The housing units were racially segregated. There was a separate unit for female prisoners. The prison includes the "Free Line", the prison residences for free world employees, including the warden, several prison officials, and their families; prisoners work as house servants in the Free Line. Children (dependents of correctional staff) living on the prison property are zoned to the Dumas School District. The prison property was formerly within the Gould School District. On July 1, 2004, the Gould School District was merged into the Dumas district. In the past the main entrance to the prison was at the terminus of a road off of the main highway. The main gate consisted of a wooden structure behind a chicken wire fence, which had barbed wire on top. A trusty shooter manned the main entrance. In past eras, the prison housed a commissary and did not house educational facilities, prison factories, or medical and dental clinics. The Cummins Unit has an electric fence. The Cummins/Varner Volunteer Fire Department provides fire services to the Cummins Unit property. The station is inside the Cummins Unit property, along Arkansas Highway 388. In fiscal year 2010 the Arkansas Department of Correction spent $81,691 on the fire station. Operations As of 2006, the Cummins Unit has the largest farming operation in the Arkansas Department of Correction system. At Cummins, over of land is devoted to production of crops and farm goods, including cash crops, hay, livestock, and vegetables. As of 2001 prisoners harvested corn, cotton, and rice from the fields and were supervised by prison guards mounted on horses. Cummins previously housed the Special Management Barracks, a unit for prisoners with counseling and mental health requirements. In 2008 it moved to the Randall L. Williams Correctional Facility. Prisoners at Cummins attend the correctional school system. Prisoner life In the past, each prisoner worked for 10 hours per day, six days per week in the fields. Prisoners were only excused if the outside temperature was below freezing. Some prisoners who were sent to the fields lacked shoes. Prisoners did not have fixed quotas. Instead they were told to do as much work as possible. Prisoners deemed to be not doing enough work were beaten. Trustee prisoners had authority over other prisoners. At night, all except for two of the free world prison guards left, so trustees kept the order during the night. Prisoners who were not trustees were