Mountain View 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 housing female offenders 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 ...

. The unit, with about of land, is located north of central Gatesville on Farm to Market Road 215. The prison is located in a 45-minute driving distance from

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

. In addition to its other functions, Mountain View Unit houses the state's female death row inmates. Death row offenders are housed separately from the rest of the prisoners in single-person cells measuring , with each cell having a window. They do not have recreation individually. Some are allowed to watch

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, though this is dependent upon agreeing to work for free, and all have a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

Karla Faye Tucker Karla Faye Tucker (November 18, 1959 – February 3, 1998) was an American woman sentenced to death for killing two people with a pickaxe during a burglary. She was the first woman to be executed in the United States since Velma Barfield in 1984 ...

, executed February 3, 1998, was the first woman to be executed in Texas since 1863. The most recent female to be executed was Lisa Coleman, executed on September 17, 2014. Inmates at Mountain View include Kimberly Clark Saenz,

Yolanda Saldívar Yolanda Saldívar (; born September 19, 1960) is an American former nurse who was convicted of the murder of singer Selena in 1995. Saldívar had been the president of Selena's fan club and the manager of her boutiques, but she lost both positio ...

, Linda Carty,

Brittany Holberg Brittany Marlowe Holberg (born January 1, 1973) is a woman currently on death row in the U.S. state of Texas. On Friday, March 27, 1998, Holberg was convicted of the November 13, 1996, robbery and murder of 80-year-old A. B. Towery Sr. (1916– ...

, and

Darlie Routier Darlie Lynn Peck Routier (born January 4, 1970) is an American woman from Rowlett, Texas, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of her five-year-old son Damon in 1996. She has also been charged with capital murder in the deat ...

. As of October 11, 2019, Amber Guyger, the former Dallas Police Department officer convicted of the

murder of Botham Jean On the night of September 6, 2018, 26-year-old accountant Botham Jean was murdered when off-duty Dallas Police Department patrol officer Amber Guyger entered Jean's apartment in Dallas, Texas and fatally shot him. Guyger, who said that she ha ...

, is serving her sentence at the facility. As of 2004, the facility does not have a sign on the area main highway. On March 31, 1995, at around 11:48 a.m., Yolanda Saldivar killed the Queen of Tejano

Selena Selena Quintanilla Pérez (; April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), known mononymously as Selena, was an American Tejano singer. Called the " Queen of Tejano music", her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mex ...

at the

Days Inn Days Inn is a hotel chain headquartered in the United States. It was founded in 1970 by Cecil B. Day, who opened the first location in Tybee Island, Georgia. The brand is now a part of the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, headquartered in Parsippany ...

Motel in Corpus Christi Texas. Saldívar is currently serving her sentence of life imprisonment. She will be eligible for parole on March 30, 2025, the day before the 30th anniversary of Selena's murder.

History

The Mountain View State School closed in 1975, and its boys were sent to other facilities. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice bought the land and buildings. The facility reopened as a women's prison.Mountain View School for Boys
. Handbook of Texas. Retrieved on July 23, 2010. The Mountain View Unit opened in July 1975.''Texas Department of Criminal Justice''. Turner Publishing Company, 2004
100
, .

Operation

The prison may hold up to 645 inmates.Howerton, Matt.

" ( ttps://web.archive.org/web/20150614002657/http://www.kwtx.com/news/local/headlines/Local-Prison-Braille-Unit-Offers-Inmates-A-Chance-At-Salvation-247383021.html Archive. ''

KWTX-TV KWTX-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Waco, Texas, United States, serving Central Texas as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Belton-licensed CW affiliate KNCT (channel 46). Both stations share studios on ...

''. February 26, 2014. Retrieved on December 30, 2015. Ruth Hill of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' described the unit as "intimidating", saying that the "bunker-like buildings are punctuated with slit windows and wreathed in wire, with guard towers on every corner".Hill, Ruth.
Linda Carty: 'someone is trying to take my life for someone else's crime'
''

'' at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Sunday June 27, 2010. Retrieved on July 23, 2010. In regard to the name, Hill stated, "But there is no mountain, and from the prison's death row, there is no view". Around 2001, several inmates at Mountain View were in a Windham School District effort to translate textbooks into

braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...

. These books are intended for Texas schoolchildren and college and university students. Kevin VonRosenberg, one of the coordinators of the braille program, stated in 2014 that it is a very sought-after inmate positions. Prisoners learn how to use a

Perkins Brailler The Perkins Brailler is a "braille typewriter" with a key corresponding to each of the six dots of the braille code, a space key, a backspace key, and a line space key. Like a manual typewriter, it has two side knobs to advance paper through t ...

, then use computers to do actual work. The program was established in 1999. This is one of the largest braille programs within an American prison.

