- July 1, 1976 The State of Texas bought Wynne from the last lessees of the facility (Cunningham and Ellis) in 1883. Wynne initially had about of terrace gardens used to fulfill the gardening needs of the
Huntsville Unit. The current unit was dedicated in 1937 and completed in 1939. On August 8, 2000, an inmate escaped from the prison by driving a tractor trailer cab through the prison wall while avoiding gunshots fired by correctional officers. The prisoner left the truck on the runway of
Huntsville Airport and fled into a vehicle; state officials believed that the man's wife drove the vehicle. Police officers with tracking dogs found the man and his wife under a tree less than from the Wynne Unit. The state said that the offender "reportedly" was taken with force, while the wife surrendered peacefully. The driver, Jerry Duane Martin (TDCJ#999552), was executed on December 3, 2013. The other inmate, John Ray Falk was sentenced to death in 2017. At the time of the escape, Falk was serving a life sentence for the 1986 murder of Donald Owen in
Matagorda County. Martin, on the other hand, was serving a 50 year sentence for a 1994 shooting incident in which he attempted to murder several police officers in
Collin County, none of whom were physically injured. In 2008 an Offender escaped the Wynne Unit using a child's bicycle. He was taken back into custody less than 24 hours later. ==Operations==