For Your Information about TDCJ

You will be out of contact for 2+ weeks

Say everything you need to each other because when he goes to TDCJ, he does not get a phone call upon arrival. The earliest you can hope to hear from him is an e-message when he gets his tablet in a couple of weeks.

Be prepared for no phone calls from your LO for 1-6 months.

Agree on name, address, relationship

You need to be approved as a visitor, not only for visitation, but also to add money to his commissary.

Lots of people are denied approval due to a mismatch of information he gave on his visitation form vs what you enter in the visitation portal.

The address he uses on his visitor form must be the address that is printed on your drivers license or id.

Your LO needs to know the correct spelling of your name, your address that is on your id, and your relationship to each other.

If he spelled your name one way on his visitor form, and you spell it a different way on the visitation portal website, you will not get approval. The approval is automated. There are not humans deciding if its approved or not. ( A human can tell you why you were not approved, but the approval or rejection is done by computer.)

The inmate creates a visitor list of up to 10 people and only those people may visit.   Expect big delays for any kind of spelling errors.  If he writes relationship is “friend”, and you write the relationship is “uncle”, it won’t be approved.  Talk about this ahead of time.

He should add all visitors as soon as he gets there. Even if he doesn’t have the correct information, I would add the visitors, because you can make changes to current visitors at any time. If you need to add a new visitor, you can only do that once every 6 months.

Memorize name and address

My LO wrote all the key info in a bible and on a sheet of paper, hoping that he will be allowed at least one of the two. To be safe, memorize the information.  Any items the inmate brings with them, will be taken away for inspection, and will be returned to him days or weeks later.  They are permitted to bring a list of names, addresses and phone numbers, and a Bible, but sometimes it depends on who is working.

Add money to commissary at county jail

I would add money to his commissary at county jail because it could be a long time before you can add money once he is at TDCJ.  You have to be an approved visitor in order to fund commissary.  They will transfer the commissary money from county to TDCJ within a few weeks. You probably can fund his commissary prior to the transfer from county, but not always.

What can you take from county to TDCJ?

You cannot bring books except a *Bible. (They can receive books at TDCJ.) You may bring legal papers. All of those things will be taken away at TDCJ temporarily, and you will get them back in 1-4 weeks after they have been sorted. Even if your LO is not at Collin County jail, their website explains exactly what is permitted: https://www.collincountytx.gov/sheriff/Lists/FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=14&ContentTypeId=0x010066D2758858AC5F46B96469717FB8E76D

When you move from TDCJ unit to TDCJ unit, you can take TDCJ commissary items with you. I don’t believe you can take county jail commissary items to TDCJ. You can try to bring two soups if you don’t mind that you might not get them back.

Lack of Air Conditioning

Make sure your loved one has $23 to purchase a fan if it is summertime, although personal fans aren’t allowed at Holliday or Garza West units. If he gets put in a pod without AC, it is unbearably hot. I don’t know the statistic, but it’s maybe 50% of beds have AC. Priority is given to those with medical conditions. Be sure your LO knows to advocate for himself if heat aggravates a medical condition because they don’t always put people in the AC pods, even though it is on the medical record that they should be.

Try to give him some advice:

• don’t accept any gifts your first week, you can trade, but don’t accept a gift
• it avoids situations like, i gave you a cookie and now you have to give me your lunch tray for a week
• don’t touch anything that isn’t yours. Ask whose it is and politely ask if you can move it
• be clean and have good hygiene. no one wants to be around someone who stinks and who leaves a mess in a shared sink
• your first days, observe, observe, observe, observe. Going in like you own the place is a good way to get bullied
• don’t buddy up with someone who is likely to be bullied
• when you arrive, expect to have to shave your head and beard
• be careful with your pin! Don’t let others see it.
• Be careful with your id and tablet as they can be stolen.

See this article for the fastest way to get in contact with your loved one:

How can I talk to him?!? Tablets and Phones at TDCJ

Asterisks

*A Bible or other religious text is the only book permitted