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
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]
Facility
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.[7]
The prison places its confirmed gang members in the F Wing. The far southern wing, PTRC,[clarification needed] is a pre-release wing.[8]
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
General Population: G1 - G4
Administrative Segregation
Transient
Outside
Trusty
Notable inmates
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.[9] Villarreal was originally given a death sentence.[10][11]
^"2020 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Anderson County, TX" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. pp. 18, 24 (PDF p. 19, 25/41). Retrieved 2022-08-14. George Beto Unit
^ abcdKeys, 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.
^Shipp, Brett. "Family, former inmates seek truth in Texas prison death[permanent dead link]" (Archive). WFAA. September 25, 2015. Retrieved on February 25, 2016.
^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.
^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.
^"Fathers confront daughters' killers". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
^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.
^"Mexican-born killer put to death after appeal fails". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
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