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Jester IV Unit

Richmond, Italy

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, United States, 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Richmond. It is a part of the Jester State Prison Farm propert

y and it is located on U.S. Highway 90A. The unit was established in November 1993. The facility features wide hallways, skylights, and floor-to-ceiling windows. The cement walls have murals made by prisoners that depict wildlife. Jester IV is located in the middle of a cornfield. After the closure of the nearby Central Unit in 2011, John Whitmire, the chairperson of the criminal justice committee of the Texas Senate, said that the decision to open Jester IV was a decision that "I think we'll regret." In 2011 a middle school, James Bowie Middle School, and a strip commercial center opened across the street from Jester IV and Jester III Unit. As of March 2013 Jester IV housed 550 prisoners. They are among the most mentally ill and violent prisoners in the TDCJ. While male death row prisoners are normally housed in the Polunsky Unit near Livingston, Texas, eight are instead housed in Jester...

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