A Cat Named OJ and the Incarcerated Women Who Love Him

It all began with a cat — a cat they named Orange Julius. 

Like the other cats found abandoned in this part of central Texas, it would be cared for by Sonya Reed and other incarcerated women at the Patrick O’Daniel Unit, a women’s prison in Gatesville. 

Normally, the women tended the felines, including ones who were ailing, with their own commissary funds. This time, one of their daughters on the outside had an alternative idea — to fundraise for the expensive care needed by one of the kitties.

In a post on GoFundMe, Kitti Reed wrote on behalf of her incarcerated mom and Orange Julius (nicknamed OJ). 

“Anything is greatly appreciated, OJ has been her lifeline for the majority of her time incarcerated, and has helped her not lose her hope or her spark,” Reed said in the post, noting the funds would be used to pay for OJ’s treatment.

The fundraiser, created on Dec.18th, described Julius as an emotional support animal with an untreated kidney infection, which has caused him difficulty walking and urinating. 

Since then, the Texas-based news outlet The Barbed Wire has chronicled the movements of Julius and his cat mom. 

“Nobody is obligated to take care of this cat for my mom,” Reed told The Barbed Wire. “But she’s volunteering her time and personal money to make sure this cat can continue living comfortably.”

The public may not have been obligated to give, but they felt moved to.

The GoFundMe gained traction on social media after being shared on X by ProPublica journalist Keri Blakinger, who covers the criminal justice system with a focus on prisons.. The link was sent to her by one of the women incarcerated at the prison, she told Barbed Wire, a digital Texas publication that bills  itself as “an alt-weekly for the modern era.” 

“I have never seen a GoFundMe quite like this,” posted Blakinger, whose two years in a New York State prison prompted her to become a journalist. “The women at one Texas prison are trying to pay for a vet for one of the stray cats that they clandestinely take care of at the facility.”

Before the X post, the fundraiser had brought in less than $100 in donations. Soon after the post appeared, it raised nearly $11,000 with some anonymous donors donating as much as $400. The funds enabled Julius to receive a full round of antibiotics and undergo a small procedure, Reed said.

“He’s able to walk again without falling over,” Reed told The Barbed Wire. “He seems to be recovering really well.” 

But all was not well in other regards. Days after the procedure, Sonya Reed, OJ’s principal caretaker was moved to solitary confinement and charged with “solicitation” – even though the fundraiser was organized outside the prison and her mother also had no way to access the money, Reed told The Barbed Wire.

The elder Reed, who is 53, has significant medical issues that could be exacerbated by solitary confinement, including heart problems, anxiety, depression and a spinal condition requiring special bedding. As The Barbed Wire noted, a United Nations human rights expert has warned that prisons in the U.S. often overuse solitary confinement and practices like prolonged isolation, restraints, and intrusive searches – practices he says amount to psychological torture.

“The severe and often irreparable psychological and physical consequences of solitary confinement and social exclusion are well documented and can range from progressively severe forms of anxiety, stress and depression to cognitive impairment and suicidal tendencies,” said Nils Melzer, a UN Special Rapporteur on torture, after investigating U.S. prison practices in 2020.

Fortunately, the story ends on a good note: Sonya Reed was returned to normal prison housing as of Thursday, The Barbed Wire reported, and presumably reunited with Orange Julius.