Life inside Gatesville Texas prison

The Austin Chronicle occasionally publishes articles. You could check its archive. A place to start.

Deep Blues From Gatesville - News - The Austin Chronicle

Anyone know where a guy could find information and pictures of life inside the women prisons in Gatesville, Texas? I have three pen pals at three of the five women prisons there but can't find any information other than a satelite view on Google Earth. Just wondering and since their letters are being placed on the backs on real live snails and sent on there way to me here in Germany...it will be awhile getting replies to my questions.
thanks,
'GMAN59

I answered you on your other thread here

You are only likely to find generic "women in prison" photos, TDCJ don't usually allow film crews into the units unless it is for a specific inmate, and it is an offence to take a photograph of the outside or perimeter fence of any TDCJ unit (as it is in the UK and elsewhere).

Thanks Silas,
I'll check it out, I guess I just need a push in the right direction. ö

Thanks again for replying again...ö

Thanks Silas,
I'll check it out, I guess I just need a push in the right direction. ö

Think nothing of it.

Hello GMAN59,

Being that I served 4 years at Mountainview, I can pretty much answer any question that you have about the living there. First of all the prison unit to me seemed to be setup like a college campus. Inside the dorms we had a dayroom in which had four benches that approx 6 to 7 people could sit on and there was a tv which played very very basic cable. There is a small room which sets off to the side that housed about five inmates that shared one restroom. Also in the dayroom was a dining area because we were able to fix our food in a hot pot (a hot pot is a coffee pot that warms water to an almost boiling state). Then there is a large room to the back of the dayroom that houses about 30 to 40 other inmates all who share 4 shower stalls and 4 toilets separated by a wall but the door was a shower curtain. Our individual cubicles (living spaces) were about 4 1/2 ft across and about 7 ft long. Our beds was a steel frame with a blue thin mat for a mattress. They rotated our mats and blankets every 6 months. The steel frame has a box attached to the bottom at the foot which is about 1 1/2 ft wide and 2 ft deep. This is where we kept all of our personal belongings...clothes, school books, magazines, personal hygienes, bowls, cups and food. Thanks to years of fitting all of my items in that little box I have mastered the art of using storage space...LOL. Also attached to the steel bed frame was a table that we were allowed to keep our hot pot, one cup, a bible, a lamp and one picture on. Those who had cubicles on the two outer rows of the dorm were fortunate to have windows. We had one plug outlet in our cubicles. If you have seen the arial view of the unit, each individual unit has two separate sides (a & b) in the center of those two sides is what we called the pipe chase. This is where the officer sits all day. They are able to watch both sides. When ever we went anywhere outside of the dorm we were escorted by officers. When we went to chow (Breakfast, lunch or dinner) we had 20 mins to eat starting from when we hit the door...not when we sat down to eat. So you can imagine how that went. We had rec (going outside to exercise or visit other inmates) three times a day. We were able to go to school and we had jobs. No, we did not get paid on our jobs. But to me, my job was payment. I went to school and my job was fixing computers. A skill which has come in handy since being out. Prison is not the greatest place on earth...but thanks to our families and people like you, it makes doing time a lil easier. If you are not doing so already...the one thing you can do for your pen pal is send beautiful cards every now and then and send them pictures of the outside world that are fascinating. Because after all we saw the very same scenery every day. I am from houston tx and it does not snow here. I recall one year being at mountain view...the day before valentines day I said to myself or prayed that I wished it would snow...When I woke up the next morning and looks out of my window all I saw was snow. It almost made me cry it was pretty. Well let me stop here cause I could go on for days and days If you have any other questions let me know.

Thank you for sharing that, ksimone76 (and welcome to WAP, by the way. :-)

My favorite PP (now deceased), spent 6 years at mountain view, and what you have described sounds very much the same. Some of the minute details, that you left out, was that 30 women had to eat in 20 minutes. So, the last one in, might not have enough time, and they didn't give you any second chances. So, as my PP described it, you "wolfed" your food. Also, when they were marched to chow, or to their work assignments, they walked in half-step. If they were out on the sidewalk, and an inmate from isolation was brought through, the line of prisoners had to "face the wall", so there was no communication with that inmate.

I did see a special, on TV, about a woman who was executed there. In that clip, they showed the visiting room, which excited me, because that is where I visited my PP, on my one and only opportunity.

I will also say that, from my perspective, Mountain View is a beautiful campus. It was originally built as a boy's school and has nicely built brick buildings. On my visit, I drove up a mountain road, behind the prison and sat for a while gazing down, with the early morning sun shining on it. It was beautiful. Two things that marred that view was the fence with concertina wire, on top, and the lack of people. I saw no-one out walking around, which I thought was strange. I had driven by other Texas prisons, and saw people outside. I also visited a prison, in Indiana, where it appeared that inmates were allowed to be out to visit with one another, and perhaps, to even buy snacks. But, once again, every prison is different.

Thanks, once again, ksimone76, for renewing old memories. My PP didn't make it out. She died, of cancer, inside, in 06.