Puneet Varma (Editor)

Louis C. Powledge Unit

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Status
  
Operational

Opened
  
July 1982

Former name
  
Beto II Unit

Louis C. Powledge Unit httpsinmateaids3amazonawscomuploadsprison

Location
  
1400 FM 3452 Palestine, Texas 75803

Security class
  
G2, G3, Administrative Segregation, Outside Trusty

Capacity
  
Unit: 816 Trusty Camp: 321

Managed by
  
TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division

The Louis C. Powledge Unit (B2, originally the Beto II Unit) is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison for men located in unincorporated Anderson County, Texas. The approximately 20,518-acre (8,303 ha) unit, co-located with the Beto, Coffield, and Michael prison units and the Gurney Unit transfer facility, is along Farm to Market Road 3452. The facility is located off of Farm to Market Road 645, 7 miles (11 km) west of Palestine.

The unit opened in July 1982 as the Beto II Unit. It was originally named after former Texas Department of Corrections (TDC) head George Beto. Construction of the bus repair facility began in October 1982 and ended in October 1984. The unit acquired additional acreage in October 1986. Construction of a 200 person trusty camp facility began in 1987 and ended in January 1989. In October 1988 the bus repair facility was converted into a manufacturer of dump beds and spreader boxes for the Highway Department dump trucks and of jail steel products for the construction of additional TDCJ units. The Louis C. Powledge Unit received its current name on May 5, 1995, after Louis C. Powledge, a former Assistant Director of Contract Construction.

In 2011 the Stiles Unit metal products plant closed. Its operations were consolidated with those of Powledge and Coffield Unit.

Notable residents

Current (as of 2015):

  • Terry Hornbuckle – former pastor in Arlington, TX church, convicted of raping females in congregation.
  • Warren Jeffs – former leader of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, convicted of aggravated sexual assault of multiple children.
  • Eddie Ray Routh – Ex U.S. Marine (the title of "Marine" has been reclaimed in the name of those Marines who conduct and have conducted themselves in keeping with the Corps Values of the United States Marine Corps), convicted of murdering Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield

    • Former:

  • Carlos Coy (South Park Mexican) - Houston, Texas rapper convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child
  • Royce Zeigler – convicted of the murder of Riley Ann Sawyers

    • References

    Louis C. Powledge Unit Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA