Barbara A. Ester Unit is a correctional facility of the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC), located in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. It is scheduled to have a capacity of 580 prisoners, and it is the first prison in the ADC dedicated to the re-entry of prisoners into society. In addition to prisoners who are to be released within six months, it also houses prisoners who were incarcerated due to disobeying the rules of their parole. The prison's namesake is Barbara Ester, a prison guard holding the rank corporal at the East Arkansas Unit. She died on January 20, 2012, at the hands of a prisoner.