After Decades in Solitary, Texas Death Row Prisoners Find a Glimmer of Humanity

Rudy Medrano is one of a dozen Texas death row inmates taking part in a quiet but groundbreaking shift: a pilot program allowing limited group recreation after decades of near-total isolation. For the first time in over 25 years, some prisoners are sharing meals, joining prayer circles, and experiencing human touch. 

“All of these changes have given guys hope,” Medrano said in a recent interview from death row, as first reported by the Houston Chronicle.

The effort was spearheaded by Daniel Dickerson, the former Polunsky Unit warden and now a senior official in the Texas prison system. Dickerson said the goal was to create a system that incentivizes good behavior, and it appears to be working. In the 18 months since the group recreation program launched, there have been zero fights, drug overdoses, or escapes among its participants.

“Would you rather work with people who are treating you with respect or who are yelling at you every time you walk in?” said Amanda Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

By the time Medrano arrived in 2005, sentenced to death under Texas’s “law of parties” for providing weapons used in a robbery that killed six, the facility was a place of despair. “It was just dark,” he recalled. Research shows that prolonged solitary confinement leads to psychological harm, including memory loss, psychosis, and increased suicide risk. 

For the men now part of the program, the shift has been life-changing. Some have re-learned how to compromise and interact with others, skills long dormant after decades alone. “It made me feel a little bit human again,” said Robert Roberson, another participant.

Medrano, for his part, is focused on small victories. When he walks to the common room these days, he carries a Bible, choir sheets, and sometimes snacks or games. “When you give inmates things they can earn, those are the inmates that don’t give you the problems,” said Jeff Ormsby, executive director for the state’s largest prison workers’ union, AFSCME Texas Corrections Employees.