i found a 12ac. chunk in my price range, near a river, lots of trees, pecans, etc. unimproved. closest neighbor is 1/3 mile away, only 2 other houses on this county rd. problem is, its 3 miles from a women's prison. its an "agriculture" prison that raises all sorts of fruit trees.

my first thought was "no way, i don't want my wife near that". but for a shtf scenario, it could be quite useful, but it could also be too close for comfort.

opinions?

Which unit is it if you don't mind me asking.

ETA: nevermind just read it again. If you are 3 miles from a female unit that means you are only a couple more away from several female units, and a 2250 maximum security male facility, but that being said
I have worked for TDCJ for 13 1/2 years, and I wouldn't have a problem living a few miles from one. Nothing to really worry about. Escapes, and the like are extremely rare.

Hobby unit outside marlin, tx

I wouldn't worry. I teach college classes in some of the units in S.E. Texas and escapes are rare. Also if there ever is an escape the law enforcement units of several branches will be at your area before you even know it happened.
If the property is what you wish I'd go for it.

Think about this....if a prisoner escapes, he/she wants to get as far away from the prison as quickly as possible.  If you live close, they probably want to pass you by to get away.  

If you like the property, it's probably a good choice.  

Only potential issue I can see is that you might be getting a good deal BECAUSE it's near a prison and it may lower your ability to re-sell if you wish to in the future because it's near a prison.  

If you've taken that into consideration, then go for it!

A, B, and C in this picture are all prisons, I'm closing on a 10 acre property with house on Tuesday within 7 miles of them.  Not one single concern about an escape, I am far more concerned with a methhead looking for copper or something else they can sell than an escaped convict.

What is the fastest way to get away?  Car?  Do people who live near a prison have cars? probably.

With that said, San Quintin Prison is in Mill Valley, CA which is a pretty ritzy area north of SF.  It hasn't driven home prices down at all.

Learn what all goes on with traffic and work lines and what not.



We get some interesting traffic now and then at the prison.  Sometimes due to inmate transport and sometimes due to governor or commissioner or something else coming around.



We have inmates picking up trash along the road and due to how much land the prison owns they mow a whole lot of grass along the road.



It is something to consider and understand 100% before buying.



As mentioned there are prisons all over and what not.



And being rural and out by a meth cook house or something would be worse, with the prison you know what you have.



Do some reading and searching and ask about traffic on the road and what not.

I'll take the other side of the discussion. Long term survival. More TEOTWAWKI stuff .

If there is a complete breakdown, and if there is a mass escape , you better have friends and you better be proactive about your defense. A single family won't have the manpower to pull security well enough.

If this isn't a concern of yours , I can't see a problem otherwise.

Think Walking Dead.

It might be usefull for Zombies....

I've been told that it's not the prisoners you have to worry about, it's their visitors.  A federal prison was built in a nearby town a few years ago, and at first I heard there were a few more panhandlers looking for gas money, and a couple more assaults. I haven't heard anything lately, so either it was an aberration, or the people have just gotten used to the new status quo.

Of course this is all anecdotal, I don't have any statistics to back this up.

No idea about that concern.  These are older prisons, the newness of them wore off decades ago.

You'll be fine unless TSHTF, in which case, you don't want to be anywhere near a prison or large population center for that matter.

Never really thought of a mass prison break, I kinda put that in the realm of unrealistic.  I know that anything can happen but that is pretty low on the probability list.  If it does happen I would assume that most escapees would head for the local towns with easy access to food and shelter not to the surrounding rural areas.

Not necessarily, it's harder to blend in when the population density is lower.  In a week at the new place I'm already starting to place vehicles that belong (none).  I'm also operating under the assumption that the preponderance of inmates are from urban areas and are unaccustomed to a rural setting.  Most people I know from urban areas are very reluctant to enter the woods without a "guide".

My step daughter is there.She'll never get out.........

How many people do you know that have successfully escaped prison?

None but most of the news articles about escapees have them going to urban areas http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/news/crime/2014/03/14/1977-prison-escapee-florida-fort-leavenworth/6412817/

The ones that go to rural areas seem to never be seen again, either by choice or accident.

Run searches and learn what work crews are used for that specific prison.



A work crew can be anything from a mowing crew to a grave digging crew to an hotel cleaning crew, the hotel cleaning crew is at a women's prison.



Anyway a work crew is out and about and they are the ones you hear the news say someone "walked away" from the prison or something along those lines.  Due to the crew being so spread out it is impossable to have your eye on every inmate at every second.  



Talking to old heads here in east tn they said the neighbors loved to hear the steam whistle blow when an inmate escaped.  The locals would hit the woods with their shotguns and dogs and be after that inmate because the prison paid a bounty if someone brought that inmate back in.  Sure the prison went looking as well, but talking to some of the inmates they said they really had to wonder about the locals who knew the hills and needed the money and since the inmate had escaped he was considered dangerous to some extent.  Brushy is shut down now, trying to be turned into a moonshine distillery but not sure on the time frame of that.



Where I work we have inmates on mowing crews and all sorts of stuff.  The people on the road heading towards the prison see inmates all the time.



Lots of times the inmate is just picked up by a girlfriend and miles away before they are noticed as missing.  Run searches, last one I read about in tn was picked up in georgia I think but I recall one escaped from a prison in tn and was picked up in knoxville soon after at an old girlfriend's place.



To me it comes down to how well you can wrap your head around security and where your head is at for safety.



If I had a wife who refused to carry and some teenage kids who could not comprehend sneaking out of the house or doing other stupid things then yeah I would keep them away from the prison area.



But being away from the prison area does not mean they are any safer.  Running searches about sex offenders in your area or reading the local paper about drug and meth stuff will probably show you that lots of folks around you are some sort of criminal or law breaker.



Being around the prison I guess the frequency of contact could go up, but you can't live anywhere and feel that you will never have to deal with a threat.



I live in the sticks.  I don't leave keys in a vehicle and I lock my doors at night.  Tend to lock the vehicle doors as well.



If I lived by a prison I would do the same stuff but have more active sensors already in place, since I am rural I have been slow on putting up security cams.



I like the concept of carrying all the time I can carry.  I don't decide that it is monday and I guess I will carry my ccw.  I try hard to carry all the time where legally possable.



I don't know if I would buy a place near a prison.  It is something to consider.



I do not know from learning about some of the kids moving back in with their parents around where I live now that a lot of the kids have criminal records and use drugs and can't get a job right now.  The parents are enabling the kids and it is something to seriously watch out for.

Some other things to run searches for when looking at property is halfway houses and similar stuff.



A ups fella I talk to now and then did not realize where one was located for a long while, years basically.  Once mentioned and asked about in a certain way things clicked in his head and he mentioned the specific name and address of the place.



But before that it never really clicked into place.  



This is more in a town situation though.



Anyway, the basic premise is to really examine where you are looking at moving.  Look at what you have for neighbors and understand the zoning and understand that things can and do change as the years march on.



I owned 9.5 acres.  I was a newb from the burbs and it was a great place while everyone else used their 10 to 30 acres for hunting weekends or camping or whatever.  As everyone started building their retirement homes and the kids and grandkids all started showing up that 9.5 acres seemed a lot smaller.



If it is all you can afford 9.5 acres is capable of offering a lot.



But it can also feel like a postage stamp if your neighbors all suck.  Not as bad as being in the burbs on a postage stamp or stuck in an apartment, but depending on layout it really can be small.



Right now I keep renting because I can't decide what I want and where I want it and I also can't afford to just go buy 100 acres or so and put a small cabin right in the middle of it.