Q
Where is the Alfred D. Hughes Unit?
3201 FM 929, Gatesville, TX 76597, in Coryell County. TDCJ describes the location as a mile and a half north of Loop 36. The unit's own number is (254) 865-6663.
Facility
Updated August 29, 2026
Verified from official government sources
Alfred Hughes Unit, TX
Physical Address
3201 FM 929, Gatesville, TX 76597
The Alfred Hughes Unit, officially the Alfred D. Hughes Unit, is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison in Gatesville, Coryell County, about a mile and a half north of Loop 36. It opened in January 1990, holds 2,984 men across 25 housing units on its own 390 acres, and runs custody levels G1 through G5 along with Security Detention, Safekeeping and Mental Health housing. Six TDCJ units sit in and around Gatesville, and Hughes is the only one of them for men. This guide covers the TDCJ locator, the visiting schedule and its early video window, the Dallas mail routing, Securus phone setup, and the Inmate Trust Fund.
Alfred Hughes Unit
City
Gatesville
County
Coryell County
State
Texas
Facility Type
State Prison
Gender
Male
Capacity
2984
Custody Levels
G1-G5, Security Detention, Safekeeping, Mental Health
Operator
TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division
Address
3201 FM 929, Gatesville, TX 76597
Phone
(254) 865-6663
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Quick Facts
Inmate Search
- 1 Hughes is the only men's prison in Gatesville. Crain, Hilltop, Murray, O'Daniel and Woodman are all women's facilities.
- 2 A search that returns "Gatesville" is not enough on its own. Read the unit name in the result.
- 3 The Mountain View Unit was renamed the Patrick L. O'Daniel Unit, so older listings name a facility that no longer goes by that name.
Visitation
- 1 Contact, Regular and Restricted visits run Saturday and Sunday, 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM.
- 2 Video and tablet visits open an hour earlier, at 7:00 AM, on both days.
- 3 Hughes is one of 28 TDCJ units statewide with that early video window.
- 4 Hughes runs no weekday visiting. Of the units in TDCJ's current directory, only Bill Clements adds Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and there they cover video visits only.
- 5 Hours read from TDCJ's Unit Visitation Schedule on August 29, 2026.
Mail & Letters
- 1 Personal mail, greeting cards and photos go to a processing center in Dallas, not to Gatesville.
- 2 Mail without the full commitment name and eight-digit TDCJ number is returned to sender.
- 3 Legal mail, packages, publisher-direct books and government checks still go to the unit itself.
- 4 TDCJ's unit directory gives the ZIP as 76597. The 2024 PREA report for this unit gives 76528.
Mailing Address
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
[Full First and Last Name] [TDCJ Number]
PO Box 660400
Dallas, TX 75266-0400
Contact
- 1 The unit's own number is (254) 865-6663.
- 2 Calls run through Securus Technologies and none connect until you register.
- 3 Registration is at texasprisonphone.com or (866) 806-7804.
- 4 Hughes has a Family Liaison Coordinator, a staff role TDCJ assigns to each unit.
Articles for This Facility
Inmate Search
Hughes Unit Inmate Search
Six TDCJ prisons sit in one small town and five of them are women's facilities. How to be sure the search result is the right Gatesville unit.
View Article Visitation
Hughes Unit Visiting Hours
Saturday and Sunday, 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM, with video and tablet visits opening at 7:00 AM. Read from TDCJ's own schedule.
View Article Mail & Photos
Mail and Photos to Hughes
What goes to the Dallas processing center, what still goes to Gatesville, and the ZIP code TDCJ publishes two ways.
View ArticleWhat You Need to Know
Verified from official sources
See our sources ›
Confirmed for Hughes: it is the only male facility among the six TDCJ units in Gatesville, and it stands alone on its own 390 acres instead of sharing the women's complex. The locator returns a unit name, so the thing to check is which Gatesville unit the record names.
See the full breakdown Verified from official sources
See our sources ›
Confirmed for Hughes: Contact, Regular and Restricted visits run Saturday and Sunday 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM, and Video/Tablet visits open at 7:00 AM on both days. Read directly from TDCJ's Unit Visitation Schedule on August 29, 2026. No weekday slots and no death row hours.
See the full breakdown Verified from official sources
See our sources ›
Statewide TDCJ policy: personal mail, cards and photos route through a processing center in Dallas instead of the unit. Legal mail, packages and publisher-direct books are the exceptions. Confirmed for Hughes: TDCJ publishes two different ZIP codes for this address, 76597 and 76528, which matters for the mail that still goes to Gatesville.
See the full breakdown Verified from official sources
See our sources ›
Statewide TDCJ policy: only people on the incarcerated person's Visitors List or phone list may deposit, a restriction in force since September 1, 2020. Deposits key to the eight-digit TDCJ number, and anything of $500 or more is held for 14 days before it posts.
See the full breakdown Verified from official sources
Statewide TDCJ policy: calls run through Securus Technologies, they are outbound only, and none connect until the family member registers the number. Confirmed for Hughes: the unit's own number is (254) 865-6663, which reaches staff, not the person you are trying to talk to.
See the full breakdownFamilies Also Ask
8 of 8 questions
Q
Is Hughes a men's or women's prison?
Men's, and it is the only one in Gatesville. The other five TDCJ units in and around the town, Christina Melton Crain, Hilltop, Dr. Lane Murray, Patrick L. O'Daniel and Linda Woodman, all hold women.
Facility
Q
How many people does Hughes hold?
2,984, across 25 housing units on 390 acres. The unit's November 2024 PREA audit recorded an average daily population of 2,943 and noted the facility had not been over capacity in the previous twelve months.
Facility
Q
When can I visit someone at Hughes?
Contact, Regular and Restricted visits run Saturday and Sunday, 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM. Video and tablet visits start earlier, at 7:00 AM, on both days. There are no weekday slots. These hours were read from TDCJ's Unit Visitation Schedule on August 29, 2026.
Visitation
Q
Why does Hughes have a 7:00 AM start for video visits?
TDCJ sets video and tablet windows per unit, and Hughes is one of 28 units statewide that open an hour before the in-person schedule. It is a real extra hour at the start of each day, and it is not shared by every Gatesville unit: Crain offers no portal video visits at all.
Visitation
Q
Where do I mail a letter to someone at Hughes?
Not to the unit. Personal mail, cards and photos go to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, [Full First and Last Name] [TDCJ Number], PO Box 660400, Dallas, TX 75266-0400. Legal mail, packages and publisher-direct books are the exceptions and still go to Gatesville.
Mail & Letters
Q
Which ZIP code is right for Hughes, 76597 or 76528?
We cannot settle it from published sources, because both come from TDCJ. The unit directory says 76597 and the November 2024 PREA report for this unit says 76528, which is also the ZIP TDCJ uses for the O'Daniel and Woodman units. We use 76597 because it is the mailing directory's value. For anything that still goes to Gatesville, confirm on (254) 865-6663 first.
Mail & Letters
Q
Is there an inmate handbook or a visitor application form for Hughes?
There is no handbook or visitor form specific to this unit. TDCJ does not publish per-facility handbooks at all. The statewide documents are the General Information Guide for Families of Inmates and the I-218 visitation rules. The Visitors List is set up on Form RO-1, which the incarcerated person submits and which TDCJ does not publish as a downloadable PDF.
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All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified August 29, 2026. Official source: tdcj.texas.gov/unit_directory/ah.html ›