This Texas Prison Has Inmates Taking Steps in a Whole New Direction

Texas has one of the biggest prison systems in the country, with more than 100 prisons spread out across the state. Ideally, we wouldn’t need so many, but sadly, we don’t live in a perfect world.

One of the great things about the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is the factories in many of its prisons. These factories create items that are used across the Texas prison system and in other businesses in the state.

The Clements Unit Prison in Amarillo, Texas, Has A Shoe Factory

The William P. Clements Unit was opened in Amarillo, Texas, in 1990 and is named after a former Texas Governor. It is a male prison in the TDCJ system, and can hold over 3,600 inmates.  Within this TDCJ prison is a shoe factory that employs the inmates to make shoes.  These shoes are created and sent to all the prisons and jails in Texas.  Most of the shoes worn by Texas prison inmates were made in Amarillo.

Not only are shoes made in the Clements Unit Shoe Factory, but the factory also makes blankets.

Read More: Dangerous Texas Prison Manufactures An Unexpected Product

The Murder Clements Unit Shoe Factory

An inmate of the Clements Unit named Travis Trevino Runnels was serving a 70-year sentence when he stabbed a supervisor at the Shoe Factory.  Runnels attacked Stanley Wiley and slashed his throat with a knife used to trim shoes on January 29, 2003.  Wiley was 38 years old.  Runnels was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.  Runnels was executed by lethal injection on December 11, 2019.

Read More: Infamous Criminals Who Did Time at Amarillo's Clements Unit