Mountain View State School

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The former Mountain View State School is now the Mountain View Unit

The Mountain View State School was a juvenile rehabilitation facility operated by the Texas Youth Council in Gatesville, Texas. The building and land that once housed the school now house the Mountain View Unit, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice women's prison.

History[]

The Mountain View School for Boys opened on September 5, 1962. Mountain View, designed to handle chronic and serious juvenile delinquents previously housed in the Gatesville State School, had a capacity of 480 boys. In the early 1970s Mountain View began to be designated as a secure treatment facility for juvenile delinquents who were considered to be dangerous.[1]

In 1971 a class-action lawsuit was filed against the Texas Youth Council (TYC), operator of the school, on behalf of the children in TYC facilities.[2] Charles Derrick, a man later designated as the ombudsman of the court case, revealed that the school was actually being used as a punitive institution for children; children who did not follow orders at other Texas Youth Council institutions were forced to go to Mountain View for punishment.[3]

In 1974 federal judge William Wayne Justice ruled on . He ordered TYC to close the Gatesville State School and the Mountain View State School and to redesign the agency's juvenile corrections system.[2] The Mountain View 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 Mountain View Unit, a women's prison.[1] The Mountain View Unit opened in July 1975.[4]

Demographics[]

In 1964-1965 the school on average held 316 boys. In the early 1970s Mountain View began to be a secure treatment facility for juvenile delinquents who were considered to be dangerous. In 1973 its average population was 70.[1]

A Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry in 1972 found that, of the 385 students, 68% were being incarcerated in a juvenile detention center for the first time. Of the population 48% were African American, 33% were White American, and 19% were Hispanic American. Most of the students were considered to be poor. 68% of Mountain View students had divorced parents. The majority of Mountain View students were behind in their educations, by scholastic achievement levels, by six to seven years.[3]

The average intelligence quotient of a Mountain View inmate was 86; The averages of black students, White students, and Hispanic students were 79, 89, and 83, respectively. Clarence Stephens, a caseworker, said that 30-40 of the Mountain View inmates had intelligence quotients of less than 70; according to Stephens some students had IQs of 54. Kenneth Wooden, author of Weeping in the Playtime of Others: America's Incarcerated Children, said that most standards would consider those IQs to be indicators of mild retardation. The Texas Youth Council's pre-entrance diagnostic testing considered 293 boys within the agency's system to be "emotionally disturbed." 158 of those boys attended Mountain View, making up 25% of the state school's population.[3]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Mountain View School for Boys." Handbook of Texas. Retrieved on July 23, 2010.
  2. ^ a b "Gatesville State School for Boys." Handbook of Texas. Retrieved on July 23, 2010.
  3. ^ a b c Wooden, Kenneth. Weeping in the Playtime of Others: America's Incarcerated Children. Ohio State University Press, 2000. 10. Retrieved from Google Books on July 23, 2010. ISBN 0-8142-5063-7, ISBN 978-0-8142-5063-1
  4. ^ Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Turner Publishing Company, 2004. 100. ISBN 1-56311-964-1, ISBN 978-1-56311-964-4.

External links[]

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