Lock Up

Texas Youth Commission Gatesville State School for Boys circa 1974-1977

Crises Intervention Center (CIC) aka Lock Up

During a time when TYC was spending everything it could to protect itself from Federal intervention in the form of the Morales vs. Turman law suit, the Gatesville facility was on life support. The Gatesville reception center where all new male inmates arriving to TYC had been moved to a newer facility in Brownwood and 2 wings at the old reception center in Gatesville were striped to nothing and used for CIC. According to historical witnesses this was an upgrade from the facility used at Hilltop.

Many of the boys who would have otherwise wound up in the Gatesville facility were rerouted to the recently made co-ed state school girls in Gainesville, the boy’s home in Giddings or remained in Brownwood and sent up the hill to the main school. At the time the old colored school for girls in Crocket was being used as a co-ed wilderness program.

A court order from the MvT case forced staff to stop the random beatings of juvenile inmates and many Gatesville dorm staff quit their state jobs because of a fear they would be unable to control the population.Those that stayed either evolved or were let go with cause, while those who struggled and having seniority were transferred to work CIC.

Maximum length of stay was 3 days; any stay longer up to 10 days required a phone call to Austin. Any stay longer than 10 days up to 30 days required a letter stating reason and every 30 days thereafter. There was only one rule in CIC, absolute quietness. Violation of this rule, depending on the mood of the staff, the penalty was deeper isolation in another wing and generally came with a beating. If you became loud enough to be heard in the other wing the penalty was being hung on the wall, also accompanied with a beating. The beating was always 2 or more grown men to one boy.

To accommodate the hanging of a boy on the wall the cell had tall windows with thick bars. The widows at one time could be opened but were sealed. However there was enough room to place a handcuff between the bar and outer thick glass on each side of the window and hang a boy by his wrist where he stood on tiptoe. Minimum length for hanging on the wall was 2 hours. Further noise rule violation would increase the time and in many cases was accompany with a beating.

For TYC at this time this methodology was considered humane in comparison to the decades earlier.

The following article by William T. Field is from The Handbook of Texas, Volume 3, Eldon Stephen Branda, editor, The Texas Historical Association, Austin, 1976, pages 330-331.


3D Model at State School exhibit at Gatesville Museum

Gatesville State School for Boys.
The Gatesville State School for Boys was placed under the administration of the Texas Youth Council by the Fifty-fifth Legislature. An extensive program was initiated by the council to transform the old school into six separate training units or schools, including a security-treatment institution and five open-type schools. The proposed program became a reality in April, 1963, with the completion of the Hackberry School.
The general superintendent directed the five open type schools, which provided benefits from specialized programs of classification, care, treatment, and discipline. Each school was in turn directed by an assistant superintendent, aided by a principal and teachers of the academic and vocational school and by a professional counseling staff.
The Valley School was a training unit for 160 young males. It was situated three-quarters of a mile south of the old Main Campus. The school had its own dormitories, recreational facilities, kitchen and dining facilities, academic school, vocational workshops, and playgrounds. It enabled younger, lesser offenders to be separated completely from older offenders.
The Hackberry School, a training unit for 240 younger males, was situated three-quarters of a mile southeast of the old Main Campus. The school possessed all necessary facilities, including living, academic, recreational, and vocational accommodations. Its emphasis centered on the classification and treatment of younger males.
The Terrace School, one-half mile east of the old Main Campus, provided for the separation and classification of 240 youngsters of intermediate age and background.
The Riverside School was composed of two training units. One had complete facilities for living and recreation and for the academic and vocational training of 160 younger Negro offenders. The other was created by renovating and remodeling existing housing and training facilities. The latter unit accommodated 160 older Negro males.
The Hilltop School, formerly the Main Campus, provided facilities for classification and treatment of 250 young male offenders less sophisticated in delinquent activities than those housed in Mountain View School. The overall daily population averaged for all five units of the Gatesville School in 1969 was about 1,830.

