Texas. Legislature. Joint Committee on the Penitentiary

Texas Governor Francis R. Lubbock called for the creation of a Joint Committee on the Penitentiary in his message to the legislators at the start of the 9th Texas Legislature, 1st Called Session, in February 1863. The committee was to investigate the financial and mechanical operations of the state penitentiary. During this period of the Civil War, the state penitentiary had the only clothing mill in Texas and demand for its products exceeded supply. Citizens were upset and there were charges of misconduct and malfeasance against prison officials.

A concurrent resolution approved on February 13, 1863 agreed to form a joint committee to investigate these charges and the prison's operations. The committee went to the penitentiary at Huntsville in April 1863 to conduct its investigation on site. The committee interviewed the former and the current financial agent, the directors, the superintendent and other penitentiary officials. The committee's final report cleared the prison officials of any criminal wrongdoing and included their recommendations for prison operations.

(Sources include: the guide survey completed for this material.)

From the guide to the Joint Committee on the Penitentiary records, 1863, (Texas State Archives)