Mail & Photos to the Cotulla Unit. Why Letters Go to Dallas

The Mailing Address for Letters and Photos

Texas Department of Criminal Justice
[Full First and Last Name] [TDCJ Number]
PO Box 660400
Dallas, TX 75266-0400

Use his full commitment name, the one on his judgment, not a nickname. TDCJ refuses and returns mail that arrives without the full name and number.

What Still Goes to Cotulla

The unit’s own address handles a specific short list: legal mail, special mail, correspondence from a media outlet, business correspondence from an organization or agency, packages, publisher-direct books and magazines, and government benefit checks.

Cotulla Unit
610 FM 624
Cotulla, TX 78014

Anything needing his signature goes to the same address addressed care of the Law Library.

Why the Split Catches People at Cotulla

Cotulla holds people in Transient status, and the unit’s own December 2020 PREA audit recorded an average stay near five months. A letter sent to the wrong address does not arrive late, it comes back to you unopened, and by the time it comes back he may have moved.

The Dallas center is statewide, so scanned mail follows the person rather than the prison. That works in your favor at a unit with this much turnover.

What Happens to the Paper You Send

Mail is opened and scanned in Dallas and delivered to him digitally, usually within about three business days. The physical original is destroyed after 90 days.

If you want the original back, particularly for a child’s drawing or a photograph you cannot replace, enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope. That is the only way to get it returned.

Do Not Put Money in the Envelope

Cash, prepaid cards and personal checks are returned to sender, and personal mail no longer reaches Cotulla anyway. Money for his account goes to the Inmate Trust Fund lockbox in Huntsville, covered on our send money guide.

Books and Magazines

Under a rule effective April 1, 2026, books must be softback and in new condition. Hardbacks and used books are refused. They must ship directly from a publisher, a bookstore or an online bookseller, never from an individual, and they go to the unit address rather than to Dallas. TDCJ has said a registration portal for this is in development.

Photos, and Another Way to Send Them

Photographs follow the same route as letters, to the Dallas PO Box, and go through the same scanning process.

You can also send letters and photos through Pigeonly. You upload a letter or photos from your phone and they are printed and mailed to the facility according to that prison’s mail rules, so there is no printer, envelope or stamp involved. It is an alternative to the post office, not a replacement for the official address above, and mail sent this way still goes through the same Dallas scanning center.