confinement in Texas prisons that became Ruiz v. Estelle - the most enduring prisoners'-rights suit in the nation's history. Later life He was then a professor of criminal justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville for several years. Upon retirement from that position, he moved to Austin, where he died about a year later of a heart attack. Beto is buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. Legacy Two Texas Department of Criminal Justice prisons, the Beto Unit and the Beto II Unit (now the Louis C. Powledge Unit) in Anderson County, were named after Beto, as is the Criminal Justice Center at Sam Houston State University. See also Ruiz v. Estelle, civil rights complaint against his successor References External links "Walking George: The Life of George John Beto and the Rise of the Modern Texas Prison System." University of North Texas Press "George John Beto." - Beto Chair Lecture Series Archives, Sam Houston State University "The Love Story That Upended the Texas Prison System" - Texas Monthly - by Ethan Watters - Oct. 11, 2018 Robert T. Chase, We Are Not Slaves: State Violence, Coerced Labor, and Prisoners Rights in Postwar America, University of North Carolina Press, 2020 https://uncpress.org/book/9781469653570/we-are-not-slaves/ 1916 births 1991 deaths People from Hysham, Montana Penologists People from Bloomington, Indiana