Beauford H. Jester III Unit

Men's TDCJ prison in Richmond, Fort Bend County, part of the Jester complex southwest of Houston, with a mental-health treatment mission and weekend visitation.

Overview

The Beauford H. Jester III Unit is a TDCJ prison for men in Richmond, Fort Bend County, southwest of Houston. TDCJ lists it at a capacity of about 1,185 and houses a G1-G3 and Outside Trusty custody mix.

The unit is part of the Jester complex, a group of state facilities that sit close together on shared grounds. Two facts shape much of what families encounter here: the unit’s mental-health treatment mission and its location within a cluster of similarly named units.

What Makes the Jester III Unit Different

• A men’s prison that runs an intensive mental-health program along with substance-abuse treatment; it is a state prison with a special-needs treatment mission, not a psychiatric hospital — the separate psychiatric facility in the complex was the Jester IV Unit, which has since been renamed the Wayne Scott Unit
• Part of the Richmond “Jester” complex, where several units sit close together and their names are easy to confuse; the TDCJ inmate locator shows the exact unit a person is assigned to, and a nearby complex unit is a different visitation list
• Houses a broad G1-G3 and Outside Trusty custody mix, so the visiting format follows the incarcerated person’s classification rather than one unit-wide rule

Visiting Hours and Procedures

The statewide rules above — approval, ID, prohibited items, and dress code — apply at the Jester III Unit. What follows is specific to this unit.

Visits are scheduled through the TDCJ Online Visitation Portal, and every visitor must be on the incarcerated person’s approved visitor list. Confirm the unit’s current days, hours, and visit type before traveling.

The unit’s treatment mission and custody mix are the main reasons one posted schedule does not mean one visiting experience. General-population housing typically uses standard contact visiting, while mental-health or more restrictive housing can mean different room assignments or non-contact procedures on the same weekend. The format follows the incarcerated person’s classification, so two families arriving the same morning may have different experiences.

Getting There and Parking

The Jester III Unit is in Richmond, Fort Bend County, four miles east of Richmond and southwest of Houston. Because the unit shares grounds with other units in the Jester complex, confirm the exact unit on the TDCJ locator before traveling so the drive ends at the correct entrance.

Phones, Mail, and Video

Contact has a sequence to it. A phone number must be on the incarcerated person’s approved contact list before calls can connect, and after intake or a transfer that approval can take time to process. Calls are placed by the incarcerated person on TDCJ’s Securus phone system; a prison cannot be called into. Account setup, rates, and video options are covered in Phone & Video Calls.

Nearby Services

Richmond and the neighboring Fort Bend County communities are the nearest service area for gas, food, groceries, and lodging, with more options available across the southwest Houston metro.

For support beyond the unit itself, the Texas Inmate Families Association is a statewide nonprofit focused on education, advocacy, and prison-system navigation resources for families with someone in TDCJ custody.

Learn More

For detailed information about visiting and communicating with someone at a Texas state prison:

• Visiting in Texas — TDCJ approval process, dress code, scheduling
• Mail & Packages — what you can send and what gets rejected
• Phone & Video Calls — Securus accounts, call costs, video visits
• Sending Money — how to add funds to a TDCJ trust account
• Medical & Mental Health — healthcare in TDCJ facilities
• Transfers — what happens during transfers