Status Operational Warden Michael Upshaw Capacity 520 | Security class G1, G2 County Liberty County Opened September 1989 | |
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Location 901 E 5th St
Cleveland, Texas 77327 Managed by Management and Training Corporation (as of 2015) | ||
The Cleveland Unit is a prison for men in Cleveland, Texas privately operated by the Management and Training Corporation (MTC) on behalf of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). The approximately 40-acre (16 ha) facility is .25 miles (0.40 km) north of Downtown Cleveland. The TDCJ refers to the prison as the "Cleveland Unit," while GEO Group, the former operator, referred to it as the Cleveland Correctional Center. The facility is along U.S. Route 59.
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History
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) proposed a pre-release center along Atascocita Road in the Humble, Texas area. The local population opposed the measure. CCA instead planned to open a facility in Cleveland, where the local leaders were more receptive to the plan. The Cleveland Unit, then a $12 million ($23000000 when adjusted for inflation), 500 bed pre-release unit, officially opened on Thursday September 28, 1989. As of that year it was the fourth of the four privately operated prisons to be built in Texas.
Cleveland became a GEO Group facility on January 1, 1999. As of September 1, 2015. MTC took over operations of the Cleveland facility.
Operations
The 40 acres (16 ha) site, located along the piney woods along U.S. Route 59, has a 124,000 square feet (11,500 m2) prison facility. Cindy Horswell of the Houston Chronicle said that the "unobtrusive" unit with "its concrete walls and bright blue entry would look like any other office building except for the high barbed-wire fence and 53 security cameras." Since the prison is a private facility, the operators pay local taxes. The prison accepts minimum security male prisoners who are within three years of parole.