Prison Named After Sheriff Rufe Jordan

Jordan, who served as Gray county Sheriff for 38 years, died in his sleep at his home on June 18.

The Houston Chronicle labeled Jordan the "Dean of Texas Sheriffs" in an extensive 1988 profile.

A 1984 Texas Monthly feature on legendary Texas lawmen also featured Jordan in a two-Page picture spread with his poodle Honey.

"The question of a name for the prison had been on their agenda for some time. Some months back, the Chamber and Industrial Foundation had made the recommendation of naming it after Rufe Jordan," Bill Waters of the industrial Foundation said today.

"As far as I know, he never knew the recommendation had been made. We are pleased and delighted, though, because his was a name synonymous with law enforcement."

David Nunnelee, spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said board member F.L. Stephens of San Angelo recommended the 1,000-bed unit be named after Jordan and the motion was unanimously accepted.

Lee Barnett, administrative manager for Harbert Construction, the general contractor for the Jordan Unit, said hiring of construction workers for the project still appears about two weeks away.

"We weren't quite ready to get started, so the rain didn't hold us up too much," Barnett said of heavy weekend showers. "The only thing the rain has delayed was getting electricity to the office trailers (at the prison site). They weren't able to do any dirt work Friday and probably won't be able to do any today."

Barnett said only six people are currently working at the prison site, with four of them being managers for Harbert Construction.

'We're saying that we will probably start doing some hiring in two weeks, but that's only a guess," Barnett explained.

In other action from Friday's TBCJ meeting in Austin, Nunnelee said the board voted to name the chapel at the Clements Unit in Amarillo after James Hawthorne, who had served as a prison guard at the unit for one year prior to dying in combat in Kuwait in January.