The Hilltop Unit is a

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails, ...

prison for women The Prison For Women ("P4W"; french: Prison des femmes), located in Kingston, Ontario, was a Correctional Service of Canada prison for women that functioned at a maximum security level from 1934 to 2000. Background The first female inmates ar ...

located in Gatesville,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Originally opened in September of 1981 as a Male first offender Unit, it is headed by Warden Jerry Gunnels. Hackberry School was the first opened then in October Sycamore was opened and housed SAT IV Construction inmates who were working on Gatesville Unit and Hilltop repairing and buildings and facilities. Until May 1982, when the Hilltop Unit proper was opened. It is located on Business

Texas State Highway 36 State Highway 36 (SH 36) runs from Freeport to Abilene. It was designated as the 36th Division Memorial Highway between Cameron and Sealy by the Texas Legislature in 1985. History SH 36 was originally proposed on November 21, 1917, as a route ...

, north of Downtown Gatesville. Hilltop sites on an approximately plot of land and is co-located with the

Crain Crain may refer to: People * Crain (surname) Places * Crain, Yonne, a commune in the region Bourgogne, France Other * Crain (band), an indie rock band * Crain Communications, an American publishing conglomerate * ''Crain crain'', the common na ...

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

, and Woodman units.Hilltop Unit
."

. Retrieved on July 24, 2010. The Hilltop Unit uses buildings from the former

Gatesville State School The Gatesville State School for Boys was a juvenile corrections facility in Gatesville, Texas. The facility was converted into two prisons for adults, the Christina Crain Unit (formerly Gatesville Unit), and the Hilltop Unit.

, making the Hilltop Unit's prison facility the third oldest facility still-used in Texas after the

Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville or Huntsville Unit (HV), nicknamed "Walls Unit", is a Texas state prison located in Huntsville, Texas, United States. The approximately facility, near downtown Huntsville, is operated by the Correctional Ins ...

and the

Jester I Unit The Beauford H. Jester I Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice substance abuse felony punishment facility (SAFPF) located in unincorporated Fort Bend County, Texas. The unit is situated at Harlem Road and Ken Drive, on about of land, co- ...

.Hilltop warden, employees work to restore facility’s former glory
." ''

''. September–October 2005. Retrieved on July 24, 2010.

History

The Hilltop Unit was formed from the Hackberry and Hilltop units of the

, a juvenile detention facility that closed in 1979.Gatesville State School for Boys
" ''

Handbook of Texas The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). History The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President Wal ...

''. Retrieved on July 23, 2010. The Live Oak, Riverside, Sycamore, Riverside, Terrace, and Valley schools of the Gatesville State School became the Gatesville Unit (now the Christina Crain Unit). The unit, which opened in April 1981, originally housed men. The unit was named "Hilltop" because the prison is in the highest point of the surrounding area.

Facility

Hilltop is the hub of the six prisons in Gatesville. The

(TDCJ) described it as "a true

prison farm A prison farm (also known as a penal farm) is a large correctional facility where penal labor convicts are forced to work on a farm legally and illegally (in the wide sense of a productive unit), usually for manual labor, largely in the open ai ...

" that "fittingly serves as the headquarters for the area’s agricultural operations." The unit has pigs fed on feeder slabs and sixty horses used by field officers from surrounding prison units. The regional operations and maintenance departments are located at Hilltop. The unit hosts the pre-service and in-service area training facilities. Hilltop is the center of vehicle maintenance and repair work, and it serves as the area fuel depot. The exteriors of the Hilltop buildings have bright white paint; the TDCJ says that the buildings "sparkle like white diamonds when the light is right." Many building interiors have moldings dating from the 1890s. Some staircases are topped by pressed tin ceilings from era that the former

was built in. The Texas Building of Hilltop Unit was formerly Ferguson Hall; its current name stems from the concrete letters, colored in red, white, and blue, spelling "TEXAS." The Texas Building's first floor has classrooms and a library. The upstairs has an auditorium and a walled-in projection room. A cemetery containing graves of children of the former state school who died there is located across Business Highway 36. Hilltop houses a program for female young offenders, located in the main Hilltop school.Texas Department of Criminal Justice – Program Units
."

. Retrieved on October 4, 2010. As of 2002 about 15 girls are in the program.Castlebury, Glen.
Texas' Youthful Offender Program
" '' Corrections Today''. October 1, 2002. Retrieved on November 19, 2010. The Hackberry Unit houses a Parole Modification and a Substance Abuse Felony Punishment Facility. Hackberry is no longer part of the Hilltop Unit.

References

External links

*
Hilltop Unit
"

. {{Women's prisons in the United States Prisons in Gatesville, Texas Women's prisons in Texas Government agencies established in 1981 1981 establishments in Texas Buildings and structures in Coryell County, Texas