Coffield Unit: Drugs, Murder and Mail Delays Here Too

Dear Friends,

Howdy from Texas! I have just read the Winter 2024 issue of Under Lock & Key provided to me by a friend. I’d like to be added to your mailing list.

Several articles caught my eye, most especially those focused on conditions within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). One Texas prisoner wrote the bulk of your article on the ULK 83 Correction regarding drugs, murder, and the statewide lockdown imposed by TDCJ. His statements were quite accurate. At the H. H. Coffield unit, we also saw prisoner-on-prisoner murder. Two of them were very close to my housing. We were locked down in totality for 40 days in our 5x9 cells and fed a starvation diet of sack meals.

The TDCJ Digital Mail initiative article was quite good as well. My own postal mail has been averaging 3 months for receipt since the implementation of the program. Even our Securus e-mail at my unit has been taking up to 3 or 4 weeks to be received – both incoming and outgoing.

But at least we are now drug-free, right? Not hardly! Those who choose to use have seen no shortage of supply. Personally I believe the only way to supply that volume of drugs to this 4000 man unit is via the officer and staff.

The K-2 epidemic is alive and well in Texas as well as Nevada and inmates are choosing to be brain-dead as their primary coping mechanism. Inmates under the influence are generally ignored by officers and officials and the issue is very divisive among the prison population. After all, no one in their right mind wants a cellie or a neighbor who is a strung-out deadbeat who would rob their mama to get another stick.

Anyway, I could go on for days about TDCJ incompetency, prison conditions, housing, food, etc. but I’ve said enough for now. I’ll be looking forward to receiving your publication.