Cummins Unit
Encyclopedia
The Cummins Unit is an Arkansas Department of Correction prison
in unincorporated
Lincoln County
, Arkansas
, United States
. It is located along U.S. Route 65
, near Grady
, Gould
, and Varner
, 28 miles (45.1 km) south of Pine Bluff
, and 60 miles (96.6 km) southeast of Little Rock
.
This prison farm
is a 16500 acres (6,677.3 ha) correctional facility. The prison first opened in 1902 and has a capacity of 1,725 inmates. Cummins housed Arkansas's male death row
until 1986, when it was transferred first to the Tucker Maximum Security Unit. The State of Arkansas execution chamber is located in the Cummins Unit, adjacent to the location of the male death row, the Varner Unit
. The female death row is located at the McPherson Unit
. Cummins is one of the state of Arkansas's "parent unit"s for male prisoners; it serves as one of several units of initial assignment for processed male prisoners.
Then-Governor of Arkansas Jeff Davis wanted the state to buy a farm in Jefferson County
owned by Louis Altheimer, a Republican Party leader who was Davis's friend. When the legislature instead purchased the land for Cummins, Davis put up political opposition, trying to force the state to cancel the purchase.
In 1933 Governor Junius Marion Futrell
closed the Arkansas State Penitentiary ("The Walls"), and some prisoners moved to Cummins from the former penitentiary. Since the establishment of the prison, it had housed African-American men and women. Beginning in 1936, White male prisoners with disciplinary problems were housed at Cummins. As of 1958, most prisoners worked in farming, producing cotton, livestock, and vegetables. The prison, during that year, housed clothing and lumber manufacturing facilities. In 1951 White female prisoners were moved from the Arkansas State Farm for Women to Cummins.
On September 5, 1966, riots occurred at Cummins. 144 prisoners attempted a strike, and Arkansas State Police
ended the strike with tear gas. In 1970 some prisoners asking for segregated housing started a riot, leading to the intervention of state police.
In 1972 Arkansas's first prison rodeo was held at the Cummins Unit. In 1974 death row inmates, previously at the Tucker Unit
, were moved to the Cummins Unit. In 1976 female inmates were moved from the Cummins Unit to the Pine Bluff Unit. In 1978 a new execution chamber opened at Cummins Unit. In 1983 the Cummins Modular Unit opened. In 1986 death row inmates were moved to the Maximum Security Unit. In 1991 the vocational technology program moved from the Cummins Unit to the Varner Unit
. In 2000 Arkansas's first lethal electrified fence, built with inmate labor, opened at the Cummins Unit.
alleged that three human skeletons found on the farm were the remains of inmates who had been subjected to torture, prompting a publicized investigation which found "a prison hospital served as torture chamber and a doctor as chief tormentor."
The revelations included allegations of electrical devices connected to the genitalia of inmates. The Arkansas State Penitentiary System at that time had already been found to have held inmates at the Cummins Unit under conditions rising to the level of unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment, in cases tried by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, among others.
A white building is and has been referred to the past as the prison's "barracks." The "telephone-pole" style structure serves as a housing unit for prisoners. The building had eight units. In the past, one was reserved for White trustees, one for Black trustees, and others for other prisoners. The housing units were racially segregated
.
The prison includes the "Free Line," the prison residences for free world employees, including the warden, several prison officials, and their families. In history some prisoners worked as house servants in the Free Line.
Children living on the prison property are zoned to the Dumas School District.
In the past the main entrance to the prison was at the terminus of a road off of the main highway. The main gate consisted of a wooden structure behind a chicken wire fence, which had barbed wire
on top. A trusty shooter manned the main entrance. In past eras, the prison housed a commissary and did not house educational facilities, prison factories, or medical and dental clinics.
The Cummins Unit has an electric fence
.
The Cummins/Varner Volunteer Fire Department provides fire services to the Cummins Unit property. The station is inside the Cummins Unit property, along Arkansas Highway 388. In the financial year 2010 the Arkansas Department of Correction spent $81,691 on the fire station.
s, hay, livestock, and vegetables.
Cummins previously housed the Special Management Barracks, a unit for prisoners with counseling and mental health requirements. In 2008 it moved to the Randall L. Williams Correctional Facility
.
