Pierce, Robert F.

An Act to Establish a State Penitentiary was passed in 1848 by the Second Legislature. The act established the penitentiary's governing body as a three member Board of Directors appointed by the Governor with the approval of the Senate. The prison system began as a single institution, located in Huntsville, known as the Huntsville Penitentiary. In the 1870s, the Board established a system of camps that were located outside the walls of the penitentiary. In addition to the use of convicts in and around the prison, the convicts were hired out to large labor employers, mainly plantation owners and railroad companies. Another penitentiary was opened in Rusk in January 1883.

In 1881, the Legislature reorganized the prison system, abolishing the Board of Directors, creating in its place a Penitentiary Board. This board was succeeded by the Board of Prison Commissioners in 1910. The Texas Prison Board replaced the Board of Prison Commissioners in 1927. The Texas Prison System (governed by the Texas Prison Board) became the Department of Corrections (governed by the Board of Corrections) in 1957. Then, in 1989, the Department of Criminal Justice, governed by the Board of Criminal Justice, was created.

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