Patrick O'Daniel Unit

Patrick L. O'Daniel Unit (formerly the 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, O'Daniel 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. While O'Daniel functions as the women's death row, executions take place in the Huntsville Unit. 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. Notable inmates at O'Daniel include Kimberly Clark Saenz, Erica Sheppard, Yolanda Saldívar, Linda Carty, Brittany Holberg, Darlie Routier and Taylor Rene Parker. As of October 11, 2019, Amber Guyger, the former Dallas Police Department officer convicted of the murder of Botham Jean, was serving her sentence at the facility. As of 2004, the facility did not have a sign on the area main highway.