Prisoners at Cummins attend the correctional school system.
Trustee prisoners had authority over other prisoners. At night, all except for two of the free world prison guards left, so trustees kept the order during the night. Prisoners who were not trustees were sub-ranked as "do-pops" and "rankers." In past eras, trustee prisoners were responsible for the institution's perimeter security.
During the day, the prison barracks were empty since most prisoners worked on the fields. At night, the two free world employees patrolled the central corridor but did not venture into the barrack units. The trustees, armed with knives, kept the order at night. Some inmates, referred to as "crawlers" and "creepers," stabbed sleeping prisoners. Male on male rape frequently occurred in the housing units. The prison did not ask trustees to intervene in case of rape, and prison guards rarely intervened.
Prisoners did not receive payment for working in the fields. In order to buy items from the commissary, some prisoners worked there. Other prisoners sold their blood; a healthy prisoner was permitted to sell his blood once weekly.
Trustees were allowed to leave and re-enter the prison without undergoing searches, so trustees smuggled in alcohol, illegal drugs, and weapons; they then sold those items within the prison. Trustees usually bought these items from one another, since they had large amounts of money. Non-trustees, including "do-pops" and "rankers," had to pay trustees in order to get food, medicine, access to medical staff, access to outsiders, and protection from arbitrary prison punishments. Therefore non-trustees did not have large reserves of extra money.
Education in the Cummins Unit began in 1968, when the Gould School District
started a night program.
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
in unincorporated
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
Lincoln County
Lincoln County, Arkansas
Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas and is included in the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population is 14,134. The county seat is Star City. Lincoln County is Arkansas's 65th county, formed on March 28, 1871, and named for Abraham Lincoln,...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is located along U.S. Route 65
U.S. Route 65
U.S. Route 65 is a north–south United States highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 425 in Clayton, Louisiana. The northern terminus is at Interstate 35 just south of Interstate 90 in Albert Lea, Minnesota...
, near Grady
Grady, Arkansas
Grady is a city in Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 523 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Pine Bluff, Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Grady is located at ....
, Gould
Gould, Arkansas
Gould is a city in Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States. Its population was 1,305 at the 2000 U.S. census. It is included in the Pine Bluff, Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, and Varner
Varner, Arkansas
Varner is an unincorporated community in Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States. Its elevation is 177 ft . It is located southeast of Little Rock.-History:Around 1958 Varner, which had five residents, had a crossroads gas station and a store....
, 28 miles (45.1 km) south of Pine Bluff
Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Pine Bluff is the largest city and county seat of Jefferson County, Arkansas, United States. It is also the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff, Arkansas Combined Statistical Area...
, and 60 miles (96.6 km) southeast of Little Rock
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
.
This prison farm
Prison farm
A prison farm is a large correctional facility where penal labor convicts are put to economical use in a 'farm' , usually for manual labour, largely in open air, such as in agriculture, logging, quarrying, etc...
is a 16500 acres (6,677.3 ha) correctional facility. The prison first opened in 1902 and has a capacity of 1,725 inmates. Cummins housed Arkansas's male death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
until 1986, when it was transferred first to the Tucker Maximum Security Unit. The State of Arkansas execution chamber is located in the Cummins Unit, adjacent to the location of the male death row, the Varner Unit
Varner Unit
The Varner Unit is a high-security state prison of the Arkansas Department of Correction in Varner, unincorporated Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States. It is located along U.S. Highway 65, near Grady, and south of Pine Bluff...
. The female death row is located at the McPherson Unit
McPherson Unit
McPherson Unit is a prison for women of the Arkansas Department of Correction, located in Newport, Arkansas, off of Arkansas Highway 384, east of central Newport. Established in 1998, the prison houses the state's death row for women....
. Cummins is one of the state of Arkansas's "parent unit"s for male prisoners; it serves as one of several units of initial assignment for processed male prisoners.
