What Texas Cities and Towns Have the Most People in Prison?
As someone who used to live close to the Huntsville Unit and even closer to the Pam Lychner State jail in Humble, I've always wondered how the State of Texas balanced their correctional units. Being such a big state, I was wondering what Texas Cities, Counties and Towns had the most people in prisons. Well, my questions have been answered by researching the latest census on prisoners and the state. This was determined by the number of prisoners compared to the population of the city, county or town.
In Texas - we have the big three according to the census finding...
Huntsville, Texas
- in Walker County has 15,429 people, or 25% of its population behind bars.
- It is in Congressional District 8, Senate District 5, House District 13, all districts with the highest or second highest percentage of prisoners included as residents. *Close to Houston and College Station
Gatesville, Texas
- has 57% (8,950 out of 15,591) of its Census population incarcerated.
- It is in the 29th Congressional District, the 22nd Senate District and the 59 House District. *Gatesville is close to Killeen
City of Eden, Texas
- The City of Eden, about three hours away from Lubbock near the geographic center of Texas, has more than half (51%; 1,299 out of 2,561) of its Census population incarcerated in a private prison in the town.
Some other take aways...
- By mid-year 2003, Texas's population had grown to be the largest state prison population.
-In the United States, 21 counties have at least 21% of their Census population in prison. Ten of those counties are in Texas.
So, now you know the breakdown... Texas has a pretty big prison population.