Cleveland Unit

{{Short description|Prison for men in Cleveland, Texas, US}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox prison | name = Oliver J. Bell Unit | image = | caption = | pushpin_map = USA Texas | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Texas | location = 901 E 5th St <br /> [[Cleveland, Texas]] 77327 | coordinates = {{coord|30|21|54|N|95|04|22|W|scale:10000|display=inline,title}} | status = Operational | classification = [[List of security classification of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice|G1, G2]] | capacity = 520 | population = | populationdate = | opened = September 1989 | closed = | former_name = Cleveland Correctional Center | managed_by = [[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]] (as of 2023) | warden = Tina Tompkins | county = [[Liberty County, Texas|Liberty County]] | country = [[United States of America|USA]] | website = {{URL|https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/unit_directory/cv.html}} | prisoners = }} The '''Oliver J. Bell Unit''' is a prison for men in [[Cleveland, Texas]], operated by [[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]] (TDCJ). The roughly {{convert|40|acre|ha|adj=on}} facility is {{convert|.25|mi|km|abbr=on}} north of downtown Cleveland. The TDCJ refers to the prison as the "Oliver J. Bell Unit",<ref name="Cleveland">"[https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/unit_directory/cv.html Cleveland Unit] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100725200954/http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/unitdirectory/cv.htm |date=2010-07-25 }}." [[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]]. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.</ref> while [[GEO Group]], the former operator, referred to it as the Cleveland Correctional Center.<ref name="GEO">"[http://www.thegeogroupinc.com/facility.asp?fid=7 Bell Unit] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717002537/http://www.thegeogroupinc.com/facility.asp?fid=7 |date=2011-07-17 }}." [[GEO Group]]. Retrieved on October 2, 2010.</ref> The facility is along [[U.S. Route 59]].

==History== [[Corrections Corporation of America]] (CCA) proposed a prerelease center along Atascocita Road in the [[Humble, Texas]], area. The local population opposed the measure. CCA instead planned to open a facility in Cleveland, where the local leaders were more receptive to the plan. The Cleveland Unit, then a $12 million ($24,000,000 when adjusted for inflation), 500-bed prerelease unit, officially opened on September 28, 1989. As of that year, it was the fourth of the four privately operated prisons to be built in Texas.<ref name="Horswellprivate">Horswell, Cindy. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20121019010845/http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1989_653305 Cleveland prison puts Texas on top in private facilities]." ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. Friday September 29, 1989. A26. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.</ref>

Cleveland became a GEO Group facility on January 1, 1999.<ref name="GEO"/> As of September 1, 2015. MTC took over operations of the Cleveland facility.<ref>{{cite web|title=Texas Department of Criminal Justice Awards MTC Contracts to Operate Lockhart and Cleveland Correctional Centers|url=https://www.mtctrains.com/texas-department-criminal-justice-awards-mtc-contracts-operate-lockhart-and-cleveland-correctional|website=Management & Training Corporation|accessdate=6 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911203713/https://www.mtctrains.com/texas-department-criminal-justice-awards-mtc-contracts-operate-lockhart-and-cleveland-correctional|archive-date=11 September 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> In September 2023, The Texas Department of Criminal Justice took over the full operation of the Bell Unit.

Cleveland prison renamed the Oliver J. Bell Unit in honor of former TBCJ chairman in March 2020. https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/unit_directory/cv.html

==Operations== The {{convert|40|acre|adj=on|ha}} site, located along the [[Piney Woods]] along U.S. 59, has a {{convert|124000|sqft|adj=on|sqm}} prison facility. Cindy Horswell of the ''[[Houston Chronicle]]'' said that the "unobtrusive" unit with "its concrete walls and bright blue entry would look like any other office building except for the high barbed-wire fence and 53 security cameras."<ref name="Horswellprivate"/> Since the prison is a private facility, the operators pay local taxes.<ref>Horswell, Cindy. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20120111182913/http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1995_1283149 For hard-hit economy of Liberty County, crime officially pays]." ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. Thursday June 29, 1995. A30. Retrieved on July 23, 2010.</ref> The prison accepts minimum-security male prisoners who are within three years of parole.<ref name="GEO"/>

==References== {{reflist}} https://bluebonnetnews.com/2020/03/09/cleveland-prison-renamed-the-oliver-j-bell-unit-in-honor-of-former-tbcj-chairman/

==External links== {{Portal|Texas}} * "[https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/unit_directory/cv.html Bell Unit]." [[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]]. * "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110717002537/http://www.thegeogroupinc.com/facility.asp?fid=7 Cleveland Correctional Center]." [[GEO Group]]. {{TDCJ-CID prisons}}

[[Category:1989 establishments in Texas]] [[Category:Prisons in Liberty County, Texas]] [[Category:CoreCivic]] [[Category:GEO Group]] [[Category:Management and Training Corporation]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Liberty County, Texas]]