Some things never change at TYC/TJJD except the name

A survey of kids posted at the Grits for Breakfast blog said85% of youth housed at the Giddings State School have been in a fight since they arrived. Giddings State School went from a boys home in the 70’s to become TYC’s secure facility when Gatesville closed. The “Mountain View” boys were moved to occupy the closed Hackberry School in the summer of 1975 and in 1979 were moved to Giddings.

The article goes on to note that the biggest concerns among the kids besides getting into a fight are negative interactions with staff.  Staff has negative attitudes towards the kids, there’s shocking news! Weren’t these the same root issues that culminated in Morales verse Turman and the reshuffling of inventory at the states Gatesville facility?

It was the inventory shuffling done by the state of Texas that has allowed the people of Gatesville to continue to profit from the misery of others.  Only now Gatesville’s shadenfreude, its business as usual inventory is women instead of boys. The TYC staff has been bitter ever since the federal government told them they couldn’t beat a state boy any longer. This bitterness is part of the TYC/TJJD ingrained culture like covering up abuses.

The article closes noting that the survey was a wake up call to leadership. You would think that if the leadership hasn’t been “woke up” to this news by now they must be in a coma.

My Personal Gatesville State School for Boys Ghost Story

In October of 1976 I found myself back at Terrace dorm 4 contemplating how I would get back to the free world faster than what my caseworker’s plans were. I decided to go out the cloths room window during shower time. That night Booboo, a floater was our dorm man and it was movie night for the level 3’s so they would be off the dorm. I can’t remember Booboo’s real name, he didn’t like being called Booboo and would put some hurt on you if he caught you. While Booboo was in the bunk room shuckin and jivin under the guise of coordinating showers, I used a pillow to muffle the sound and broke the window in the clothes room. When I had as clear a jiggers as it was going to get I was out the window and gone.


I had trash bags for my feet to throw off my scent to the dogs. I started feeling pretty good about my run that it would be a success as the sound of the dogs faded. There was a full moon that night and it was getting a little chilly as the night wore on.

I began to hear sounds that sounded like a Boy Scout camp out. I saw what appeared to be a campfire with several boys dressed in blue jeans and white T shirts shooting marbles. As I got closer I thought they were on a run from another school and felt safe enough to light a fire. When I got closer and called out, they were gone, just like that.

Needless to say the run wasn’t a success and my caseworker Jenson had his usual cunt attitude about the whole thing and left me in CIC, lockup, until January. I thought the ghost stories told by those people down there were to keep us from running. They were real, I saw them. Mayberry, who used to hold Terrace dorm 5 was now working CIC. He knew all about the ghost and other weird shit like the goat man. The jeans and t-shirt style was the state issue of an earlier time. A 60’s era Gatesville. And marbles, who would have thought.

Every October when the moon is full I think about those boys, the ones who never went home. One day, God willing, their bones will be discovered and their souls can get closure.

Protest March to Austin

I remember in 1975 some of the older boys, the II and III timers who were at Valley, Hackberry, and Riverside at the time spun stories about a group of boys who were going to march to Austin in protest of the horrible conditions. It was widely known and respected by the state boys of my time. Never referred to as a Geronimo.


According to Dr Bush’s research, he talks about a riot that took place Labor Day morning 1971, the day before the start of Morales vs. Truman court proceedings. That previous July there was a letter sent to every inmate at Gatesville, Mountain View, and Gainesville from Judge William Wayne Justice explaining that tyc was on trial and to please fill out the attached survey. The story tells of a group of about 90 boys at Sycamore School gathered on the athletic field around breakfast, then marched off campus. Guards attempted to block but the boys laughed at them and kept on going. News reporters and TV cameras showed up just as security, the local enforcers, and the High Way Patrol put down the protest. It lasted all morning and marked the beginning of the end.

State Boys who participated in that protest sent a tremendous message. Anyone out there who remembers this event be sure to leave a comment.