Thursday, May 25, 2017

The Texas State Penitentiary--And A Giveaway


I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Authors often find themselves researching the strangest things. In my story, The Outcast’s Redemption, one of nine novellas in The Secret Admirer Romance Collection, I found myself needing to know details about where a prisoner would have been sent in Texas in the 1860’s. The answer was…the Texas State Penitentiary.

My hero, Lucky Tolliver, was a wayward young man who got himself into a fair bit of trouble in his youth. So much trouble, in fact, that he spent several years in this prison facility. What would life have been like for him, I wondered. To know that, I needed to research the history of the prison. Here’s what I found.

3rd Governor of Texas,
Peter Bell
In 1848, it was decided that Texas needed a prison, and the location of Huntsville, Texas was chosen. The first inmates moved into temporary cells in October of 1849 while permanent structures were being built. By 1853, the Texas Governor, Peter Bell, had discovered just how costly it could be to run a prison. To defray that cost, he built a cotton and wool mill on the prison property, to be manned by the inmates. This served two purposes. The first was to bring in revenue from the sale of the cloth created in the mill. The second was to teach the inmates a skill and the disciplined work ethic they would need to reintegrate into society. By the end of the 1850’s, the inmates were able to process 500 bales of cotton and 6000 pounds of wool per year into finished cloth.

Interestingly, the cotton and wool mill served another purpose during the early half of the 1860’s. It supplied the Confederate Army with cloth for uniforms during the Civil War. The army (along with some of the civilian population) purchased so much inmate-made cloth that the gross earnings exceeded $1 million.

Postcard depicting the South View of the Texas State Penitentiary
However, after the Civil War’s end, things changed in the West. Many soldiers from both the North and the South left their respective homes and traveled west to the frontier. Lawlessness increased, and as the only prison left standing in the Confederate states at the end of the war, this prison’s population exploded. The Texas government was nearly bankrupt, and the population of the state wouldn’t agree to a tax increase to pay for more prisons, so a creative solution had to be found. This ushered in the “convict lease system.”

The new system would have come about at exactly the time when my hero, Lucky, would have been at the Texas State Penitentiary—the late 1860’s and early 1870’s. So what was the convict lease system? It was a program that allowed private citizens to “lease” manual labor from the inmates of the prison. They could be hired to build the railroad, work private farms, or dig rocks in nearby quarries. Businesses which were hired to build out new prison cell blocks and remodel the existing buildings used inmates for the physical labor. Those inmates who weren’t leased to private individuals or businesses remained at the penitentiary to work the various mills and workshops like the cotton and wool mill located on the prison grounds. The goods made in those facilities were then sold on the open market for revenue to run the prison.
The view from within the prison walls, circa 1870.

So that was the snapshot of Lucky’s prison life that I needed. He would’ve been put to work, possibly outside the prison walls. That fact lent itself nicely to the fact that, during the course of my story, Lucky was a hard worker, trying with all his might to reform himself from his wayward youth and remake himself into an upstanding citizen. I’ll let you, the reader, decide if I accomplished the task of making Lucky’s transformation believable.

It’s Your Turn: Would you have been brave enough to hire prison inmates to work on your private farm or business had you had such an opportunity? Why or why not? Make sure to leave your email address along with your answer, and I’ll select one reader to receive an autographed copy of The Secret Admirer Romance Collection (drawing to be held on May 30).


Declaring one’s love can be hard—even risky—especially when faced with some of life's greatest challenges. Separated by class, time, distance, and more, some loves must remain secret until the time is right. Instead, notes of affection, acts of kindness, gifts of admiration, and lots of prayer are circulated. From New England mansions to homestead hovels, love is quietly being nourished and waiting for the right time to be revealed. But when love can finally be boldly expressed, will it be received by love in return?




 Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen, when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has won five writing competitions and finaled in two other competitions. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.


26 comments:

  1. Wow, you pose a thought-provoking question. It would be scary to think of hiring a prisoner because they can be charming and persuasive in convincing you to believe in them. But we are called to "love" all, and visit the prisoners, aren't we? So I'd give a qualified "maybe"!!!! Thanks for the post, and the giveaway. bcrug(at)myfairpoint(dot)net

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    1. You are so correct--we are called to love all, Connie. Thank you for your thoughts!

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  2. My husband and I have actually hired young men who were incarcerated to help us when it was time to "house" (harvest) our tobacco crop. They were in jail, not prison, but we were in need of help and they provided it. Over the years, I observed that they showed me more respect than many other young men that were not serving a sentence. Yes, I know that there could be danger involved but I do believe in the Golden Rule!!
    Thanks for a great post!
    Connie
    cps1950(at)gmail(dot)co

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    1. Thank you for your interesting response, Connie! I'm glad your experience with these young men was a good one.

