Jim Willett is a retired prison warden of the Walls Unit who worked in the Texas prison system in various capacities for forty years, until his retirement in 2001. In this interview, Willett describes first learning about jobs in the prison system after moving to Huntsville to start school at Sam Houston State University; the training process and his trajectory from officer through captain to assistant warden and warden at both the James H. Byrd, Jr. Unit and the Huntsville Unit, or \Walls Unit\; his responsibilities as warden during executions at the Walls Unit; his experiences as warden during executions and funerals of inmates; his role as public spokesperson and his activities and accomplishments as a writer and speaker since his retirement; and his reflections on prison reform and the relationship between wardens and the prisons they run. This interview took place on March 2, 2011, at the Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville, Walker County, Texas where he is director.
Contributor | Contribuidor:
Willett, Jim (Narrator), Texas After Violence Project (Contributor), Henery, Celeste (Interviewer), Chammah, Maurice (Videographer), Chammah, Maurice (Transcriber), Chammah, Maurice (Proofreader), Lorins, Rebecca (Proofreader), Artis, Jacqueline (Writer of accompanying material), and Students from United World College (Writer of accompanying material)