Correctional Officer Edward Carter

Edward Carter

Correctional Officer Edward Carter was the picket officer (guard tower) at Retrieve Unit # 2 (Wayne Scott Unit today) near Angleton in Brazoria County.

Officer Carter lowered the outside picket door key in order to allow the relief officer access to the inside ladder entry to the picket. The relief officer opened the outside door and climbed the inside ladder and entered through the trap door in the floor of the picket. The relief officer did not close the trap door. Carter was on the cat-walk outside the picket. He pulled up the rope with the picket door key on it and walked back inside the picket. He did not see the open trap door and fell approximately 20 feet to a concrete landing below. He sustained serious injuries and was unconscious. He was taken to a hospital in Angleton and then to John Sealy Hospital in Galveston. He remained in a state of unconsciousness and died from his injuries on May 31, 1976.

Officer Carter is buried in the Thomaston Cemetery in Selma, Alabama.

Officer Carter served with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for nine years. He was retired from the US Army. He was survived by his wife, mother, sister, and brother.