Central Unit

The Central Unit (C, previously the Imperial State Prison Farm and the Central State Prison Farm) was a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) men's prison in Sugar Land, Texas. The approximately 325.8-acre (131.8 ha) facility is 2 miles (3.2 km) from central Sugar Land on U.S. Highway 90A. The unit first opened in April 1909. The unit had 950 beds for men. The unit was adjacent to Sugar Land Regional Airport, with the runway between two parts of the prison property. The Central Unit was the only state prison within the city limits of Sugar Land.

In August 2011, the TDCJ announced that it would be the first prison in Texas to close and not be replaced. Today, most of the former prison plantation land at its largest extent makes up the Telfair master planned community, which the real estate development company Newland Communities bought from the State of Texas in 2002.

Correctional facilities first opened in the Imperial Sugar property in 1878, when the state convict lease to private companies. The State of Texas bought the 5,200-acre (2,100 ha) area in 1908. The Imperial State Prison Farm, one of the first penal institutions owned by the State of Texas opened in 1909 in the Imperial Sugar plantation. The state had purchased the land from Imperial Sugar in 1908. Originally it had 3,700 acres (1,500 ha) and was the hub of the Texas state correctional agriculture production. In 1930 the facility was renamed the Central State Prison Farm. The name "Central" originates from the prison's status as the central farming and distribution point of agricultural goods from correctional facilities for many years.

Construction of a new unit of the Central Farm funded by the 41st Texas Legislature began in late 1930. The $350,000 unit was completed in late 1932 and consisted of 12 acres (4.9 ha) of land, including a main building with administration and inmate housing and an industrial facilities building with a canner, meatpacking plant, and powerhouse. The state intended for Central to become the central intake and rehabilitation prison in the prison system. In the mid-1930s Central had nearly 700 prisoners. In 1935 Central housed White and African American prisoners. In the 1950s the prison had over 1,000 inmates. In 1963, before racial desegregation occurred, the facility housed first offenders and white male prisoners under 25 years of age, and Central Unit II housed male African American second offenders under the age of 25.

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