This prison farm is a 16,500-acre (6,700 ha) correctional facility. The prison first opened in 1902 and has a capacity of 1,725 inmates. Cummins housed Arkansas's male death row until 1986, when it was transferred first to the Tucker Maximum Security Unit. The State of Arkansas execution chamber is located in the Cummins Unit, adjacent to the location of the male death row, the Varner Unit.[10] The female death row is located at the McPherson Unit.[11] Cummins is one of the State of Arkansas's "parent units" for male prisoners; it serves as one of several units of initial assignment for processed male prisoners.[12]
^Barnes, Royl S. (1957). Facts, Figures, and Functions of Arkansas State and Local Government. Hurley Co. p. 182. Retrieved March 6, 2011 – via Google Books. Arkansas maintains three penitentiary units: the Women's Reformatory at Cummins near Gould; one near Tucker for white men, known as the Tucker Farm; and the other near Gould, for Negro men and women, known as the Cummins Farm.
^"State Capitol Week in Review". State of Arkansas. June 13, 2008. Archived from the original on June 23, 2010. Retrieved August 15, 2010. Executions are carried out in the Cummins Unit, which is adjacent to Varner.