Carol Vance Unit
 Location in Texas
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| Location | 2 Jester Road Richmond, Texas 77406 |
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| Coordinates | 29°37′22″N 95°42′24″W / 29.6227667°N 095.7067667°WCoordinates: 29°37′22″N 95°42′24″W / 29.6227667°N 095.7067667°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Security class | G1, G2 |
| Capacity | 378 |
| Opened | 1855 - Brick Building 1933 |
| Former name | Harlem II Unit Jester II Unit |
| Managed by | TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division |
| Warden | Monty Hudspeth |
| County | Fort Bend County |
| Country | USA |
| Website | www |
Carol S. Vance Unit (J2, previously the Harlem II Unit and the Jester II Unit) is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison located in unincorporated central Fort Bend County, Texas. The unit, located in flatlands, is along U.S. Highway 90A, 4 miles (6.4 km) east of central Richmond. The facility is in proximity to Sugar Land, and it is about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Downtown Houston. The unit, with about 940 acres (380 ha) of land, is co-located with Jester I Unit, Jester III Unit, and Jester IV Unit. The unit consists of four steel buildings and two brick buildings. The prison is the home of the InnerChange Freedom Initiative's Christian prison program. It is located on the Jester State Prison Farm property.
The unit opened in 1885. Its first brick building was in 1933. The unit was originally known as the Harlem II Unit, and at a later point it became the Jester II Unit. In 1963, before racial desegregation occurred, the facility housed Hispanic and Latino Americans over the age of 25. The unit was named after Governor of Texas Beauford H. Jester.
Carol Vance, a former Harris County district attorney and the chairperson of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, asked state officials to implement the first Christian faith-based prison program at Jester II. State officials began to implement the program in 1996. The InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) program, which was operated by Prison Fellowship Ministries and was founded by Charles Colson, first came to Jester II in April 1997. The TDCJ selected Vance due to its location in Greater Houston as aftercare resources for released prisoners and volunteer recruitment were centered in the Houston area. The program was modeled after a Christian-based prison program in Brazil.
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