In 1976, John Ellisor had a different view of criminal defendants. Instead of hearing their cases and sentencing the guilty from the bench, he worked among them as a guard in the Ramsey Unit, a prison in Rosharon run by what was then known as the Texas Department of Corrections.
“I learned a lot about human nature there,” Ellisor, now judge of the 122nd District Court in Galveston County, says of his old job. He says he never had any problems with the inmates during his 18 months working at the prison unit.
