Budget writers agree to shut old prison

Senate and House budget negotiators have agreed to close the 102-year-old Central Unit near Sugar Land to save $50 million, the first such closure of an entire maximum-security lockup in state history.

[bat]

Central is NOT an maximum security unit.Get it right. The closure is B.S. It's a land grab bottom line.This is a bad precedent.The system is failing.The shortage of beds is already bad and steadily increasing! That's a fact.Central was in existence before anything else in the area.People need to stop crying about living around a prison.They CHOSE to move in there.first the prison system that PROTECTS the public, you idiots.Next, education.It's coming.Just wait til it affects you.

[Lieutenant G Smith]

Actually I believe Central Unit is a medium security unity. Sad to see a unit with a long history shut down because of budget problems. Hopefully the system can handle the offenders who will have to be housed elsewhere

[old timer]

We all new this was going to happen sooner or later, I had been hearing since the late 70s that Central Unit was going to be shut down, well it finally got approved by Texas Lawmakers up in Austin. The Sugar Land airport had been wanting to buy that land for years and yes they will be expanding with another texi runway and landing runway. I believe by the end of August it will happen.

[Lifer]

No more escapes i hope, I have counted at least 15 escapes that i can remember and the last one that ive heard about a year or 2 ago was the one that went shopping at sugar land walmart for tabbaco but went back to his unit after his purchase.... His unit did'nt catch it, it was walmart security that call the unit warden and turn in a security video, and sure enough that offender had confess that he was in fact the person on that video , when ask why walmart when the chevron gas station was just down the road about a quater mile he just look at the official and said your kidding right and stated walmart has better prices.