At 10:30 p.m., it’s time to “rack up.” The men at the Estelle Unit in Huntsville retire to their cells and get into bed, hallway lights streaming in through cell windows. Through the walls, they can hear the occasional heavy door or gate shut, while their neighbors—despite the required quiet hours—often chat or call out from their beds, some falling asleep to radios.
At 1 a.m., the men are roused for a head count, and required to verbally identify themselves to guards. Those who fall back to sleep are woken again around 2 a.m. for breakfast.
The unit’s schedule—packed with programming, check-ins, and appointments on a 24-hour basis—leaves only three and a half hours for sleep, only two and a half uninterrupted, according to court documents in a long-running lawsuit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ).
