Do you have a family member or friend that is held at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ)? If yes, you may want to visit your inmate. Visiting an inmate is one of the ways you show your care to your inmate. And, it also plays a crucial role to maintain connection between inmates and their family members or friends. By the way, how to login at TDCJ Visitation Portal? Well, on this page, we want to talk about TDCJ visitation including the way to create an account at TDCJ visitation portal, how to login, and the way to make a scheduled visit. Thus, make sure you read the entire text below before you plan a scheduled visit to your inmate at TDCJ.
TDCJ Online Visitation Portal
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is always updated about the rule and regulation for inmate visitation. Usually, the visitation rules are posted in areas available to visitors. If needed, you can also ask for copies of the visitation rules. The visitation appointments can be created through the TDCJ online visitation portal. Yeah, TDCJ has an online visitation portal where it can be used for individuals to schedule visitation appointments with the inmates. Therefore, before you visit your incarcerated loved one, you can schedule it first online via this online visitation portal. If you have not registered for the online visitation portal, you can go to its official website to begin registration. After you create your account and visitor profile, then you will be able to login and make a scheduled visit.
Creating Account at TDCJ Online Visitation Portal
The first thing that you must do to be able to login at the TDCJ Online Visitation Portal is creating your account and visitor profile. So, make sure you follow the instructions correctly and completely. In the text below, you can find out the way to create an account and visitor profile at the TDCJ Online Visitation Portal.
Here is how:
- Firstly, go to the official website of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) at https://www.tdcj.texas.gov.
- Once you are at the homepage, you can find out several menus, just click at the “Inmate Information” option.
- On the next screen, you will be able to view Inmate Visitation. Please click at the Online Visitation Portal to start registration. By clicking it, you will be taken to the page of TDCJ Online Visitation Portal.
- Once you are on the portal page, you can click on the “Create an Account” option. It can be discovered under the blue “Log In” button.
- After that, you will be taken to another page where you are required to enter your email address. So, please enter your email address. And, click on the “Submit” button.
- Next, you will be sent an email which contains a validation code that contains 7 digits and a link to complete the account registration.
- Please click on the link in the email you received and you will be taken to the Online Visitation Scheduler page. There, you are required to enter several information including your email address, key code, and password.
- Upon entering a valid password, the Background Questionnaire screen will show up. Now, you are required to answer seven questions in the Background Questionnaire to be able to move on to the next step in creating an account. So, please answer all questions correctly and completely.
- After you answer all the questions in the Background Questionnaire, just click on the “Submit” button.
- The next step, you need to complete your visitor profile. Please click on the “Edit My Profile” link where you can complete your profile.
- Once you are at the Visitor Profile page, you can enter your information such as your first name, last name, date of birth, gender, race, address of your home, city, state, Zip, main phone number, and alternative phone number.
- After the visitor profile is complete, you will be able to see the “Edit My Profile” and the “Add Inmate” button. Please click on the “Add Inmate” button to start adding your inmate to your visitor profile.
- Afterwards, you will be able to view the “Search Inmate” window. There are two options to search for the inmate; search by TDCJ number or SID number. Keep in mind that the TDCJ number or SID number must be 8 digits.
- After you enter the TDCJ number or SID number, just click on the “Search” button. And, select your relationship with the inmate. Please click on the “Request Approval” button.
- Next, you will be able to view a confirmation message. To submit the request, simply you can click on the Ok button. Or, you can click on the “Cancel” button if you want to return to the Search Inmate window.
- Once you click the Ok button, the Relationship Request will be sent to the inmate’s unit of assignment. The TDCJ’s staff will verify your relationship with the inmate.
- If the TDCJ’s staff has confirmed your relationship with the inmate, then the Relationship will move to the section of Verified Inmate Relations. At this point, if the Schedule Visit button is available by their name, you can start making a schedule.
How to Login at TDCJ Online Visitation Portal?
Once your account has been created, then you will be able to login at TDCJ Online Visitation Portal. Keep in mind that before scheduling a visit, your account and visitor profile must be created and approved with visitor to inmate relationship.
Here is how to login:
- At the first step, you can visit the official website of Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) at https://www.tdcj.texas.gov.
- Once you are at the homepage, you can see several menus. Please click at the “Inmate Information” option. Alternatively, you can also click on the More option in the Online Services to find the Online Visitation Portal page.
- After that, navigate to the Online Visitation Portal option. And, click on it.
- Next, you will be taken to the page of TDCJ Online Visitation Portal where you will be able to login.
- Once you are on the TDCJ Online Visitation Portal page, simply you can log in by entering your username or email and password.
- Make sure that you enter your username or email and password correctly.
- Lastly, you only need to click at the “Log in” button.
Warning: At this time, the TDCJ Online Visitation Portal is only available to residents of the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Things to Do If You Forgot Your Password
Sometimes, when you tried to login at the TDCJ Online Visitation Portal, you forgot your password. If you face this problem, do not worry, you can take some easy steps to get a solution. Just follow the simple steps below.
- When you are on the Online Visitation Portal page, you can click on the Forgot Password/ Reset Password link.
- After you click the Forgot Password/ Reset Password link, then you will be taken to the page where you need to enter your email address.
- So, please enter your email address in the provided field. And. click on the “Submit” button.
- Next, you will receive an email containing an instruction to reset your password.
- Finally, you can login again with your new password.
How to Schedule a Visit?
After knowing the way to create an account and login to TDCJ Online Visitation Portal, now you may want to schedule a visit. Please follow some easy steps below to make a scheduled visit.
- Firstly, login to your account and navigate to your Visitor Profile.
- When you are in the Home Page of the Visitor Profile, you can click on the “Schedule Visit” button.
- You will get a message that asks you whether or not you will include any children under 17 years old in the visit. Please answer it.
- After that, you will be asked about the type of visit. Please choose the type of visit you want. There are some options you can choose including Regular, Contact, and Video/ Tablet.
- Then, you can click on the “Review Open Dates” to open a dropdown menu of available dates to schedule your visit.
- Please select the date you want to visit and click on the “Review Available Times” button to select the time for the visit.
- In this step, you need to enter the number of adults who will visit where you are included in it.
- Next, you are required to review your selections to ensure that everything is okay. Just click in the checkbox beside the statement that states you have already reviewed your selections and want to schedule the visit. After you check the box, you will be able to view the “Schedule Visit” button, just click on it.
- Once a visit has been scheduled, you will see the Visit Scheduled screen which shows all details of your visit.
Everything You Need to Note Before Planning a Visitation
Here are some things you need to note before you plan a visitation to a unit:
- Make sure that the inmate you want to visit has visitation privileges. Also, before going to the unit, you are required to call the unit for final confirmation.
- You are required to confirm the unit visitation schedule. Ensure that visitation has not been cancelled. Keep in mind that the inmate cannot receive the visitors if the visitation has been cancelled. You can find out the unit visitation cancellations on the TDCJ homepage.
- Make sure that you are an approved visitor of the inmate. If you are not sure about that, just contact the unit for verification.
- You are required to bring your photo identification (ID).
- You are required to check clothing for compliance.
- Make sure that you do not bring any prohibited items to the unit.
- Make sure that you do not bring cash. However, you can bring coins that are not more than $25.
- You are not allowed to bring cell phones inside the secure perimeter.
- Special visits or visits that need special accommodations must be set prior to the visit.
- You are required to coordinate with the warden’s office for spiritual visits.
