Welcome to the Texas Prison Museum
The Texas Prison Museum offers an intriguing glimpse into the lives of the state's imprisoned citizens. The museum features numerous exhibits detailing the history of the Texas prison system, featuring a look inside the operations behind the fences and walls.
Admission Price Through December 31, 2024:
Adults - $7;
Seniors 60+ / Active or Retired Military / First
Responders / TDCJ Employees/
SHSU Students - $5;
Ages 6 / 17 - $4;
5 years and under - No Charge.
Adults - $7;
Seniors 60+ / Active or Retired Military / First
Responders / TDCJ Employees/
SHSU Students - $5;
Ages 6 / 17 - $4;
5 years and under - No Charge.
Adults $8;
Seniors 60+ / Active or Retired Military / First
Responders / TDCJ Employees/
SHSU Students - $6;
Ages 6 / 17 - $7;
5 years and under - No Charge.
Contact Information:
936-295-2155
491 Hwy 75 N
Huntsville, TX 77320
David L. Stacks - Director
david.stacks@txprisonmuseum.org
Riley Tilley - Gift Shop Manager
riley.tilley@txprisonmuseum.org
Suzie Shaw - Office Manager
suzette.shaw@txprisonmuseum.org
Joni White - Curator
Notice:
Admission Adjustments
Effective
January 1, 2025:
Book Store
Electrocutions in Texas: 1924-1964
by Sandra E. Rogers
A new book and the first ever published by the Texas Prison Museum. The most complete and accurate account of executions by the electric chair in Texas. ELECTROCUTIONS IN TEXAS: 1924-1964 is the result of many, many hours of dedicated research. This book reveals what went on in the death chamber at execution time, as well as glimpses into the death house cells and the details of the crimes that caused the men to be condemned to death row. The book also sheds light on some of the prison employees who were involved in building and use of the electric chair.
$25.00
Last Statement
by Barbara Sloan
A photographic essay of the family members of the victims or the executed at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
$49.99
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Texas Prisons - The Largest Hotel Chain in Texas
$31.00
$38.95
Texas Prison Tales - The Largest Hotel Chain in Texas II
by Lon Bennett Glenn, Warden II - Retired
In this unblinking look at the past and present of Texas prisons, crucial questions are raised: Does the Texas prison system do what the people of Texas want it to do? Does it rehabilitate? Do our prisons make our society safe? Can we win the war on drugs? Is education synonymous with rehabilitation? Will Texas always have need for the death penalty? You may not agree with the author's answers to these questions, but you won't be able to forget the stark reality of his story. Lon Bennett Glenn began his career with the Texas Prison System in 1966, when at age of twenty-one he signed on as prison guard at the Clemens Unit in Brazoria County. As he worked his way through the ranks to the position of warden, the prison system underwent tremendous change. Glenn has survived the convicts, the press, arbitrary prison administrations, lawyers, and federal courts, to tell a story that the public deserves to know.
Have a Seat, Please
by Don Reid with John Gurwell
Have a Seat, Please is an in-depth and honest look inside the Texas process of executions by Don Reid who witnessed 189 electrocutions and during the process was transformed from an avid supporter of capital punishment to an active and vocal opponent. Reid takes the reader up-close and personal with his compelling accounts of the condemned on death row and his eyewitness reports as he carefully examines the very emotional and highly debated issue of capital punishment. "Although the method of legalized homicide in Texas is different now, the book is as valid today as it was 35 years ago." -Jim Willett, retired warden, Walls Unit, Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
$20.00
by David M. Horton & George R. Neilsen
Walking George - The Life of George
John Beto and the Rise of the Modern
Texas Prison System
Dr. George Beto was the man in charge of the Texas prison system from 1962 until 1972. He was also and educator and an ordained minister. This well researched book depicts Beto accurately as an icon of the corrections field but also as a wise man with sense of humor. Dr. Beto touched many people and influenced many who worked for him in the correctional field and those who studied under him.
$29.95
Eleven Days in Hell - The 1974
Carrasco Prison Siege in Huntsville, Texas
by William T. Harper
In July of 1974 three inmates led by the notorious Fred Gomez Carrasco seized the Education Department and its employees and for eleven days held a gun on them. In the end Carrasco, one compadre, a female librarian and a female teacher lost their lives in a hale of gunfire. William Harper spent years researching this tense moment in Texas prison history. Reviews have been flattering with even from the hostages who are saying that they learned things they didn't know from reading the book. Mr. Harper has been praised for his writing style which allows the story to tell itself. Eleven Days in Hell is sure to go down as the definitive book on this incident. Eleven Days in Hell is the best selling book in the history of the Texas Prison Museum.
$19.95
Meals to Die For
by Brian D. Price
Brian Price was for ten years the cook who prepared the last meals for those about to be put to death by the State of Texas. Almost two hundred of these condemned men were allowed to order the meal of their choice and depend on Price to prepare it for them. Price gives details of these inmates including the crime and their last meal requests. Over forty of the last meal recipes are included in the book.
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$25.00
Running with Bonnie and Clyde
The Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults
by John Neal Phillips
One of the most sought-after criminals of the Depression era, Ralph Fults began his carrier of crime at the age of fourteen. At nineteen he met Clyde Barrow in a Texas prison, and the two men together founded what would later be known as the Barrow gang. Running with Bonnie and Clyde is the story of Fults’s experiences in the Texas criminal underworld between the years 1925 and 1935 and the gripping account of his own involvement with the Barrow gang, particularly its notorious duo, Bonnie and Clyde.
$30.00
by Bruce Jackson & Diane Christian
In This Timeless Time - Living & Dying on
Death Row in America
A powerful book about the everyday experiences on Death Row in Texas in 1979. The authors were given unprecedented access to the Row and the inmates who lived there, awaiting a night with the executioner. The book contains photographs, interviews and discussions with these inmates, and thoughts of the authors on the issues. The book also includes a DVD of Jackson and Christian’s 1979 documentary film, Death Row.
$50.00
Warden: Texas Prison Life and Death from the Inside Out
by Jim Willett and Ron Rozelle
Warden is the story of former Walls Unit warden Jim Willett's 30 year career in Texas prisons. From his first night as a shotgun-wielding guard to the last man he accompanied to the death chamber, it covers big events such as a first hand account of the Carrasco hostage crisis, the longest siege in the history of the United States and also the small ones that give prison life its texture. Most chillingly, Willett describes some of the 89 afternoon visits he paid to the condemned and the circumstances of their executions a few hours later. Jim Willett is now the Texas Prison Museum’s contributing researcher and Texas Prison System expert. This book can be autographed by Jim with a personal inscription, at no extra cost.
$20.32
The Executioner's Redemption
by Rev. Timothy R. Carter
As Captain Carter he participated in the executions of over 150 people in Huntsville’s death chamber. He is now Reverend Carter at the Salem Lutheran Church in Tomball, Texas. Read the wrenching account of one man’s journey from the death house to pastor.
$25.00
Convict Cowboys
by Mitchel P. Roth
For more than half a century the Texas Prison Rodeo captured the imagination of America. Convict Cowboy is the first book on the nation’s first prison rodeo, which ran from 1931 through 1986. Find out about how it began, and finally the truth behind why it ended. Read all about The Wildest Show Behind Bars and the people behind it, both those in stripes and those in “free world clothes” as well as the entertainers from Tom Mix to Willie Nelson. Mitchel P. Roth did a lot of research to tell about the things we remember and the things we didn’t know about.
$20.00