Mountain View Unit
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 Location in Texas
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| Location | 2305 Ransom Road Gatesville, Texas 76528 |
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| Coordinates | 31°29′12″N 97°43′41″W / 31.486667°N 97.728056°WCoordinates: 31°29′12″N 97°43′41″W / 31.486667°N 97.728056°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Security class | G1-G5, Administrative Segregation, Death row |
| Capacity | 645 |
| Opened | July 1975 |
| Managed by | TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division |
| Warden | Melodye Nelson |
| County | Coryell County |
| Country | USA |
| Website | tdcj |
Mountain View Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison housing female offenders in Gatesville, Texas. The unit, with about 97 acres (39 ha) of land, is located 4 miles (6.4 km) north of central Gatesville on Farm to Market Road 215. The prison is located in a 45-minute driving distance from 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 60 square feet (5.6 m2), with each cell having a window. They do not have recreation individually. Some are allowed to watch television, though this is dependent upon agreeing to work for free, 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 Lisa Coleman, executed on September 17, 2014.
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 Saldívar, the murderer of Tejano superstar Selena. Saldívar shot and killed her on March 31, 1995 in Selena's hometown of 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.
As of 2004 the facility is not signposted from the area main highway.
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 re-opened as a women's prison. The Mountain View Unit opened in July 1975.
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