Dawson State Jail

The Jesse R. Dawson State Jail (JD) is a co-gender state jail operated by the Corrections Corporation of America owned by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). It is located in Downtown Dallas,^[1] on the banks of the Trinity River.^[2]

For a long time, officials from the City of Dallas have advocated for the closure of the jail in order to use the land for the Trinity River Corridor Project. Because of some health-related deaths that occurred before May 2013, the Texas Civil Rights Project, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other area groups had advocated for the closure of the jail. Because the State of Texas had a decrease in its state jail population, state lawmakers had wanted the prison closed. Texas Senator John Whitmire advocated for closing Dawson and the Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Transfer Facility in late 2012. In May 2013 the state government moved to end the $97 million budget for the facility as a way of closing the facility. In May 2013 the TDCJ and state legislatures stated that the prison closure had not yet been finalized.^[2]