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George Beto Unit

Coordinates: 31°45′16″N 95°49′22″W / 31.7545333°N 95.822777°W / 31.7545333; -95.822777
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George Beto Unit
George Beto Unit is located in Texas
George Beto Unit
Location in Texas
Location1391 FM 3328
Tennessee Colony, Texas, US
Coordinates31°45′16″N 95°49′22″W / 31.7545333°N 95.822777°W / 31.7545333; -95.822777
StatusOperational
Security classG1-G5, Outside Trusty, Transient
CapacityUnit: 3,150 Trusty Camp: 321
OpenedJune 1980
Managed byTDCJ Correctional Institutions Division
WardenPatrick Cooper
CountyAnderson County
CountryUSA
Websitewww.tdcj.texas.gov/unit_directory/b.html
Aerial view of the Coffield Prison Farm Property (The Beto, Coffield, Gurney, Michael, and Powledge units)
1977 United States Geological Survey map of the land which now houses the Beto Unit

The George Beto Unit (B) is a men's maximum security prison of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice located in unincorporated Anderson County, Texas, US.[1] The unit is located along Farm to Market Road 3328, 6 miles (10 kilometers) south of Tennessee Colony. The prison, co-located with Coffield Unit, Michael Unit, and Powledge Unit prisons and the Gurney Unit transfer facility, has 20,518 acres (8,303 ha) of land.[2] The unit currently houses over 3,400 offenders.

The unit opened in June 1980. It has the Correctional Institutions Division Region II Maintenance headquarters.[2] The unit was named after George Beto, who served as prison director from 1962 to 1972.[3] In 2008 Perryn Keys of the Beaumont Enterprise said that Beto "has been described as a gladiator’s playground — a hardcore joint, even as prisons go."[4] That year, Ricardo Ainslie, an author and a professor in the educational psychology department of the University of Texas, said that when he toured Beto with the warden, he was "scared (expletive)."[4] Joyce King, author of the 2002 book Hate Crime: The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas, said that Beto's reputation as a "gladiator" prison stems from the fact that most of its prisoners are in their mid-20s, relatively young. As of that year, some inmates are at the equivalent of a 4th year high school student (senior), and a few are near their 30s. King also said "The dubious distinction is also a warning—gladiators either fight because they must or because they like to."[5]

History

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In 2014 Curtis Garland, Jr., a prisoner from Dallas who began a 12-year sentence for family violence in 2012, died of an asthma attack. His family believed that prison officials did not disclose the true details related to the death.[6]

On March 11, 2022 inmate Damien Bryant burned alive in his cell. After guards noticed smoke coming from his cell during a routine security check, they extinguished the fire and called EMS. Damien Bryant was pronounced dead on the scene by the attending Physician at Palestine Regional Hospital. [7]

Facility

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Beto has housing for its warden. The warden housing, in one duplex unit, is a part of three duplexes. One other duplex has housing for the warden of another unit, and one is unoccupied as of 2002.[8]

The prison places its confirmed gang members in the F Wing. The far southern wing, PTRC,[clarification needed] is a pre-release wing.[9]

The prison currently has three unoccupied wings that are kept for emergency overflow. The three wings are old administrative segregation wings from when the unit housed MROP[clarification needed] offenders. Currently, the only occupied wings are A, B, C, D, E, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, P, T, U, O (transient wing), X (PHD, Seg, solitary wing).[citation needed]

Custody levels

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  • General Population: G1 - G4
  • Administrative Segregation
  • Transient
  • Outside
  • Trusty

Notable inmates

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Inmate Name Register Number Status Details
Raul Omar Villarreal 05128548 / 01306432 Serving a life sentence; eligible for parole in 2029. One of six perpetrators of the 1993 Murders of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña in which the two girls were brutally gang raped and tortured before being killed.[10] Villarreal was originally given a death sentence.[11][12]

References

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  1. ^ "2020 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Anderson County, TX" (PDF). Suitland, Maryland: U.S. Census Bureau. pp. 18, 24 (PDF p. 19, 25/41). Retrieved 2022-08-14. George Beto Unit
  2. ^ a b "[1]." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on June 5, 2010.
  3. ^ "1995 Annual Report." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on July 21, 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d Keys, Perryn. "JASPER: THE ROAD BACK: Did prison time turn man into one of Byrd's killers?[permanent dead link]" Beaumont Enterprise. June 9, 2008. Retrieved on July 23, 2010.
  5. ^ King, Joyce. Hate Crime: The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas. Random House, Inc., 2002. 98. Retrieved from Google Books on November 3, 2010. ISBN 0-375-42132-7, ISBN 978-0-375-42132-7.
  6. ^ Shipp, Brett. "Family, former inmates seek truth in Texas prison death[permanent dead link]" (Archive). WFAA. September 25, 2015. Retrieved on February 25, 2016.
  7. ^ Correspondent, Khaleda Rahman National (2022-03-28). "Another Inmate Burns to Death in Prison Cell in Texas". Newsweek. Retrieved 2024-10-22. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  8. ^ King, Joyce. Hate Crime: The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas. Random House, Inc., 2002. 92. Retrieved from Google Books on November 3, 2010. ISBN 0-375-42132-7, ISBN 978-0-375-42132-7.
  9. ^ King, Joyce. Hate Crime: The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas. Random House, Inc., 2002. 97. Retrieved from Google Books on November 3, 2010. ISBN 0-375-42132-7, ISBN 978-0-375-42132-7.
  10. ^ "Fathers confront daughters' killers". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  11. ^ Graczyk, Michael (1994-10-02). "Texas Death Row Gains 5 Teens Guilty of Brutal Murders : Crime: Two girls who took a shortcut across a field to get home before curfew became victims of young toughs who had gathered for a night of boozing and brawling". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  12. ^ "Mexican-born killer put to death after appeal fails". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
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