Mountain View Unit

{{No footnotes|date=January 2010}} [[File:Entrance to TDCJ Mountain View Unit.jpg|thumb|Mountain View Unit]] [[File:GatesvilleUnitsAerial.png|thumb|Aerial photograph of the prisons in Gatesville, January 13, 1996, [[United States Geological Survey]]]] '''Mountain View Unit''' is a [[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]] [[Incarceration of women|prison housing female offenders]] in [[Gatesville, Texas|Gatesville]], [[Texas]]. The unit, with about {{convert|97|acre|ha}} of land, is located {{convert|4|mi|km}} north of central Gatesville on [[Farm to Market Road 215]]. The prison is located in a 45 minute driving distance from [[Waco, Texas|Waco]]. 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 {{convert|60|sqft|m2}}, with each cell having a window. They do not have recreation individually. They are allowed to watch [[television]], and all have a [[radio]]. [[Karla Faye Tucker]], executed February 3, 1998 was the first woman to be executed in Texas since 1863. The most recent female to be executed was [[Frances Newton]], executed on 14 September 2005. Among the better known death row offenders at Mountain View are [[Linda Carty]], [[Brittany Holberg]], and [[Darlie Routier]]. A notable woman in the prison is [[Yolanda Saldivar]], the murderer of Tejano superstar, [[Selena]]. Saldivar shot and killed her on March 31, 1995, in Selena's hometown of [[Corpus Christi, Texas]]. Saldivar is sentenced to [[life in prison|life imprisonment]]. She is eligible for [[parole]] in March 2025. While interviewed for a [[VH1]] [[Behind the Music]] episode about Selena in 1998, Jim Forbes asked her why she killed her because he, Selena's family and fans wanted to know. Saldivar responded "I won't discuss that". Due to Saldivar receiving many death threats from incarcerated Selena fans she is in isolation at the prison.{{Fact|date=May 2010}} The facility is not signposted from the area main highway. ==History== [[File:GatesvillePrisonsTX1994.PNG|thumb|Topographical map of the Gatesville prison units (Mountain View, [[Christina Crain Unit|Christina Crain]], [[Hilltop Unit|Hilltop]], and [[Alfred D. Hughes Unit|Hughes]]), [[U.S. Geological Survey]], 1994]] The [[Mountain View State School]] closed in 1975, and its boys were sent to other facilities. The [[Texas Department of Corrections]] bought the land and buildings. The facility re-opened as a women's prison. The Mountain View Unit opened in July 1975. Around 2001 several inmates at Mountain View were in a [[Windham School District (Texas)|Windham School District]] effort to translate textbooks into [[braille]]. ==Operation== Ruth Hill of ''[[The Observer]]'' 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." In regards to the name Hill stated "But there is no mountain, and from the prison's death row, there is no view." The female death row inmates may participate in a work program and have limited viewing of a television located outside of their cells. Each death row inmate may have limited association with the other inmates. The women on death row are permitted to knit and sew. The current death row building opened in 2000. Amy Dorsett of the ''[[San Antonio Express-News]]'' said that the facility has "gleaming white walls, sun-filled cells and a decorative recreation room." ==Notable inmates== Death row: * [[Betty Lou Beets]] - Executed on February 24, 2000. * [[Linda Carty]] * [[Brittany Holberg]] * [[Frances Newton]] - Executed on September 14, 2005 * [[Darlie Routier]] * [[Karla Faye Tucker]] - Executed on February 3, 1998 Non-death row: * [[Yolanda Saldívar]] * Kimberly Trenor (perpetrator of the [[murder of Riley Ann Sawyers]]) * [[Diane Zamora]] * [[Marcia Kelly]] * [[Celeste Beard|Celeste Beard Johnson]] ==External links== * [http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/unitdirectory/mv.htm Mountain View Unit] - [[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]] * [http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-prisons/units/mountain-view/ List of prisoners at the Mountain View Unit] - [[The Texas Tribune]] {{coord missing|Texas}} {{TDCJ-CID prisons}}