The Beauford H. Jester III Unit (J3) is a

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails ...

(TDCJ)

prison farm A prison farm (also known as a penal farm) is a large correctional facility where penal labor convicts are forced to work on a farm legally and illegally (in the wide sense of a productive unit), usually for manual labor, largely in the open ai ...

located in

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

Fort Bend County Fort Bend County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The county was founded in 1837 and organized the next year. It is named for a blockhouse at a bend of the Brazos River. The community developed around the fort in early days. Th ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The unit is along U.S. Highway 90A, east of central Richmond. The unit, which opened in July 1982 with about of land, is co-located with Jester I Unit, Carol Vance Unit, and

Jester IV Unit The Wayne Scott Unit (J4), formerly known as the Beauford H. Jester IV Unit, is a psychiatric facility of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice located in unincorporated Fort Bend County, Texas, east of Richmond. It is a part of the Jester St ...

. Together with its trusty camp, it houses 1,131 inmates. The unit was named after Governor of Texas Beauford H. Jester, the namesake for the entire prison farm. Jester III opened in 1982. The land that Jester III sits on was purchased in 1885 by the state.''Texas Dept of Criminal Justice''. ''

''. ''Turner Publishing Company''. 2004
91
In 2011 the prison's garment plant closed, and its operations were consolidated with the garment plant at Eastham Unit. In 2011 a middle school, James Bowie Middle School, and a strip commercial center opened across the street from Jester III and

.Ward, Mike.
As prison closes, could others be next?
'' Austin American-Statesman''. Thursday August 11, 2011. Updated on Friday August 12, 2011. Retrieved on September 23, 2011.FBISD names the district’s 14th middle school campus opening in August 2011 – James Bowie Middle School
." Fort Bend Independent School District. Retrieved on September 23, 2011. "James Bowie Middle School (Middle School #14), located at 700 Plantation Drive, in Richmond, Texas. "

Gallery

File:JesterHarlemPrisonFarmFortBendCoTx.png, Topographical map of the Jester Prison Farm, to the west of the Central Prison Farm and

Sugar Land Regional Airport Sugar Land Regional Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located in Sugar Land, Texas (USA), southwest of the central business district of Houston. Founded privately in the early 1950s as Hull Field, it was renamed in 1990, as Sugar Lan ...

, July 1, 1990,

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...

References

External links

*
Jester III Unit
"

. Retrieved on May 9, 2010. Prisons in Fort Bend County, Texas Buildings and structures in Fort Bend County, Texas 1982 establishments in Texas {{Texas-struct-stub