Death row

The women's death row is located in a red-brick, one-story building that first opened in 1985 to house psychiatric patients. The female death-row and psychiatric patients together occupy the same building. Plans to renovate the building first occurred in 1995 and renovation began in early 2000. The renovation cost was $95,000.Graczyk, Michael.
Texas' condemned women get new home

Archive
. ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

'' at the ''

Amarillo Globe-News The ''Amarillo Globe-News'' is a daily newspaper in Amarillo, Texas, owned by Gannett. The newspaper is based at downtown's FirstBank Southwest Tower, but is printed at a facility in Lubbock. History The current-day ''Globe-News'' is a combinat ...

''. Wednesday September 13, 2000. Retrieved on January 30, 2016. The building has a day room and a work area along with two rows of cells, with six cells each. One row is designated for women punished in administrative segregation and/or those who do not wish to work, and another row is for women who wish to work. Each cell is by . The doors use traditional bars, unlike the men's death row at the

Polunsky Unit Allan B. Polunsky Unit (TL, formerly the Terrell Unit) is a prison in West Livingston, unincorporated Polk County, Texas, United States, located approximately southwest of Livingston along Farm to Market Road 350. - Note the 2010 U.S. Cen ...

near

Livingston, Texas Livingston is a town in and the county seat of Polk County, Texas. With a population of 5,640 at the 2020 census, it is the largest city in Polk County. It is located about 46 miles south of Lufkin and was originally settled in 1835 as S ...

. The building is air conditioned, since it also houses a psychiatric unit. Amy Dorsett of the '' San Antonio Express-News'' said that the facility has "gleaming white walls, sun-filled cells, and a decorative recreation room". Pam Baggett, the warden of Mountain View, stated in 2000 that the new death row was less "homey" than the previous one. From the early 1980s to 2000, condemned women were housed in an eight-cell building with an immediately adjacent, combined day room and work area. The communal area had a television and a center for making crafts. Mapes, Mary. ''Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power''.

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

, October 31, 2006. , 9781429906951. p
45

Mary Mapes Mary Alice Mapes (born May 9, 1956) is an American journalist, former television news producer, and author. She was a principal producer for CBS News, primarily the ''CBS Evening News'' and primetime television program ''60 Minutes Wednesday'' ...

, the author of ''Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power'', wrote that each cell was painted in bright colors and that the cells, which "could have been dorm rooms in a particularly austere college", had cots with "lacy touches", afghans, and "colorful pillows". She added that the death row in general had comfortable seating and was brightly colored. As of 2004, the female death-row inmates may participate in a work program and have limited viewing of a television located outside of their cells. No television was available when the current death-row building first opened in 2000. Each death-row inmate may have limited association with the other inmates. The women on death row are permitted to knit and sew. As of the 1990s, they made dolls for sick children. The death-row inmates use a by recreation yard with basketball hoops, a tree, and a bench.

Notable inmates

Death-row inmates

All inmates on this list are/were under death sentences from the State of Texas.

Executed

—Executed on February 3, 1998 *

Betty Lou Beets Betty Lou Beets (March 12, 1937 – February 24, 2000) was a murderer executed in the U.S. state of Texas. She was convicted of shooting her fifth husband, Jimmy Don Beets, on August 6, 1983. Early life Born Betty Lou Dunevant to Margaret Louis ...

—Executed on February 24, 2000. * Frances Newton—Executed on September 14, 2005Executed Offenders
".

. Retrieved on July 23, 2010. * Kimberly McCarthy—Executed on June 26, 2013 *

Suzanne Basso Suzanne Margaret "Sue" Basso ( Burns; May 15, 1954 – February 5, 2014) was an American woman who was one of six co-defendants convicted in the August 1998 torture and murder of Louis "Buddy" Musso, a mentally disabled man who was killed for his ...

—Executed on February 5, 2014 * Lisa Coleman—Executed on September 17, 2014

Awaiting execution

* Darlie Lynn Routier * Kimberly Cargill * Linda Carty * Erica Yvonne Sheppard * Taylor Rene Parker

Non-death row inmates

* Kimberly Trenor *

Diane Zamora Diane Michelle Zamora (born January 21, 1978) is a former United States Naval Academy midshipman and convicted murderer who, in 1995, murdered Adrianne Jessica Jones, who she believed was a romantic rival for her ex-fiancé and accomplice, David ...

Zamora is no longer housed at Mountain View. She has been relocated to the Dr. Lane Murray Unit, also in Gatesville, TX. * Christine PaolillaPaolilla, Christine Marie
"
Archive
.

. Retrieved on December 28, 2015. * Kimberly Clark Saenz * Amber Guyger

References

External links

Mountain View Unit
–

List of prisoners at the Mountain View Unit
–

The Texas Tribune ''The Texas Tribune'' is a news website headquartered in Austin, Texas. It aims to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events. Its website and content in various delivery platforms serve as an alternati ...

This article shows an image of a Mountain View death row cell
!--How To Survive Life In Solitary Confinement by Erin Fuchs, Business Insider, September 5, 2013--> {{Women's prisons in the United States 1975 establishments in Texas Buildings and structures in Coryell County, Texas Capital punishment in Texas Prisons in Gatesville, Texas Women's prisons in Texas