Some of this posted in other threads, but this is a brief summary.
The Texas Department of Corrections (in 1970s) consisted of 14 prisons, Darrington being one of them.
The system consisted of about 100,000 acres of land, mostly along the Brazos and Trinity Rivers, 2000 employees, large numbers of cattle and hogs, horses and dogs, and the 12,000 inmates.
Work crews were large, Chinaman would have as many as 300 axe-men singing along with him.

The songs are pretty much a thing of the past as the farms are mechanized, an the radio and television introduce songs of the world at large.