HOUSTON — Fort Bend Independent School District has new plans for the Sugar Land 95 Memorial to remember the lives of the 95 buried prisoners that were found during a 2019 construction project.
The Fort Bend Independent School District James Reese Technical and Career Center was under construction when the bodies of the 95 people were unearthed. They are believed to be part of a convict-leasing program that began in the late 1800s.
Most of the "Sugar Land 95" convict workers were black -- convicted of questionable, if not made up, crimes. The system was unjust, providing plantation owners with cheap labor. Some said it was a continuation of slavery after the end of the Civil War.
The 95 bodies, known as the Sugar Land 95, were laid to rest at the site where their remains were originally found in November 2019, according to FBISD. The district said the arduous process continues to identify possible descendants through DNA analysis.
Before each reburial, each gravesite and burial vessel was marked so individuals could be reunified with family, should descendants be identified, the district said.