As someone who spent 7yrs in Huntsville and got to know many of the local business owners and townsfolk, I'm deeply interested in this - especially Richard Linkletters portion. It's inspired by the Book of the same name. Streams Feb. 27 on MAX
Lawrence Wright's books are always very interesting, this one included. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35457359-god-save-texas I will absolutely check this documentary out.
Speaking of Huntsville and prisons, if you haven't seen At the Death House Door, a movie about a reverend who ministered to death row inmates, you should. It's on Vimeo.
Saw it last night. Definitely worth a watch. I might offer specific comments after more have had an opportunity to see it.
Holy crap, how did I not know about this? My mom’s parents lived in Huntsville later in life. My mom’s aunt was a dance/ballet teacher there for decades, and we used to go up to see her recitals. I visited my grandparents up there a ton and watched a ton of Astros game in their living room…went to Sam Houston State baseball camp repeatedly and stayed with my grandparents the whole time. As a little kid, I remember playing in their backyard…the fence line behind them wasn’t a fence at all…and it looked out over this field between their house and I-45..probably about 200 yards or so to I-45…and all of a sudden there’d be a bunch of guys in orange in that field and guards on horses…and my grandmom would tell me to come inside until they were done. I know those weren’t death row guys out there…but I was a kid and completely oblivious to what was happening there. I’ve always sorta felt connected to Huntsville, and that wasn’t even because of my other grandfather who spent time in Alcatraz, McNeil’s Island, Leavenworth, and Seagoville lol. It’s so very close to Houston, and I’ve been bothered by the death penalty since I was old enough to remember. Thanks for sharing this!!!!
Came here to post about this. Just finished episode 1. Went to Sam Houston in the late ‘80’s and still remember drinking next to just released inmates at a bar called “Variations”across from the Greyhound bus station. Linklater does a fantastic job with this. Interviews with everybody from former and present correctional officers to the former media liaison to activist lawyers to the guy that runs the ticket counter at the aforementioned bus station. Really drove home the disconnect to living with the prison system all around you yet being completely untouched by it. Interested in seeing the rest of the series.
I think the point is that nobody living in Huntsville is untouched by it, even though it may not be talked about much.
There's been a recent hubub about "prison labor" at Angola (LA) and probably in Texas too....thing is, whether they get paid or not (different conversation) there's a waiting list of guys who want to do anything outdoors just to, you know, be outdoors. It's a reward system, "be nice" and you might get to go outside for a while. The Texas Prison Rodeo was crazy fun to watch. Nice guys.
The problem is that privately-run prisons take advantage of the Constitutional loophole that allows them to essentially have slave labor. It's rampant and prison workers aren't protected by workplace protection laws, either. https://freedomnetworkusa.org/2023/08/11/forced-labor-in-prisons/ Yeah, people want to be useful and be outside so they will do it for free. I used to go to one unit for work where the shoe shine guy would track me down to shine my boots, and he was happy to do it. I would probably be in the same boat just to do something because I can tell you from working in jails that after loss of freedom and losing your family, the worst thing in there is the sheer boredom. The prison-industrial complex is a massive, massive issue that most people don't understand or even know about. It's a billion dollar industry that runs on the backs of people and the biggest joke on us is that we pay for it all with our taxes.
No doubt, and it's very, very wrong. I'm sure things have changed since 8 year old me was helping a lifer, murderer, get the calf ready for the roping event. Dad was always around, he was Committeeman at the HLSR for 40 years, so he helped set up the Huntsville stuff. "My 2 favorite parts of the whole Rodeo b.s. was the kids, and the convicts. I dealt with the business people just because I had to."
LOL I went to SAM for 4yrs and then spent the next three producing Educational Videos for a company owned by one of the people interviewed in the documentary. I got in the habit of saying "I spent 7yrs in Huntsville" as a joke a couple of decades ago.
^^^ This 100% ^^^ I was there when a prison escapee kidnapped a college student and forced her to drive them to Galena Park. We all knew the story, but it was out of our minds within' a week for so. The prison was easily forgotten by the college students. I even delivered Pizza to the Hospital Unit, guard houses, and even the Wardens House. I knew where all 7 Prison units were, but never really thought much about the prison. The first time it really hit me was when Karla Faye Tucker was executed and there were huge protests for several days and media from all around the country convened outside the Walls Unit. I was there in the middle of it recording the whole event. That's about the same time I worked with Prof Dennis Longmire on some videos and learned his story. He's a criminal Justice Professor at SAM who stands outside the Walls Unit in silence with a candle every time they execute someone. It took me 4 years to realize just how much the TDC is intertwined with Huntsville.
If you get fish cubes, chances are there will be hair in them again. Also, remember that the kitchen guys have to stir gravy and soup with their arms and will probably drink out of measuring cups.
