For Your Information about TDCJ

New visitors get banned from visitation at Texas prisons quite often for breaking rules they aren’t aware of, and there is no one you can beg and plead to to get your rights back. There are wives who are permanently banned from seeing their husbands in prison. The appeal process to get visitation back happens only by writing letters and the decision of the appeal team is final.

How People Get Banned

• The drug dogs smell something in your car
• Bringing in anything other than an id, car key, and quarters.
• Touching each other, except the permitted exceptions.
• Lying about how you know each other.
• Your loved one hands you something at visitation.
• Have alcohol or drugs in the car.
• Have a shovel in the back of your pickup.
• No weapons or anything that could be used in an escape attempt
• No controlled substances. The site doesn’t say its ok if your prescription is a controlled substance so be very careful!
• Touching under the table.
• You smell like alcohol or marijuana
• Refusing the car search on the way in or out is an instant ban.
• I don’t know if you get banned for it, but you can’t take food items back with you and you can’t be loud or talk to others.

Video Visit Behavior will get you Banned in-person

• Handing the camera to a visitor not on the visitation list
• Being out of dress code on a video visit
• Getting out of dress code by trying to have sexy time
• Making or answering a phone call

Surprising Ban Stories

• “Hi Baby, I wrote you a poem. Read it.” If he hands you a piece of paper at visitation, that is a violation. You may hold hands on top of the table, but he is not permitted to bring you anything and you cannot bring him anything.
• “Officer, I rented this car so if the dogs are smelling drugs, it’s not me.” Your car will be searched upon entry. If the drug dogs signal, even if they don’t find anything in the car, you could lose visitation privileges.
• “This is my sister.” In this case, the mail room had reported a girlfriend for inappropriately sexy letters, and when they did more investigation, they found she was listed as “sister” on his visitation, and she was banned from visitation.
• “I do not consent to having my car searched. I will turn around and go home. Have a nice day.” Banned for refusing to have their car searched, not just for that day of visitation.
• “After visitation, it was raining and I thought the guard was waving me through, and that I could drive off the premises without a search. The guard banned me from visitation, citing that he was waving to get me to stop and I kept driving.
• “Sir, you smell like marijuana and are being denied visitation.” “What?!?” “Yes, please leave the premises.” Then he is denied visitation privileges for years. You do not have to be drunk or high. It is enough if you smell like you’ve been using.

Don’t Try This

• ”Officer, that six pack of bud light is in my suitcase because we are going to check in to the hotel after this. “ Alcohol and drugs are not allowed on the property at all, not just inside the walls, so don’t bring it in the car.
• “Officer, I was just taking a walk around the jail and getting some pictures.” It is specifically in the rules that you may not walk around the jail or take pictures.
• “Hey, I overheard your joke. That was hilarious!” You aren’t allowed to interact with other LOs. You may only interact with the inmate for whom you are an approved visitor.
• “Oh, I thought I couldn’t have a weapon in the building. I didn’t know I couldn’t have one in my car.” The property is the whole compound, including the grassy areas and the parking lot. You don’t have to be inside a building or inside barbed wire to be on TDCJ property.
• “No one is watching, let’s get in some extra touching under the table.” It’s not just the guards in the room that are supervising visitation. Some units have cameras and a control room monitoring the activity in the visitation area.

Witness People Getting Banned

Usually if you are seeing a car being turned away at the search, that visitor is getting banned.

If you are in the visitation area, and a guard comes to get someone’s LO to end the visit early, it is probable that the couple just got banned.

Who Decides if I can get Visitation Back?

Note that once banned, there is only one way to get visitation back. You need to appeal in writing within 14 days of the ban. After that, you can appeal once every 6 months. It is a committee of a few people who read your letter, and will mail you a letter to let you know if you are re-instated or if your request is denied. There are facebook groups you can apply to. If accepted, they can give you advice on getting re-instated. People who try every 6 months reported getting visitation back in 2-3 years, but some people have been trying longer than that. The address to mail your letter of appeal is on the TDCJ visitation site: https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/visitation/index.html