Women on Death Row-Texas

The six women who are currently on death row in Texas are housed at the Mountain View Correctional Unit in the small town of Gatesville, Texas. The unit is operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and is located 4 miles north of central Gatesville on Farm to Market Road 215. A ride along a rural country road and down a long winding driveway brings you to the campus that is comprised of 4 one-story red brick buildings. But for the evenly placed guard towers, chain link fence, and razor wire, the complex looks much like a college campus.

The Mountain View unit houses prisoners who fall into the full range of custody levels from G-1 through G-5, Administrative Segregation, and Death Row. The G-1 through G-5 classification system covers offenders who may live in dormitories and require minimal supervision through those who must live in cells and be guarded by armed personnel.
At Mountain View, many of the general population offenders are housed dormitory style. They have a dayroom for television viewing, and are allowed to walk freely within the confines of the prison area when going to the chow hall, work assignments, and visitation. One of the employment opportunities within the prison is a braille transcribing operation where the prisoners are taught to use specialized equipment to transcribe textbooks into braille.

There is also a small chapel on the campus where I was once allowed to attend a college graduation ceremony. On this rare occasion, I was allowed to mingle freely with the inmates who served punch and cookies to guests. Later, I learned one of the inmates serving cookies was a serial killer named Genene Jones, better known as the Serial Killer Nurse. Jones was given a 99 year sentence so she is not a death row inmate.

Death row offenders are housed separately from the general population in single-person cells measuring 60 square feet. The death row area of the prison is located in a one story red brick building just inside the gate near the front parking lot. This building also houses twenty cells for the prison’s mentally ill offenders. The psychiatric unit is separated from death row by a reception desk for the Correctional offices, and gates. Death row is identified by a sign in block letters painted on the white brick wall above the black metal grate doors.

This facility has only been home to the women on death row since September 2000. Not long ago, Karla Faye Tucker, the infamous Pickax-killer-turned-Christian, was housed in the old death row facility where two women shared each cell. Tucker shared her cell with Pam Perillo who spent 20 years on death row before her conviction was overturned and she was granted a new trial. Rather than face the possibility of again being convicted and sentenced to death, Perillo took a plea deal and was removed from death row.

During our 2001 visit to the campus, we also toured the old death row building where the cells were arranged in a square configuration with a common area that was directly visible from each cell. Death row inmates are allowed to work in the prison but are not required to do so. Those who do work do so in the death row common area. The doors to each cell were metal with open grates that allowed prisoners in their cells to talk to those working in the common area. The configuration of the new death row prevents those who are in their cells from talking to those who are in the common area.

The women on death row spend up to 23 hours in their cells and leave only for an hour of recreation, visitation, and to shower. Those who choose to work are rewarded with additional recreation time and are allowed to eat their meals outside their cells.
When a death row offender leaves the cell, her hands are handcuffed and her feet are shackled. Two guards must escort each woman when she leaves the death row area. For visits, the death row inmate is brought into a white metal box with a secure glass divider so they can see and hear the visitor, but cannot have any physical contact with the visitor – no hugs, kisses or hand-holding. Death row inmate visitations do not coincide with general offender visitation.

The 6 women currently on death row in Texas range in age from 42 to 58 years old. Three are Caucasian, 2 are African American and 1 is Hispanic. The newest convict on death row has been there 4 years while the longest serving has been there 21 years. Two have been convicted of killing one of their own children.

Kimberly Cargill was 45 years old when she was received on death row on June 7, 2012. She is Caucasian and completed 12 years of formal education. Cargill was convicted of the June 8, 2010 murder of her son’s mentally challenged caregiver, Cherry Walker. The state contended that Cargill killed the caregiver to prevent her from testifying against Cargill at a Department of Child Protective services hearing. Cargill testified that Walker had a seizure while they were returning home from a restaurant. Cargill said she panicked, and doused the woman with lighter fluid and set her on fire. Cargill’s direct appeal was denied in November of 2014.

Melissa Lucio was 40 years old when she was received on death row on August 12, 2008. She is Hispanic and completed 11 years of formal education. Lucio was convicted of the February 17, 2007 beating death of her 2½-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. EMT’s responded to a call at Lucio’s apartment and found the child was not breathing. When the EMT’s cut off the child’s shirt to resuscitate her, they observed purple and green bruises across her body. Lucio was arrested with Robert Alvarez, and they were tried separately. While being questioned by police, Lucio claimed that she was the only one who ever spanked Mariah. The court of Texas Criminal Appeals denied her direct appeal in 2011. Her state application for a writ of habeas corpus was denied in January 2013. She also filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

Linda Carty was 43 years old when she was received on death row on March 7, 2002. She is African American and holds British Citizenship, has completed a year of college, Carty was convicted of the May 16, 2001 kidnapping and murder of Joana Rodriguez. Chris Robinson, Gerald Anderson, and Carlos Williams broke into the Rodriguez home and kidnapped Joana and her three-day old baby. Joana was bound, her head was covered with a plastic bag that was taped closed, and she was placed in the trunk of a car where she suffocated to death. Two other people present in the home at the time of the break-in were beaten, bound and left in the residence. Carty claims that she was framed for the murder by drug dealers in retaliation for her work as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency. Carty’s conviction was upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The United States Supreme Court denied her petition for a writ of certiorari. In February 2015, in response to a new appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeals granted a new hearing to assess recently uncovered evidence in the case.