Darrington Unit

The Darrington Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice men's prison located in unincorporated Brazoria County, Texas, near Sandy Point, The unit is along Farm to Market Road 521, 4mi north of Rosharon, and south of Houston. The prison has about 6770acre of land. The prison has the Region III Administrative Office of the Windham School District.HistoryThe unit opened in 1917. The TDCJ believes that the unit was named after the original landowners of the area occupied by the prison. The "Wasn't That a Mighty Storm" was first recorded by John A. Lomax in 1934 at Darrington, sung by "Sin-Killer" Griffin who claimed authorship. In 1935 Darrington housed African American prisoners.In 1963, before racial desegregation occurred, the facility housed white second offenders. In the late 1980s, Darrington housed a lot of leaders of prison gangs. In 1986 and 1987 a 12ft high gunwalk was built, overseeing 13 recreation yards; the walk allows prison guards to easily shoot and kill raging prisoners.OperationsThe Darrington Unit is within the attendance zone of the Alvin Community College. Darrington was included through H.B. No. 2744, filed on March 6, 2007.