Prisons and Punishment in Texas Culture, History and Museological Representation

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN PRISONS AND PENOLOGY Prisons and Punishment in Texas Culture, History and Museological Representation H T Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology Series Editors Ben Crewe Deputy Director Prisons Research Centre University of Cambridge , UK Yvonne Jewkes Professor of Criminology University of Leicester UK Thomas Ugelvik Associate Professor UiT The Arctic University of Norway Norway Th is is a unique and innovative series, the fi rst of its kind dedicated entirely to prison scholarship. At a historical point in which the prison population has reached an all-time high, the series seeks to analyse the form, nature and consequences of incarceration and related forms of punishment. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology provides an important forum for burgeoning prison research across the world. Series Advisory Board: Anna Eriksson (Monash University), Andrew M. Jeff erson (Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims), Shadd Maruna (Queen's University Belfast), Jonathon Simon (Berkeley Law, University of California) and Michael Welch (Rutgers University). More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14596 Hannah Thurston Prisons and Punishment in Texas Culture, History and Museological Representation Hannah Th urston University of Brighton United Kingdom Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology ISBN 978-1-137-53307-4 ISBN 978-1-137-53308-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-53308-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016942669 © Th e Editor(s) (if applicable) and Th e Author(s) 2016 Th e author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identifi ed as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Th is work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and trans- mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Th e use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Th e publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © Jason Lindsey / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper Th is Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature Th e registered company is Macmillan Publishers Ltd. London Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors Professor Jeff Ferrell and Doctor Phil Carney for their guidance and enthusiasm throughout my studies. In addition, this project would not have been possible without the cooperation of the museum curators I met while in Texas. Th ese men and women give their time and expertise, often vol- untarily, not only to preserve a penal past but also to educate those who wish to learn. My thanks also go to the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (University of Kent) for my PhD scholarship, and to the Christine and Ian Bolt Scholarship fund of which I was a recipient. With regard to the production process, the reviewers of my manuscript provided constructive insight and I am grateful to them for their advice and recommendations. In addition, I would like to express my gratitude to the editors of Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology, and to the production team at Palgrave for their patience and support. In particular I am indebted to Professor Yvonne Jewkes and Professor Peter Squires who were both kind enough to read drafts and off er early suggestions about how best to proceed with the manuscript. Finally, I turn to my family. Michael Th urston, my father, provided support when I needed it most. Richard Th urston, my brother, off ered me an alternative perspective which challenged my own. Gary Prescott, my partner, proved himself to be the most patient man I have ever met. Special thanks, though, go to my mother, Diane Th urston. She has an v vi Acknowledgements inner strength I have often envied, she is resilient in times of great pres- sure and she displays a kindness not found in many; a truly incredible woman. Th ank you. Contents 1 Introduction 1 Part 1 Setting the Scene for Museological Research 5 2 Th e Signifi cance of Stories in Museum Research 7 3 Becoming a Texas Tourist 19 4 Telling Tales About a ‘Tough Texas’ 47 Part 2 Representing Punishment in the United States of America 67 5 Emotionality and Cultural Stories of (In)justice 69 6 Th e Cultural Life of Punishment in the Southern States 99 vii viii Contents 7 Narrative Possibilities in Cultural Life Research 119 P a r t 3 Th e Punishment Museums of the Lone Star State 129 8 Museum Stories of a Distinctly Tough Texas 131 9 Depicting Modern Punishment as Civilised Punishment 147 10 A Narrative Journey Th rough Inmate Identities 171 P a r t 4 Th e Texan Self-Identity Past and Present 181 11 ‘Texanicity’ and Its Punishment Dimensions 183 12 Texan Toughness and Lone Star Memories: Th e Alamo and the Old West 197 13 Re-imagining Texas as a Place of Harsh Punishment 225 14 Epilogue: So Where Do We Go from Here? 239 Bibliography 243 Index 245 List of Figures Fig. 3.1 Eastland standard cell 22 Fig. 3.2 Longhorn Stockyards 26 Fig. 3.3 Texas Prison Museum Monument 29 Fig. 3.4 Joe Byrd Cemetery 31 Fig. 3.5 San Jacinto Monument 34 Fig. 3.6 Beaumont cell 37 Fig. 3.7 Texas State Capitol 39 Fig. 3.8 San Antonio River Walk 42 Fig. 3.9 Alamo Shrine 44 Fig. 4.1 State by state incarceration totals 52 Fig. 4.2 Total executions (2007–14) in states that have executed more than one person 54 Fig. 4.3 Top ten states: total executions pre- and post-moratorium 55 Fig. 4.4 Top ten states: execution rate post-moratorium (per 100,000) 57 Fig. 4.5 Top ten states: execution rate (per 100,000) pre- and post-moratorium 59 Fig. 8.1 Beaumont Police Museum Memorial 137 Fig. 8.2 Border Patrol Museum Memorial Room 138 Fig. 8.3 Houston Police Museum Memorial Cabinet 139 Fig. 9.1 Th e electric chair: Texas Prison Museum 150 Fig. 9.2 Photographic Exhibit: Texas Prison Museum 159 ix 1 Introduction With more than 550,000 people under some form of criminal justice supervision, and having recently performed its 517th execution by lethal injection, the Lone Star State has a reputation for harsh judicial punishment. Similarly, while the Texan prison population has actually decreased (albeit marginally) over the past fi ve years, the phrase ‘Don’t Mess With Texas’ has nevertheless gained symbolic signifi cance far beyond the anti- littering campaign for which it was originally contrived. Still heralded as one of the most punitive places in the Western world, Texas supposedly ‘reigns supreme in the punishment industry’ (Perkinson 2010 , p. 4). As this book will demonstrate lots of people are telling stories about Texas and within these stories the state governors are ruthless, executions are speedy, conditions of confi nement austere and guilt not always deter- mined. Indeed, one need not delve far into the literature on punishment in general and death penalty literature in particular to fi nd the image of Texas being (re)produced as a place of particularly punitive punishment. In Peculiar Institution: America’s Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition , David Garland (2010 ) refers to Texas as a ‘high-volume execution state’ (p. 47); Texas is said to perform a ‘remarkably high’ number of executions © Th e Editor(s) (if applicable) and Th e Author(s) 2016 1 H. Th urston, Prisons and Punishment in Texas, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-53308-1_1 2 Prisons and Punishment in Texas each year (p. 68) and the retention of capital punishment is described as ‘sustained and enthusiastic in Texas’ (p. 192). Similarly, in the introduc- tory pages of America’s Death Penalty: Between Past and Present , McGowan (2011 , p. 17) notes that there is a particular ‘enthusiasm’ for harsh punishment in the Lone Star State when compared to other US states. In addition, Andrew Hammel (2002 , p. 107) constructs the image of Texas as a place of harsh punishment in Th e Machinery of Death: Th e Reality of America’s Death Penalty Regime , when he refers to the Texan death penalty as a ‘juggernaut’; a ‘massive inexorable force’ that will ‘crush whatever is placed in its path’. Armstrong and Mills (2003 , p. 103) suggest that executions by lethal injection have become something of a ‘routine occurrence’ in Texas. Koch et al. (2012 , p. 150) tell us that Texas is the ‘public face of execution’ and Bessler (2003 , p. 223) contends that Texas is the only state which ‘regularly executes off enders’. In short, Texas is ‘America’s death penalty capital’, and due to an apparent zeal for harsh justice, the state has ‘emerged as particularly symbolic on all levels’ (Randle 2005 , p. 103). So these scholars are all telling similar stories about Texas and within these stories the Lone Star State is portrayed as a place of particularly harsh punishment.

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