  Location in Texas | |
| Location | 1391 FM 3328 Tennessee Colony, Texas, US |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 31°45′16″N 95°49′22″W / 31.7545333°N 95.822777°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Security class | G1-G5, Outside Trusty, Transient |
| Capacity | Unit: 3,150 Trusty Camp: 321 |
| Opened | June 1980 |
| Managed by | TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division |
| Warden | Terry Andrews |
| County | Anderson County |
| Country | USA |
| Website | www |
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]
- ^ "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
- ^ a b "[1]." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on June 5, 2010.
- ^ "1995 Annual Report." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on July 21, 2010.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ 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.