Commissary or “store” is a place where your LO can purchase supplies.
Approval to fund Commissary
You have to be approved on texas prison phones or as a visitor on the visitation portal in order to fund his commissary. Both Texas Prison Phone approval and visitor portal approval take about 3 days. Go ahead and start getting approval for both, because you need those approvals for phone calls and visitation. Once you are approved for either one, you will be able to add money to his account. When he finally is able to go to the store, he can get commissary items.
How can I fund his commissary?
https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/documents/bfd/Deposit_Options_Flyer.pdf
Use one of the options in the link above. Most people report that eComm is preferred because the fees are lower. Jpay is more expensive, but they get the funds the same day or the next which is faster than eComm Money orders, and the other options listed are also fine. Do what works for you.
Don’t dispute a credit card charge
Do not ask your credit card to dispute an eComm charge or you could find yourself banned from contributing from commissary.
When can he start purchasing commissary?
At an intake unit, your loved one goes through lots of different appointments for medical evaluation, classification, education evaluation etc. One of those appointments will be for an identification and only after your LO has an ID, can he purchase anything from commissary. This takes a couple of weeks. He will get a paper id, but he can’t go to commissary until his real id is created. It varies by unit, but it’s usually 1-3 weeks before he can go.
How often do they go to commissary store?
At Holliday Unit, they go once every two weeks. I am not sure if it’s the same for all units. They could go any day Mon-Friday in the week, then they don’t go the next week, and then could go any day Mon-Friday the following week. It could be as little as 10 days and as long as 18 days between commissary trips, with the average being 14 days.
Is there really a store?
Yes, at least at Holliday the LOs call it “going to store.” The whole pod goes to the area where the store is, they fill out a paper with all the items they want, stand in line, and submit the paper. They order the items on paper and get the items in the same session.
Can I send him commissary items?
Yes, but not right away. If your county jail had Access Secure Packs, eComm has something similar where you can purchase commissary items and send them to your loved one. Well, they aren’t packs, but they are individual items you add to a cart and checkout. The items you can purchase are a subset of what he can purchase. You can purchase the top 100 most popular items.
Ecomm Direct website
https://tdcj-ecommdirect.portal.texas.gov/
You won’t be able to do an ecomm for him until next quarter if he is new, but you can add money for him to spend himself. The ecomm limits that friends and family can send to him have low limits. If more than one person is sending him things, it can be a total of $70 between everyone is sending things. For example, if a mother sends $40 worth of items to a LO, then his father can now send a maximum of $30.
LIMITS OF HOW MUCH YOU CAN SPEND ON YOUR LO EACH QUARTER
- January – March up to $70.00;
- April – June up to $70.00;
- July – September up to $70.00; and
- October – December up to $95.00 (Holiday Spend)
If your loved one arrives at TDCJ Jan 1 – Mar 31, the first time you can send ecomm is April 1.
If your loved one arrives at TDCJ April 1 – June 30, the first time you can send ecomm is July 1
If your loved one arrives at TDCJ July 1 – Sep 30, the first time you can send ecomm is Oct 1
If your loved one arrives at TDCJ Oct 1 – Dec 31, the first time you can send ecomm is Jan 1.
eComm site tips
The ecomm site is closed weekends. It is open Monday to Friday 4am -8pm. Even though it’s a website, it has hours where it opens and closes.
It’s easy to get locked out for the day. Once you add items to your cart, be sure to check out in a timely manner. If you leave the session open too long, use the back button, or lose your internet connection, you might be locked out for the day If this happens, the locks will clear overnight and you can try your order again the next business day.
If the website says that “Offender may receive deposits only”, then this means you can deposit funds to his inmate trust fund and he can buy his own items, but you cannot order items to be sent to him.
Wait, I can only send him $70 per quarter?
No. You can send as much as you want to his personal trust fund. You , as a friend or family member, can only order $70 worth of items for him each quarter. If he is in good standing, he himself can use his commissary funds to buy $105 in items every two weeks which is separate from the per quarter limit. My LO reports there are several people who spend the full $105 every two weeks.
What is eComm?
eComm, if your loved one says it, probably means the act of a family member sending items through the ecomm website. eComm Direct is also the name of the site where you can deposit money onto their commissary account. There are different ways to add money to their account, but the eComm Direct site is the most convenient and has the smallest fees.
Can he use the money I added on the Securus app for commissary?
No. If you add money on Securus for him, he will be able to use that for games, books, and movies on his tablet, or e-message stamps. There is no way to fund commissary through the securus app.
When can I fund his account?
After you are an approved visitor, or approved for the phone, go on the site and look for where it says “make deposit.” If it doesn’t say make deposit, then you can’t fund his commissary yet.
If it gives you the option to do Ecomm direct, then you can pick items and send them.
What is JPay for?
Commissary
How do I add money so they can play games?
That is with the Securus app, using the securus debit button. You cannot add funds for the tablet from the commissary site.
Can I see how much money he has left on commissary?
No. Of all the funding you do , you can only see how much ecomm spend you have left, and how much you have on advanced connect for phone calls. Any other funds are his and you cannot monitor them.
Can he see how much money he has left on commissary?
Only by looking at the bottom of his commissary receipt. Inmates need to do their own accounting to keep track of how much they have. They can see on their receipt from their last purchase how much is left. They cannot look it up on their tablet. I believe he can ask when he goes to commissary if he doens’t know.
Can I see how much I have spent this quarter?
When you logon to your ecomm account, you can see the Remaining Spend balance. If his mother sends $10 worth of items and his girlfriend sends $20 worth, the remaining spend for the quarter would be $40 (they get a total of $70 worth of items per quarter.)
Non Spend Items
If you are a high roller and he is worried about hitting the maximum spend limit, there are certain items that aren’t included in the maximum spend that he can buy, such as fans, medications ,shoes, and some hygeine items. If you buy them, it DOES count against the $70 limit. If he buys them, it does not count against any limit.
Deposits Only
If you see a message “Offender may receive deposits only at this time,” it means you can add money to his commissary fund, but you cannot order him anything from eComm. The reason could be that this is first quarter in prison and families cannot send eComm items until the next quarter starts. It could be he is restricted from commissary due to behavior.
Do Commissary Items get Stolen?
Yes! At Holliday, there are 52 men in an open pod with bunks. There are no cells, at least in the majority of the pods. It is common to have their entire commissary order stolen from their locker. It is not the list, but your loved one can write in “lock” on the bottom of their commissary sheet to purchase lock. They get a lock and key, and their uniform has a pocket which is where most people keep their key. Items are stolen when inmates are away at chow, at rec, at their job etc. It is sometimes the inmates from other pods that come in to clean that do the stealing. The lock should prevent this.
Send small amounts
If you send $300 or more to his commissary fund, the money is put on a two week hold before it is released. Send smaller increments if he needs it in a timely manner.
Can he get a personal fan?
For Holliday, Garza West, and Middleton, no they cannot. The men are in pods with shared outlets. It is generally units that have cells where personal fans are allowed, and they aren’t permitted in the open pods. When your LO gets transferred to his permanent unit, there is a special program where LOs can send fans:
Is this information correct?
Leave a comment if any information here isn’t correct or needs updating. This page is created by a family member trying to navigate the system and this is my personal understanding of how things work.
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