Huntsville Unit in Texas

Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville or Huntsville Unit (HV), nicknamed "Walls Unit", is a Texas state prison located in Huntsville, Texas, United States. The approximately facility, near downtown Huntsville, is operated by the Correctional Institutions Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The facility, the oldest Texas state prison, opened in 1849. The unit houses the execution chamber of the State of Texas. It is the most active execution chamber in the United States, with 583 (as of March 9, 2023) executions since 1982, when the death penalty was reinstated in Texas (see Lists of people executed in Texas). History The prison's first inmates arrived on October 2, 1849. The unit was named after the County of Huntsville. Robert Perkinson, the author of Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire, wrote that the unit was, within Texas, "the first public work of any importance".