George John Beto was an American penologist who directed the Texas Department of Corrections beginning in 1961, after earlier serving as president of Concordia Lutheran College in Austin and Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Illinois. He was credited with modernizing the Texas prison system, establishing the Windham School District to provide education for prisoners and expanding prison based manufacturing, though he also faced accusations of cruel treatment and prisoner rights violations, including the Supreme Court case Cruz v. Beto in 1972 over religious discrimination against a Buddhist inmate. Beto was also an ordained Lutheran minister.
Facts
Sources
1. George Beto (Wikipedia)
Lead paragraph
January 19, 1916
Lead paragraph, role
a director of the Texas Department of Corrections
In Group: American Prison Wardens, Directors and Reformers, Lead sentence
George John Beto (January 19, 1916, December 4, 1991) was a director of the Texas Department of Corrections (TDC), a criminal justice expert in penology, a professor, and a Lutheran minister.
View the Source2. Wikidata: George Beto
Wikidata Q5536961, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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