Coffield Unit Visiting Hours. Weekends Only, Despite What You've Read

Where the Monday, Wednesday, Friday Claim Came From

Here is the Coffield row from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) Unit Visitation Schedule, read on August 29, 2026:

Visit type	Days	Hours
Contact	Saturday and Sunday	8:00 AM to 5:30 PM
Regular	Saturday and Sunday	8:00 AM to 5:30 PM
Restricted	Saturday and Sunday	8:00 AM to 5:30 PM
Video/Tablet	Saturday and Sunday	8:00 AM to 5:30 PM

There are no weekday slots. That is worth stating flatly, because several widely-copied guides list Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon visiting at Coffield, usually as 1:00 PM to 5:30 PM.

We can show exactly where that came from. TDCJ’s visitation rules, document I-218, contain this clause:

1.4.5 Due to visitation demand, and if staffing levels allow, the CID director may designate units to expand normal visitation days to include Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays.

That is a statement of what the CID director is permitted to add, at units he designates. It is not Coffield’s schedule, and it is not any particular unit’s schedule. Only Bill Clements still carries that expansion in TDCJ’s unit directory, and there the weekday block covers video visits only.

The governing clause for Coffield is the one immediately above it:

1.4.1 Visiting hours occur on Saturday and Sunday between 8:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

A note on the column names, because one of them misleads people. TDCJ’s rules state that general visits “are also referred to as non-contact and regular visits.” So Regular means a visit through a barrier, not an ordinary sit-down visit. Contact is the type that allows physical contact. Restricted is tighter still, and TDCJ does not define it in the published rules, so ask the visiting sergeant on (903) 928-2211 which type applies to him.

One Visit a Week, Monday Through Sunday

The weekend-only schedule is not the only constraint on how often you can come. TDCJ works in visiting cycles:

1.4.2 Visiting cycles begin on Monday and end on the following Sunday. 1.4.3 Normally, one visit per visiting cycle for eligible inmates is allowed. 1.4.4 A regular visiting period is two hours in duration.

So the practical rhythm is one two-hour visit per week, taken on either Saturday or Sunday. A cycle runs Monday to Sunday, which means two visits on consecutive weekend days fall in the same cycle and a Sunday visit followed by the next Saturday does not.

Booking runs through TDCJ’s Online Visitation Portal or the warden’s office, between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM, at least one day and no more than seven days ahead. Late arrivals are accommodated where staff can manage it, but every visit ends at 5:30 PM regardless of when it started, so a late arrival is a shorter visit, not a delayed one.

Splitting is possible. A visit can be taken in one or two hour increments with up to four adults in total, requested at check-in, not booked ahead.

Michael Has No Portal Video Visits. Coffield Does.

This is the difference between the two neighboring units that costs families a wasted plan, and it is invisible from an address.

In the same schedule pull, Coffield’s Video/Tablet cell is populated, Saturday and Sunday, 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM. The Mark W. Michael Unit’s Video/Tablet cell is empty. Two prisons three street numbers apart on FM 2054, and one of them cannot be booked for a video visit through the portal at all.

So if someone has told you video visiting is available, confirm which of the two units he is in before you count on it. Video sessions are capped at one 60-minute visit per month either way, through Securus Technologies at $10 or free at a tablet kiosk.

Getting on the Visitors List

Before any of the above applies, you have to be on his Visitors List, and you cannot put yourself there. TDCJ’s rules are explicit that the incarcerated person, and not a visitor, must request that someone be added. The only exception is a court-appointed guardian.

• He submits up to 10 names on Form RO-1, Request for Placement on Visitors List, with each person’s physical address, phone number and relationship.
• The warden or a designee approves or denies each name.
• The list can be changed once every six months at a unit like Coffield. Corrections to an existing entry, such as a new address, can be made any time without restarting that clock.
• TDCJ does not publish Form RO-1 as a downloadable PDF. There is nothing for you to fill in or submit; he gets it from unit staff.
• No general visits happen until the list has been processed.

Removal from a list can be appealed in writing to the Director’s Review Committee, PO Box 99, Huntsville, TX 77342, within 14 days of the written notice.

The visitation portal is a separate thing from the list, and confusing the two is the most common reason a family believes it is approved when it is not. The portal books visits. It does not put you on the list. You need both.

At the Gate

• ID. Everyone 18 and over needs a government photo ID showing a current physical address.
• How many. Two adults 18 or over per visit. Children 17 and under do not count toward that.
• Dress code. Nothing tight, revealing or see-through. Sleeveless is fine if shoulders are covered. Shorts and skirts no shorter than three inches above mid-knee. Open-toe shoes are permitted. The duty warden has final say, so dress conservatively.
• Money. Up to $35 in coins, or a card, for vending. Bills are not accepted.
• Longer visits. Travelling more than 250 miles one way can qualify for an extended visit of up to four hours at the warden’s discretion, and long-distance special visits can run up to eight hours across two consecutive days.
• Young visitors. Hardship visits allow 16 and 17 year olds to visit a parent or guardian unaccompanied.

TDCJ runs an Ombudsman Visitation Hotline on (936) 437-4927, toll-free on (844) 476-1289, staffed 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturdays and Sundays. If something goes wrong at the gate on a visiting day, that line is staffed while you are still there.

There is no visitation handbook or visitor application form specific to Coffield. TDCJ does not publish per-unit handbooks, and the statewide I-218 rules linked below govern.