People housed at the infamous, all-solitary Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Texas face some of the U.S.’s most brutal death row conditions. The prisoners are held in single cells on 22-hour-a-day lockdown with no access to phones, televisions or contact visits. During their daily “recreation” hour, they are segregated in different cages, minimizing the possibility of human contact. People housed at the Polunsky Unit endure these inhumane conditions until their execution day, which amounts from anywhere to approximately three years during the mandatory appeals process to decades for those who continue fighting. There have been cases of individuals choosing to waive their appeals or even take their own lives in favor of living a life of torture in a concrete cage. Many of the following photos of the Allan B. Polunsky Unit, the all-solitary unit on Texas death row, come from the website of Minutes Before Six.
Allan B. Polunsky Unit
A typical empty cell at Polunsky (Source: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com)
An occupied cell at Polunsky (Source: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com)
View of cell window with mold growing along ceiling (Source: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com)
View of a home-made clothesline in a cell (Source: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com)
The showers in each section look like this. You are closed inside this chamber, then un-cuffed though the bean-chute. (Source: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com)
Many cell door bear burn marks like these, as starting a fire is an effective way of getting the attention of an officer (Source: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com)
Tray slot, through which foiod is delivered into each cell (Source: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com)
Corrections official delivering something to prisoner (Source: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com)
Staircase leading to 2-Row, B-Section, A-Pod(Source: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com)
Polunsky Unit
“1-Row, A-Section, A-Pod, otherwise known as DeathWatch. This is the last home for the men here living in Texas’ DR, as the final months of their lives wind down.” (Source: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com)
Entrance to A-Pod (Source: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com)
Code of Ethics posted inside the prison (Source: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com)
Posted inside the prison (Source: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com)