The Beauford H. Jester Complex, formerly the Jester State Prison Farm, refers to a complex of

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 ...

prisons for men in unincorporated Fort Bend County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States. Individually they are Jester I Unit, Carol Vance Unit (Jester II Unit), Jester III Unit, and Wayne Scott Unit (Jester IV Unit).

Texas State Highway 99 State Highway 99 (SH 99), also known as the Grand Parkway, is a beltway in the U.S. state of Texas. Its first section opened on August 31, 1994. When the route is completed, it will be the longest beltway in the U.S., the world's seventh-longe ...

(Grand Parkway) bisects the prison property.Ward, Mike.
As prison closes, could others be next?
''

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The distribution of the following ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', '' ...

''. Thursday August 11, 2011. Updated on Friday August 12, 2011. Retrieved on September 23, 2011. Cornfields surround the Jester property.Bookman, Marc. "How Crazy Is Too Crazy to Be Executed?" '' Mother Jones''. Tuesday February 12, 2013
3
Retrieved on March 23, 2013. A portion of the property is within the Pecan Grove CDP.

History

Previously the complex was known as Harlem, the Harlem Prison Farm, or the Harlem Plantation. The state of Texas purchased the prison farm property in 1885 or 1886. Previously several private plantations based here used

convict leasing Convict leasing was a system of forced penal labor that was practiced historically in the Southern United States before it was formally abolished during the 20th century. Under this system, private individuals and corporations could lease la ...

for labor.Jester State Prison Farm
" ''

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

''. Retrieved on October 6, 2010. This system has been called "slavery by another name", as lessees operated with little oversight by the state as to their treatment of convicts. The plantations included the Harlem Plantation and several adjacent tracts of land.Convict Leasing and State Account Farming (1883-1909)
"

Texas State Library and Archives The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) refers to the state government agency in the state of Texas that supports the reading, learning, and historical preservation needs of Texas and its people. The agency is charged with preserv ...

. Retrieved on April 29, 2011. The state essentially assigned room and board to employers who leased convicts; it had few prisons until late in the 19th century. In 1885 the state opened Harlem I Unit and Harlem II Unit. From July 20, 1888 to August 31, 1907 a post office was located on the prison farm. After the post office closed, the post office in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, Texas handled mail for the prison farm. In 1908 the State of Texas bought the Riddick Plantation, which was next to the Harlem property. The state incorporated that property into the Harlem Farm. In September 1913 several prison guards in one of the units punished twelve African-American prisoners by placing them in a long, wide, and high enclosure called "The Hole." The temperature in the enclosure went over , and convicts asked the guards to let them out. The guards did not let them out, and 8 of the 12 convicts died of suffocation and heat. In 1925 the prison farm had of land. During that year it had 260 prisoners. The complex was renamed in the 1950s after

Governor of Texas The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Established in the Constit ...

Beauford H. Jester. A spur track of the

Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado Railway (B.B.B.C. or B.B.B. & C.), also called the Harrisburg Road or Harrisburg Railroad, was the first operating railroad in Texas. It completed its first segment of track between Harrisburg, Texas (now a ...

opened at the prison farm to load and unload sugarcane that was produced at the farm. The railroad line closed in 1929. The state expanded the facilities, opening Jester III Unit in July 1982. Jester IV Unit opened in November 1993. Jester IV Unit was renamed to Wayne Scott Unit in 2021.

Representation in other media

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

's first theatrical release, ''

The Sugarland Express ''The Sugarland Express'' is a 1974 American crime comedy-drama film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film follows a woman ( Goldie Hawn) and her husband ( William Atherton) as they take a police officer ( Michael Sacks) hostage and flee acros ...

'' (1974), was set in and partially filmed at the prison complex.

Gallery

File:JesterFarmAerial.PNG, Aerial view of the Jester State Prison Farm, January 27, 2002, U.S. Geographic Survey File:JesterHarlemPrisonFarmFortBendCoTx.png, Topographical map of the Jester Prison Farm, the Central Prison Farm, and Sugar Land Regional Airport, July 1, 1990,

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jester, Beauford H. Complex 1885 establishments in Texas Prisons in Fort Bend County, Texas Men's prisons