Giddings State School

[2] The 58 acres (23 ha) Giddings State School has a classroom building, a cafeteria, a chapel, vocational shops, dormitories, a gymnasium, an office complex and a security unit with individual cells.

John Ed Bradley of Sports Illustrated said, "People of a certain sensitivity like to call Giddings a "home" for juvenile delinquents.

"[5] Bradley explained that the Giddings State School facility, "even in the dark before dawn, resembles a small, carefully planned college sprung up somewhere on the prairie between Austin and Houston.

Giddings does not have any home games, and any student classified as "high risk" is not permitted to leave campus under normal circumstances.

[12] Giddings students play when it is dark outside, because they are not able to practice after classes; the after school hours are dedicated times to meet with case workers, engage in therapy sessions and work.

John Ed Bradley of Sports Illustrated said "what makes Giddings remarkable is that its athletic program competes off campus in the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS), and it consistently wins with teams made up of some of the worst kids in the state.

"[5] Because Texas state courts transfer Giddings inmates to halfway houses and Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) adult prisons,[12] and because some students become ineligible after committing behavior violations, the team roster may change from week to week,[13] and the American football team often loses players in the middle of a season.

The families of a fair number of boys show up this evening, but they've come less to cheer for Giddings than to see their children engaged in a positive activity and wearing something other than prison-issue dungarees and T-shirts.

[19] These issues are not unique to the Giddings State School, across all of the children under TJJDs care 45% were deemed to be suicide risks.