Two addresses cover every unit in the Texas prison system. Neither of them is the prison.
This is the part families get wrong most often, and it costs them. Personal mail for anyone in Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) custody goes to a scanning center in Dallas. Money orders go to a lockbox in Huntsville. Both are the same for all of TDCJ, so the unit your person is in does not change either address. Mail sent to the unit itself is refused and returned to you.
Since September 6, 2023, TDCJ has routed personal mail through a Digital Mail Processing Center in Dallas. Staff there scan each piece and send the file to the unit, where it lands on a tablet or gets printed.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
[Full Commitment Name] [TDCJ Number]
PO Box 660400
Dallas, TX 75266-0400
Board Policy BP-03.91 is blunt about the alternative: apart from documents needing a signature, “all general correspondence addressed to inmates and received by TDCJ facilities will be returned to the sender as refused.” A letter posted to the prison comes back to you, even though your person really is there.
The commitment name is the full legal name TDCJ holds, which is not always the name the family uses. Both it and the TDCJ number are required, and mail missing either one is returned.
Some mail never touches Dallas. TDCJ accepts these at the unit’s own street address, by regular and certified mail:
A document that needs a signature goes to the unit law library, addressed to the commitment name and TDCJ number with “c/o Law Library” above the unit address. The librarian watches the person sign and mails the original back in a stamped envelope you provide.
Each unit’s own address is on its facility guide.
The scanning center holds your original letter or photos for 90 calendar days, then destroys them. Your person keeps the scan, not the paper. If you want the originals back, put a self-addressed stamped envelope inside. That is the only way TDCJ returns them.
TDCJ does not publish a size limit for photos. It publishes content rules instead, and rejects sexually explicit images and altered photos that hide a face.
Before anything else: TDCJ only accepts deposits from friends and family on the person’s approved Visitors List or approved telephone list. If you are on neither, the deposit is rejected whichever method you use.
Make the money order or cashier’s check payable to Inmate Trust Fund for [Name and TDCJ Number], enclose a completed deposit slip, and mail it to:
Inmate Trust Fund
PO Box 60
Huntsville, TX 77342-0060
Deposit slips come from the person directly, or you can request them by mailing a self-addressed stamped envelope to that same address. TDCJ charges no fee for this route.
TDCJ approves five outside vendors. All of them charge a service fee.
| Vendor | How to use it |
|---|---|
| JPay | jpay.com or 1-800-574-5729. Cash at any MoneyGram counter using receive code 3570. |
| eCommDirect | texas.gov/eCommDirect with Visa, Mastercard or Discover. The fee is $2.50 plus 2.25 percent. |
| Access Corrections | accesscorrections.com or 1-866-345-1884, bilingual agents 24/7. Cash at Dollar General through CashPayToday. |
| ACE America’s Cash Express | 1-866-734-2306 or acecashexpress.com to find a counter. |
| TouchPay | tdcjpayment.com or 1-877-868-5358. Mastercard, Visa and MoneyPak cash. |
For the same amount each month, TDCJ runs a free automatic debit from a personal checking account. Send the ACH authorization form with a voided check to Inmate Trust Fund, PO Box 629, Huntsville, TX 77342-0629. That is a different PO Box from the money order lockbox, so check the number before you seal it. The debit runs around the 5th and credits around the 10th.
Any single deposit of $500 or more is held at least 14 days before it can be spent. TDCJ applies the same hold to insurance, company, payroll and estate checks.
Never mail cash. TDCJ tells families not to send cash, stamps or personal items to the unit or to the Inmate Trust Fund. There is no public balance lookup for families, so keep your vendor confirmation or ask on the next call. If a deposit has not posted when it should have, call the Inmate Trust Fund on (936) 438-8990.
6 of 6 questions
Since September 6, 2023, TDCJ has personal mail scanned at a Digital Mail Processing Center in Dallas and delivered electronically to the unit. Board policy says general correspondence received at a unit is returned to the sender as refused, so a letter posted to the prison comes back to you.
MailNo. Both the Dallas mail address and the Huntsville money order lockbox are statewide and keyed to the TDCJ number, so a transfer does not change either one. Packages and legal mail do go to the unit, so those need the new unit address.
MailNo. Mailed deposits go to the Inmate Trust Fund lockbox at PO Box 60, Huntsville, TX 77342-0060, payable to Inmate Trust Fund for the person's name and TDCJ number, with a deposit slip enclosed.
Send MoneyUsually because the sender is not on the approved Visitors List or telephone list. TDCJ only takes deposits from people on one of those lists. A wrong TDCJ number, or a missing sender name and address, will also hold a deposit up.
Send MoneyOnly if you include a self-addressed stamped envelope. Otherwise the scanning center holds the paper for 90 calendar days and then destroys it.
MailYes, two. A mailed money order to the Huntsville lockbox carries no TDCJ fee, and the monthly checking account debit is free. All five online vendors charge a service fee.
Send MoneyPackages, legal mail and publications go to the unit itself rather than to Dallas. Each facility guide lists that unit’s street address and phone number:
One locator covers every unit. What it returns, what it leaves out, and the two ways to ask that accept a date of birth.
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All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified August 24, 2026.