History
In 1902 the State of Arkansas purchased about 10000 acres (4,046.9 ha) of land for $140,000 to build the Cummins Unit. The prison was established during that year, and prisoners began occupying the site in December. The prison occupied the former Cummins and Maple Grove plantations; the state purchased the land for $140,000.Then-Governor of Arkansas Jeff Davis wanted the state to buy a farm in Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Arkansas
Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Its population was 77,435 at the 2010 United States Census. It is included in the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area. Jefferson County's county seat and largest city is Pine Bluff...
owned by Louis Altheimer, a Republican Party leader who was Davis's friend. When the legislature instead purchased the land for Cummins, Davis put up political opposition, trying to force the state to cancel the purchase.
In 1933 Governor Junius Marion Futrell
Junius Marion Futrell
Junius Marion Futrell was the 30th Governor of Arkansas from 1933 to 1937, and the Acting Governor for a short stint in 1913....
closed the Arkansas State Penitentiary ("The Walls"), and some prisoners moved to Cummins from the former penitentiary. Since the establishment of the prison, it had housed African-American men and women. Beginning in 1936, White male prisoners with disciplinary problems were housed at Cummins. As of 1958, most prisoners worked in farming, producing cotton, livestock, and vegetables. The prison, during that year, housed clothing and lumber manufacturing facilities. In 1951 White female prisoners were moved from the Arkansas State Farm for Women to Cummins.
On September 5, 1966, riots occurred at Cummins. 144 prisoners attempted a strike, and Arkansas State Police
Arkansas State Police
The Arkansas State Police is the state police agency for Arkansas, which has jurisdiction anywhere in the state. It was created to protect the lives, property and constitutional rights of people in Arkansas...
ended the strike with tear gas. In 1970 some prisoners asking for segregated housing started a riot, leading to the intervention of state police.
In 1972 Arkansas's first prison rodeo was held at the Cummins Unit. In 1974 death row inmates, previously at the Tucker Unit
Tucker Unit
The Tucker Unit is a prison in Tucker, unincorporated Jefferson County, Arkansas, northeast of Pine Bluff. It is operated by the Arkansas Department of Correction...
, were moved to the Cummins Unit. In 1976 female inmates were moved from the Cummins Unit to the Pine Bluff Unit. In 1978 a new execution chamber opened at Cummins Unit. In 1983 the Cummins Modular Unit opened. In 1986 death row inmates were moved to the Maximum Security Unit. In 1991 the vocational technology program moved from the Cummins Unit to the Varner Unit
Varner Unit
The Varner Unit is a high-security state prison of the Arkansas Department of Correction in Varner, unincorporated Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States. It is located along U.S. Highway 65, near Grady, and south of Pine Bluff...
. In 2000 Arkansas's first lethal electrified fence, built with inmate labor, opened at the Cummins Unit.
Torture
In 1968, Tom MurtonTom Murton
Thomas O. Murton , generally known as Tom Murton, was a penologist best known for his wardenship of the prison farms of Arkansas...
alleged that three human skeletons found on the farm were the remains of inmates who had been subjected to torture, prompting a publicized investigation which found "a prison hospital served as torture chamber and a doctor as chief tormentor."
The revelations included allegations of electrical devices connected to the genitalia of inmates. The Arkansas State Penitentiary System at that time had already been found to have held inmates at the Cummins Unit under conditions rising to the level of unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment, in cases tried by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, among others.
"Certain characteristics of the Arkansas prison system serve to distinguish it from most other penal institutions in this country. First, it has very few paid employees; armed trustiesTrusty systemThe "trusty system" was a strict system of discipline and security in the US made compulsory under Mississippi state law as the method of controlling and working inmates at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Mississippi's...
["trusted" inmates, according to the source] guard rank and file inmates and trusties perform other tasks usually and more properly performed by civilian or "free world" personnel. Second, convicts not in isolation are confined when not working, and are required to sleep at night in open dormitory type barracks in which rows of beds are arranged side by side; there are large numbers of men in each barracks. Third, there is no meaningful program of rehabilitation whatever at Cummins; while there is a promising and helpful program at Tucker, it is still minimal."
Composition
Cummins has about 16500 acres (6,677.3 ha) of land.A white building is and has been referred to the past as the prison's "barracks." The "telephone-pole" style structure serves as a housing unit for prisoners. The building had eight units. In the past, one was reserved for White trustees, one for Black trustees, and others for other prisoners. The housing units were racially segregated
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
.
The prison includes the "Free Line," the prison residences for free world employees, including the warden, several prison officials, and their families. In history some prisoners worked as house servants in the Free Line.
