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Location | 1800 Luther Drive Navasota, Texas |
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Status | open |
Security class | G1, G2, G3, Outside Trusty |
Capacity | 1316 (1,102 in unit, plus 214 in trusty camp) |
Opened | July 1982 |
Managed by | Texas Department of Criminal Justice |
Warden | Debra Booker |
The O.L. Luther Unit is a state prison for men located in Navasota, Grimes County, Texas, owned and operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. [1] This facility was opened in July 1982, and has a maximum capacity of 1316: 1102 in the unit itself, and another 214 in the trusty camp.
Luther is co-located with the state's Wallace Pack Unit, with its own population of about 1500 prisoners. Prisoners of both facilities cooperate in an extensive agricultural operation on 11,000 acres, including horses, a cow/calf operation, grain processing and storage, and a buffalo ranch.
The facility has had a difficult history. In October 2001 inmate Nathan Essary was sexually abused by a corrections officer, sued, and discovered other inmate victims of the same officer. Their official complaints had been ignored. Essary collected "substantial" money damages in a civil case, [2] as well as a payment from the state and the officer's beach house. [3] In 2011, within a six-month period, two Luther guards were caught, fired, arrested, and charged with felonies related to bribery and smuggling. [4]