Tanner Horner — the former FedEx driver sentenced to death for the murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand — will be held at the notorious Polunsky Unit in Texas, described by many organizations as one of the harshest prisons in the U.S.

According to the New York Post, Horner, 34, was transferred to the Polunsky Unit just hours after a Texas jury handed down the death sentence on Tuesday.

Horner admitted to strangling Athena Strand while delivering Christmas gifts to the victim's home in November 2022.

According to case files, camera footage captured Horner kidnapping the girl before killing her while singing Christmas carols.

At the sentencing, Horner showed little emotion as he listened to statements from the victim's family.

Under Texas law, death sentences are automatically appealed, meaning Horner could spend years or even decades on death row before his execution by lethal injection.

Texas officials state that the average time a prisoner spends on death row in the state is over 11 years. Some have been held at the Polunsky Unit for nearly 50 years.

According to descriptions in reports:

  • inmates are held in near-total isolation,

  • spend approximately 22 hours a day in their cells,

  • in a space of about 60 square feet,

  • with only a metal bed, thin mattress, metal table, and a toilet right next to the bed.

Horner will:

  • eat in his cell,

  • have no direct contact with other inmates,

  • have only books, paper, and pens for entertainment,

  • and be allowed outside for only about one hour a day in a small cage for exercise.

Reports also state that inmates at the Polunsky Unit are under constant surveillance, including hourly checks throughout the night, making it difficult for many to sleep continuously.

Visitations also take place behind glass partitions.

Many human rights organizations and families of inmates have described conditions at the Polunsky Unit as:

“inhumane”
and:
“a form of torture.”

Texas currently has the highest number of executions in the United States.