The Beto Unit in Texas is a men’s maximum-security prison run by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), located about six miles south of Tennessee Colony in Anderson County. If you are trying to visit, write, call, or send money to someone housed there, the steps below cover what you need: the physical address for the unit, the separate address for general mail, how to book a weekend visit, how phone calls and deposits work, and what to know about healthcare and the grievance system.
Where the Unit Is and Who It Holds
The Beto Unit sits on Farm-to-Market Road 3328 south of Tennessee Colony, on a shared 20,528-acre tract alongside the Coffield, Gurney, Michael, and Powledge units. Its rated capacity is 3,471. The unit houses men at custody levels G1 through G4, as well as those in Security Detention, Outside Trusty, and Transient status, so the population ranges from lower-risk individuals close to release to men who require significant supervision.
The facility is named for George John Beto, who directed the Texas Department of Corrections from 1962 to 1972. On-site, inmates work in a metal sign plant operated by Texas Correctional Industries.
Contact Information
The physical address for the unit itself is:
George Beto Unit
1391 FM 3328
Tennessee Colony, TX 75880
The main phone number is (903) 928-2217. Use this address for visits and for things that must go directly to the unit, like legal mail. Do not send regular personal mail here. General inmate correspondence goes through TDCJ’s Digital Mail Processing Center, covered in the mail section below.
Visiting Someone at the Beto Unit
Visits run Saturdays and Sundays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for all visit types, including contact, regular, restricted, and video or tablet visits. Each inmate gets one visit per weekend, so if more than one person on the approved list wants to come, coordinate the day. Whoever shows up second will be turned away.
Two things to do before you drive out:
- Confirm you are on the inmate’s approved visitor list. