W.J. Estelle Unit

W. J. "Jim" Estelle Unit (E2, originally the Ellis II Unit) is a prison located on Farm to Market Road 3478 in unincorporated Walker County, Texas, United States, 10mi north of central Huntsville. The prison, with about 5459acres of space, is operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The unit, which opened in June 1984, was named after Ward James "Jim" Estelle, a former prison director of Texas.The Estelle Unit has a geriatric facility, a program for physically handicapped inmates, a program for substance abuse, a high security unit, and a regional medical facility. The Estelle High Security Unit, the high security unit, is a supermax facility.HistoryThe unit opened in 1984. The Estelle High Security Unit was designed in response to an increase in prison violence in the Texas prison system.Around 1991 TDCJ planned to build a separate facility for elderly inmates. In 1995 the unit received its current name. In 1999, a prisoner named Clifford Dwayne Jones escaped by slipping one of his hands out of a pair of handcuffs and then scaling several walls. The inmate left behind his clothes and shoes, possibly to foil tracking dogs. The inmate was captured about 48 hours after his escape. Jones's escape was the first escape from the high security unit.On May 12, 2010 Thord "Catfish" Dockray, a prisoner with a history of mental illness, threw urine on prison guards. Guards ordered him to exit his cell, but he refused. The guards released chemicals to try to subdue Dockray, but he continued his assault. After Dockray was subdued, medics attended to Dockray, who refused medical care. On May 13 the prisoner was found face down in his cell. The prisoner was taken to Huntsville Memorial Hospital, where he died.