John B. Connally Unit
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Infobox prison
The John B. Connally Unit is a maximum-security prison for males located in unincorporated Karnes County, Texas, United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is located on Farm to Market Road 632, just east of U.S. Highway 181 Template:Convert south of the city of Kenedy,<ref name="TDCJProfile">"Connally Unit." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.</ref> and southeast of San Antonio.<ref>"Timeline of Texas Prison Escape." (Archive) City of Irving. Retrieved on March 27, 2013.</ref> The prison, with about Template:Convert of space, is operated by the Correctional Institutions Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, administered as within Region IV.<ref name="TDCJProfile"/> The unit is named for former governor and United States treasury secretary John B. Connally, Jr.
History
The prison opened in July 1995.<ref name="TDCJProfile"/> On December 13, 2000, the prison became infamous after seven inmates staged an elaborate breakout that was successful; this group later became known as the Texas Seven. During the subsequent crime spree, the seven fugitives killed a police officer in Irving. Six of the inmates were later recaptured in January 2001, while the seventh committed suicide before being captured; the six who were recaptured were sentenced to death.<ref name="The Escape">"The Escape." The Daring Escape of the Texas 7. Crime Library. Retrieved on July 23, 2010.</ref>
Notable inmates
- The Texas Seven, who escaped in December 2000, and caused the death of Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins during a robbery.<ref name="The Escape"/> One of them committed suicide while on the run; the others were recaptured, tried, and convicted of the Hawkins murder, all being sentenced to death. As of December 2018, the two surviving members of the seven are incarcerated in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit.
- Joseph C. Garcia (executed December 4, 2018)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Randy Ethan Halprin<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Larry James Harper (committed suicide while on the run)
- Patrick Henry Murphy, Jr.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Donald Keith Newbury (executed February 2, 2015)
- George Rivas (ringleader, executed February 29, 2012)
- Michael Anthony Rodriguez (declined appeals beyond mandatory, executed August 14, 2008)
- Carlton Dotson,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> former Baylor Bears basketball player who pleaded guilty to the murder of Patrick Dennehy, his teammate
- Bernie Tiede, mortician and convicted murderer who was the subject of the 2011 film Bernie
- Raymond Ayala, Houston, Texas rapper better known as “Lil Bing”, convicted murder and rapper
- Dennis Wayne Hope
- Earl David Worden, first amendment auditor who was convicted of sexual assault of a child in 2022.
- Taymor Travon McIntyre, better known by his stage name "Tay-K", convicted murder and former rapper