Clemens Unit

Clemens Unit is a prison farm of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in unincorporated Brazoria County, Texas in Greater Houston. The prison, with about 8008sqft, is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 2004 and Texas State Highway 36. The prison, in the Texas Gulf Coast region, is in proximity to the City of Brazoria, and it is in proximity to the Velasco community, now a part of Freeport. The prison is situated south of Houston.HistoryIn 1890 William C. Clemens, the chairperson of the Texas Prison Board, purchased an initial parcel of land from the Huntington Estate for $4,126. The prison, named after Clemens, opened in 1893. The State of Texas bought the entire prison, then 5527acre, in 1899. The property included the William Clemens mill and sugar plantation. The prison was the first state prison in Brazoria County.The state later added a neighboring plantation, making Clemens have 8212acre of land. The state purchased additional acreage, bringing the prison to a total of 8116acre. In 1935 Clemens housed African-American prisoners when the system was segregated. In 1963, before racial desegregation occurred, the facility housed first offender African Americans.In the mid-1990s, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) removed older violent offenders from the institution and replaced them with younger offenders; most of them were 25 or younger. The administration segregated younger prisoners from the others; the inmates called their area a "kiddie farm." In 1995 the State of Texas lowered its minimum age at which a juvenile can be tried as an adult from 15 to 14. Wayne Scott, the executive director of the TDCJ, established the Youth Offender Program, to house prisoners 14 to 16 years old who were sentenced as adults, new arrivals aged 17–20, and prisoners transferred out of the Texas Youth Commission, aged 16–18 and with determinate sentences.