The Memorial Unit (DA), known as the Darrington Unit until 2023, is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) men's maximum security prison located in Brazoria County, Texas, with a Rosharon, Texas postal address;"Darrington Unit ." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 9, 2010. it is not inside the Rosharon census-designated place."2010 CENSUS – CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Rosharon CDP, TX." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on January 21, 2018. Most of the unit is in an unincorporated area, while a portion is in the city limits of Sandy Point.

The unit is along Farm to Market Road 521, north of Rosharon, and about south of Downtown Houston. The prison has about of land. The prison has the Region III Administrative Office of the Windham School District.

History The prison opened in 1917. It sits on land that was owned by the Mexican government until 1824. In the 1830s and 1840s, the land housed a plantation owned by John Darrington of Alabama. Slaves picked cotton and sugar cane there. Darrington did not live on the site, but the name Darrington Plantation stuck even after subsequent owners bought the land. The state of Texas kept the name of the plantation when they opened the prison, designating it the Darrington Unit.

The song "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.Trulson, Chad R., James W. Marquart, and Ben M. Crouch. First Available Cell: Desegregation of the Texas Prison System. University of Texas Press, 2009. 81. Retrieved from Google Books on July 16, 2010. , .

In 1963, before racial desegregation occurred, the facility housed white second offenders.Trulson, Chad R., James W. Marquart, and Ben M. Crouch. First Available Cell: Desegregation of the Texas Prison System. University of Texas Press, 2009. 82. Retrieved from Google Books on July 16, 2010. , . In the late 1980s, Darrington housed a lot of leaders of prison gangs. In 1986 and 1987 a high gunwalk was built, overseeing 13 recreation yards; the walk allows prison guards to easily shoot and kill raging prisoners.Toth, John. "Prison guards will `shoot to kill' inmates to stop deadly violence of gangs" (). Houston Chronicle. Sunday September 21, 1986. Section 3, Page 1. Retrieved on August 17, 2010.

In 2017 a judge ordered the installation of air conditioning.

In January 2021, State Representative James White, chair of the Texas House Committee on Corrections, asked the Texas Board of Criminal Justice to rename the Darrington Unit and two other Texas prisons because the names were associated with slavery or convict leasing. White referred to John Darrington as a "plantation mega owner". Later in the year, TDCJ changed the name of the prison to the Memorial Unit in honor of the agency's deceased employees.

Operations The Texas Legislature designated portions of Angleton ISD that by September 1, 1995 had not been annexed by Alvin Community College as in the Brazosport College zone.Texas Education Code Sec. 130.170. BRAZOSPORT COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.: "(2) the Angleton Independent School District, except the part annexed by the Alvin Community College District before September 1, 1995." As Darrington Unit is not in the maps of Alvin CC, it is in the Brazosport College zone.The Taxation Map and College Zone map of Alvin Community College do not show Darrington Unit, and based upon Texas Education Code Sec. 130.170. it would be in the Brazosport College zone. There was a section of H.B. No. 2744,"H.B. No. 2744." Texas Legislature. Retrieved on March 11, 2011. "(3) the territory located in Brazoria County, situated to the west of the Alvin Community College District boundary as it existed on January 1, 2003, extending west to the eastern border of Fort Bend County, and south to County Roads 49, 34, and 255, including the City of Rosharon and the Darrington and Ramsey Units of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice." filed on March 6, 2007,"Bill: HB 2744." Texas Legislature. Retrieved on March 11, 2011. which would have changed the boundary between Alvin CC and Brazosport CC to put the Darrington Unit in the Alvin CC service boundary.

Prisoner life Education In 2011, a campus of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary was established in the prison.Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Seeking God, and redemption, in a Texas prison seminary, latimes.com, USA, May 6, 2016 The school has significantly reduced the rate of violence in the prison.

Notable prisoners Inmate NameRegister NumberStatusDetails Timothy Wayne Shepherd 06215102 / 01530683 Serving a sentence of 99 years, of which he would 126 years old when released, effectively making it a life sentence. However, he is eligible for parole in 2037. Perpetrator of the 2007 Murder of Tynesha Stewart, his ex-girlfriend, which is notable for the unusual method of disposing her body in which Shepard cooked her on a barbeque grill to cover up his crime. David Graham, perpetrator of the murder of Adrianne Jones"Graham, David Christopher" (Archive). Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on December 28, 2015. Dennis Hope, whose breakout is dramatized in Season 1, Episode 3 of the National Geographic TV docudrama series, Breakout.

References

External links

Darrington Unit." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Collier, Keith. "Southwestern holds convocation inside maximum security prison." Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. September 2, 2011.