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  3. Depending on their crime, I might be willing to hire an inmate to help around my farm if I had one. Thanks for the giveaway and good luck everyone. princessdebbie1_2000@yahoo.com

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  4. It would be tough to hire an inmate but given his situation(prior life and the crime committed)I might consider it. Thank you for your interesting post and giveaway. mauback55 at gmail dot com

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  5. oh wow, this is so cool to know. i love how you research for your books like this. i would love to read these books. thanks for a chance.
    quilting dash lady at Comcast dot net

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    1. Thanks, Lori. I am glad you enjoyed the post and a peek into my research style.

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  6. That's a tough question! I'm not very trusting so my first thought was, no way! But I know that often innocent or good people get unfairly tangled up with the law, so I would want to provide them with a second chance. But only if I had adequate protection and a strong husband around.

    Looking forward to reading the new collection! Thanks for the giveaway!
    colorvibrant at gmail dot com

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    1. Thank you for your thoughts, Heidi. I know where you're coming from. My husband worked 26 years for our local sheriff's office--all 26 years in the various jails in our county. So I have heard and seen a lot of things through his experiences that could make it hard for me to trust...though I do try.

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  7. I would be very reluctant to hire a person in prison to work for me. My mind conjures up all sorts of scenarios that could happen or go wrong! After alk, they are in prison for committing some sort of crime.

    In the other hand, if the prison feels that person is doing their best to want to be reformed and has proven themselves, than I would still be cautious but would be more willing to hire them.

    What a thought provoking post and interesting history. I love when an author goes to great lengths to make their stories accurate historically. And I as a reader, learn something new in the process! :-)

    Thanks for the chance to win a copy of "The Secret Admirer Romance Collection". I really love the Barbour sets like this.

    teamob4 (at) gmail (dot) com

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    1. So glad you enjoyed the post, Trixi. My husband (a 26-year-veteran of our local sheriff's office) assures me that in today's jail/prison systems, the inmates with the most to lose are the ones selected for such off-site duties. As in, the ones who are close to their release dates, don't have very severe crimes, etc. So we both are guessing that's probably similar to how it was back then...or we'd like to think so, anyway!

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  8. I may have hired someone many, many years ago but, now a days you just can't trust anyone. My next door neighbor had someone do his roof last year. The roofing company hired two ex-cons to help with the roof. My neighbor was gone for the day and when he came home after the roof was done, he found his son's fog lights missing on the truck. He found out one of the ex-cons took them.
    kmgervais(at)nycap(dot)rr(dot)com

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    1. Oh my goodness, Karen! That's terrible. I hope the neighbor let the roofing company and the police know about the theft--and that they were able to get the lights back!

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  9. I probably would hire someone if they were not a violent criminal. I think everyone deserves a second chance. We all make mistakes and someone needs to be willing to take the first step in faith and trust to give someone a chance at hope and starting over again.
    marypopmom (at) yahoo (dot) com

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    1. What a great outlook, Maryann. Thank you for sharing your perspective.

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  10. Fascinating post! Our Nebraska prisons are terribly overcrowded and solutions are being sought ... but I doubt a "lease system" would be approved LOL. I think today's prison population is very different from the majority of prisoners in the 1860s when it comes to the violence of their crimes, etc. At least that's what I found when I researched prison history here in Nebraska for The Key on the Quilt (about the late 1800s women's penitentiary in Nebraska). I enjoyed reading your fascinating post, Jennifer! Both of my husbands (the first died in 2001) were employed by the Department of Corrections here in Nebraska and I've heard too many horror stories to "lease" a former inmate. Offender. Whatever the politically correct term is these days.

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    1. I can completely understand your perspective, Stephanie! Today is a much different animal than the 1860's, and with the depravity of some locked in the prisons of today, it could be a difficult thing to "lease" them to work for you. Thanks for your thoughts!

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  11. Great post! Everyone deserves a second chance, so yes I would use inmates or those on mandatory supervised release to help out. Of course, I would have some rules for them to abide by and talk about God to them. A lot of individuals jailed are wanting a better life if given an opportunity, but so often they have no one to assist them except their same old group when released. I've been invovled with jail ministry in past and it's amazing the difference we saw in inmates when someone showed they cared about them. I have a copy of The Secret Admirer Romance Collection so I do not need to be entered.

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    1. Hi Marilyn, thank you for your thoughtful reply. My mother has done some jail/prison ministry as well. She was so moved by the experience.

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  12. The only way I would be able to hire an inmate would be if the Lord directed me to do so. We all need second chances and a way to demonstrate that we have changed.

    Thank you for the giveaway. psalm103and138 at gmail dot com

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    1. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, Caryl!

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  13. I have to agree with what Caryl wrote. If God led us to have a prisoner working for us, then He would work everything out for good! Very interesting post - thanks for all the research. Thanks also for the giveaway.
    bettimace at gmail dot com

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    1. I'm glad you stopped by, Betti. And yes, when God directs us to do something, even when it seems counter-intuitive, there's a positive outcome to it all.

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