Children living on the prison property are zoned to the Dumas School District.
In the past the main entrance to the prison was at the terminus of a road off of the main highway. The main gate consisted of a wooden structure behind a chicken wire fence, which had barbed wire
Barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
on top. A trusty shooter manned the main entrance. In past eras, the prison housed a commissary and did not house educational facilities, prison factories, or medical and dental clinics.
The Cummins Unit has an electric fence
Electric fence
An electric fence is a barrier that uses electric shocks to deter animals or people from crossing a boundary. The voltage of the shock may have effects ranging from uncomfortable, to painful or even lethal...
.
The Cummins/Varner Volunteer Fire Department provides fire services to the Cummins Unit property. The station is inside the Cummins Unit property, along Arkansas Highway 388. In the financial year 2010 the Arkansas Department of Correction spent $81,691 on the fire station.
Operations
As of 2006, the Cummins Unit has the largest farming operation in the Arkansas Department of Correction system. At Cummins, over 16000 acres (6,475 ha) of land is devoted to production of crops and farm goods, including cash cropCash crop
In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for profit.The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family...
s, hay, livestock, and vegetables.
Cummins previously housed the Special Management Barracks, a unit for prisoners with counseling and mental health requirements. In 2008 it moved to the Randall L. Williams Correctional Facility
Randall L. Williams Correctional Facility
The Randall L. Williams Correctional Facility is a prison of the Arkansas Department of Correction located in the "Pine Bluff Complex" in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The 106 bed facility sits on a plot of land....
.
Prisoners at Cummins attend the correctional school system.
Prisoner life
In the past, each prisoner worked for 10 hours per day, six days per week in the fields. Prisoners were only excused if the outside temperature was below freezing. Some prisoners who were sent to the fields lacked shoes. Prisoners did not have fixed quotas. Instead they were told to do as much work as possible. Prisoners deemed to be not doing enough work were beaten.Trustee prisoners had authority over other prisoners. At night, all except for two of the free world prison guards left, so trustees kept the order during the night. Prisoners who were not trustees were sub-ranked as "do-pops" and "rankers." In past eras, trustee prisoners were responsible for the institution's perimeter security.
During the day, the prison barracks were empty since most prisoners worked on the fields. At night, the two free world employees patrolled the central corridor but did not venture into the barrack units. The trustees, armed with knives, kept the order at night. Some inmates, referred to as "crawlers" and "creepers," stabbed sleeping prisoners. Male on male rape frequently occurred in the housing units. The prison did not ask trustees to intervene in case of rape, and prison guards rarely intervened.
Prisoners did not receive payment for working in the fields. In order to buy items from the commissary, some prisoners worked there. Other prisoners sold their blood; a healthy prisoner was permitted to sell his blood once weekly.
Trustees were allowed to leave and re-enter the prison without undergoing searches, so trustees smuggled in alcohol, illegal drugs, and weapons; they then sold those items within the prison. Trustees usually bought these items from one another, since they had large amounts of money. Non-trustees, including "do-pops" and "rankers," had to pay trustees in order to get food, medicine, access to medical staff, access to outsiders, and protection from arbitrary prison punishments. Therefore non-trustees did not have large reserves of extra money.
Education in the Cummins Unit began in 1968, when the Gould School District
Gould School District
The Gould School District was a school district that operated public schools in Gould, Arkansas. Its territory is now a part of the Dumas School District.-History:...
started a night program.
See also
- Trusty systemTrusty systemThe "trusty system" was a strict system of discipline and security in the US made compulsory under Mississippi state law as the method of controlling and working inmates at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Mississippi's...
- Gates v. CollierGates v. CollierGates v. Collier, 501 F.2d 1291 , was a landmark case decided in U.S. federal court that brought an end to the Trusty system and the flagrant inmate abuse that accompanied it at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Mississippi...
- List of law enforcement agencies in Arkansas
- List of United States state correction agencies
- List of U.S. state prisons
- PrisonPrisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
External links
- Cummins Unit website
- "Demonstration of In-Vessel Composting Cummins Unit Arkansas Department of Correction Pine Bluff, Arkansas." Texas A&M University Commerce