Send Money to the Lane Murray Unit. Approved Vendors & Money Orders

The Deposit Has to Come From an Approved Sender

The rule that rejects the most deposits has nothing to do with how you pay. A deposit clears only if the sender is on the incarcerated person’s approved visitor list or approved telephone list. Send money without being on one of them and it bounces, whichever vendor you used.

You will also need her commitment name and TDCJ number, and your own name and address on the deposit. If the number is not in front of you, pull it from the TDCJ Inmate Search before you start.

Her TDCJ Number Is What the Money Follows

A trust fund deposit attaches to her eight-digit TDCJ number, not to the Dr. Lane Murray Unit as a place. That matters in Gatesville, where TDCJ runs five women’s prisons within a few miles of each other and moves people between them. If she transfers to a neighboring unit, the balance travels with her and you do not resend it, so there is no reason to hold off on a deposit while a move is pending.

A No-Fee Money Order to the Huntsville Lockbox

A mailed money order or cashier’s check is the one method TDCJ does not charge for. It does not go to Gatesville. Make it payable to Inmate Trust Fund for [Her Name and TDCJ Number], put a completed deposit slip in the envelope, and mail it to the central lockbox:

Inmate Trust Fund
PO Box 60
Huntsville, TX 77342-0060

Deposit slips come from her, or you can request a stack by mailing a self-addressed, stamped envelope to that same lockbox.

The Card, Phone, and Cash Vendors

For anything quicker than the post, TDCJ approves five outside services, and every one adds a fee. It helps to sort them by how you want to pay.

By card, online or by phone. eCommDirect, at texas.gov/eCommDirect, takes Visa, Mastercard or Discover for $2.50 plus 2.25 percent. JPay (jpay.com, 1-800-574-5729), TouchPay (tdcjpayment.com, 1-877-868-5358) and Access Corrections (accesscorrections.com, 1-866-345-1884, with bilingual agents around the clock) all take cards the same two ways.

With cash, in person. JPay takes cash at any MoneyGram counter under receive code 3570. Access Corrections takes it at Dollar General through CashPayToday. ACE America’s Cash Express (1-866-734-2306, acecashexpress.com) runs its own storefronts, and TouchPay accepts MoneyPak cash bought at retail.

Sending the Same Amount Every Month

If you give her a set amount on a schedule, the fees are avoidable through TDCJ’s free monthly debit. Fill in the ACH authorization form, clip a voided check to it, and mail both to Inmate Trust Fund, PO Box 629, Huntsville, TX 77342-0629. That box is not the money order box, so read the number twice. The debit comes out around the 5th and posts to her account near the 10th.

The Hold on Deposits Over $500

A single deposit of $500 or more is frozen at least 14 days before she can spend any of it, and TDCJ freezes insurance, company, payroll and estate checks the same way. To get money to her ahead of a holiday, send it early or split it into smaller amounts.

No Cash, No Interest, No Balance Line

Cash in an envelope never works. TDCJ tells families not to mail cash, stamps or personal items to the unit or to the lockbox, both because it will not be credited and because loose money invites extortion. The balance earns no interest, and there is no online balance page for families. Keep your vendor receipt, ask her on the next call, or phone the Inmate Trust Fund at (936) 438-8990 if a deposit runs late. The same balance also covers her calls; the phone calls guide explains how that works at the Lane Murray Unit.