The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities, funding and certain oversight of community supervision, and supervision of offenders released from prison on parole or mandatory supervision.The TDCJ operates the second largest state prison system in the United States.

The department has offices at the Price Daniel Sr. Building at 209 West 14th Street in Austin and at Spur 59 off Highway 75

History

In 1848, the Texas Legislature passed "An Act to Establish a State Penitentiary", which created an oversight board to manage the treatment of convicts and administration of the penitentiaries. Land was acquired in Huntsville and Rusk for later facilities.[5]
The prison system began as a single institution, located in Huntsville. The Department was and still is the only state agency based outside the capital of Austin. A second prison facility, Rusk Penitentiary, began receiving convicts in January 1883.[5]
Various administrative changes regarding the organization of the managing board of the department occurred over the next one hundred years.[5] In 1989, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Board of Criminal Justice were created. The Board is composed of nine members appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate to six year overlapping terms. This new agency absorbed the functions of many state agencies.

Major divisions

The department encompasses the following major divisions:
Correctional Institutions Division
Parole Division
Community Justice Assistance Division

Windham School District

Windham School District was created in 1969 to provide adult education in Texas prisons. The district was the first school system of its size to be established within a statewide prison system. Windham is one of the largest correctional education systems in the nation, providing educational programs and services in most Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) facilities

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