:43- If you are typical of the kind of folks who staff TDCJ, it's no wonder TDCJ is in the sorry state it is. You use the term 'inmate lover', which I find super offensive. There's been many a phrase down through the years that ended with the word 'lover', and no good has come of them. People who resent cons as much as you do shouldn't be allowed near them. Life is bad enough in prison for all concerned without overt resentment towards the people you are supposed to look after.
ReplyDelete@Anon 9.43 ~ for goodness sake pick an alias. If you don't work for TDCJ now, what does it matter if you decide to call yourself MorticiaAddams or SuperTroll on here?
ReplyDelete"You are obviously an inmate lover."
Well done. It's no secret. Was that supposed to be an insult?
Things break at workplaces all the time. AC isn't a legal requirement in any TDCJ unit, so you should have considered it the luxury that it is while it was there and then if it was that bad while it wasn't working, you'd have had to deal with it just like your male colleagues did. They can't use the pregnancy excuse. And yes I have had kids, incase you're wondering.
As for you leaving because the women kept going back inside pregnant, that's a bit of a cop out. There is no such thing as free health care in the USA, someone always pays. If those women were working while on the outside (as many do) then they will have paid their taxes just like you and paid in advance for any healthcare they received while in TDCJ, just as you would be entitled to do. And perhaps their families were also working while the women were incarcerated, so their taxes were paying directly for the healthcare received by the women. You would deny a baby the right to healthcare just because its parent was an inmate? Your quitting wont have changed any of it.
The last few comments have missed the point! I work there and the point is that is a 10 story HIGHRISE No back doors to open to even allow ANY air circulation. The medical dept needs air in order to treat the offenders who are falling out due it being 90 degrees in there. The units where there is not air for the inmates all have doors and air vents and the medical depts ALL have air.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the wench, you chose to work there so deal with it.
ReplyDeleteAnon 4.13 ~ there are windows, yes?
ReplyDeleteLook, Coffield unit in Tennessee Colony has floor to roof glass (4 stories high) on each wing. It's called the "glass house" for a reason. It has NO air conditioning at all. The windows are opened a little and the fans are put to work. Sometimes the inmates put sheets up to try and take the glare away, but that's against the rules. The officers work in those conditions, pregnant or not.
No windows that open, Sunray, Dawson is a high-rise building downtown, which is the only reason it has AC in the first place.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that a fire risk Scott, to have a high rise building with no windows that open?
ReplyDeleteWelcome to oil country architecture. Search "dawson state jail dallas tx" on Google Maps and check out the "street view."
ReplyDeleteDawson is very poorly located. In order to deliver supplies or inmates, they have to block three lanes of traffic on Commerce Street in order to back in the bus or truck. They put it on ground no sane person wanted for anything. The fact that real estate developers now want that land demonstrates the lack of sanity in Dallas. No one with a brain would want anything to do with the Trinity River bottom.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand this air-conditioning issue. And, it has been a bother for quite some time. I speak with nearly 23 years of authority having worked in the Texas prison system for that long. I thought people were sent to prison "as" punishment, not "for" punishment. If prisoners were denied heating during the cold months of the year, there would be some who would be upset stating that this constituted inhumane treatment. What in the hell is the difference in heating in the winter and cooling in the summer? Please, tell me. The simpetons of this world have plenty of answers. I can assure you that the attitude of an officer can be an integral part of offender behavior. And, hot steamy conditions are a breeding ground for fights, medical problems, etc. Most of the officers are "hefty beef critters" to quote Joe Bob Briggs. So, I ask, why does air conditioning bother so many? If you only knew what you were turning out to the streets. Yes, the Texas prison is partly responsible for the rapid expansion of prison gangs. And, when they take it to the streets, guess who gets hurt. And, truthfully, I couldn't care less. Why? I've paid my dues. I am semi-retired. But, my heart goes out to those who are having to work with those idiots in white.
ReplyDeleteI'am a mother of a young girl at Dawson and after the letter I recieved from her it has just scared me to death for her and others there..I will make copies of the letter and send it out to the news and etc...I already had one heart attack and trying not to have another...
ReplyDeleteI spent 18 months in this hell hole during this time the a/c worked when it wanted as well as the heater. I understand the punishment phase but there were other issues more important like lack of medical. I seen people go days with proper medical attention.
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