Mother Antonia, 86, brought comfort to inmates of a notorious Mexican prison In 1965, she accompanied a priest on a mission to deliver medicine and other supplies to Tijuana, Mexico. After several other stops, they ended up at the gate of one of the country's most notorious prisons, a state penitentiary called La Mesa. The warden invited them inside to drop off their donations at the infirmary. She began to visit the prison more often, attending to the needs of the inmates, guards and police, and the transformation of Mary Clarke Brenner had begun. In 1977, when most of her children were grown, she moved to La Mesa. Although she had no formal religious training, she sewed her own nun's habit and slept in a bunk in the women's wing of the prison. She later lived for years in a 10-by-10-foot cell, with the walls painted pink. She made it her vocation to attend to the needs of some of the most destitute and dangerous people in Mexico. She brought them medicine, bedding, clothing and food. She invited doctors and dentists from California to provide medical care. She worked with Mexican officials to improve conditions in La Mesa and other prisons. When she walked through the halls, prisoners kissed her hand, and she kissed theirs. Notorious criminals confessed to her and pledged to change their lives. In Tijuana and throughout all of Mexico, she was known as "Madre Antonia" - Mother Antonia. She received the blessings of a Mexican bishop of the Catholic Church, was greeted by Pope John Paul II and was commended by Mexican President Vicente Fox. She went on to found a religious order for older women seeking to help the poor. Mother Antonia went on to live in the prison for more than 30 years, improving the lives of thousands of prisoners, guards and their families. Mother Antonia was the subject of a 2005 book by Washington Post journalists Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan, "The Prison Angel," and a later documentary film. After years of weakening health, she died Oct. 17 at the Tijuana headquarters of the religious order she founded, Sisters of the Eleventh Hour of St. John Eudes. She was 86. She had heart ailments and myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disorder. A daughter, Carol Brenner, confirmed the death. "Something happened to me when I saw men behind bars," Mother Antonia told the Los Angeles Times in 1982. When it was cold, I wondered if the men were warm; when it was raining, if they had shelter . . . You know, when I returned to the prison to live, I felt as if I'd come home. She was born Mary Clarke in Los Angeles on Dec. 1, 1926. Her father became the owner of a prosperous office-supply business and moved the family to Beverly Hills.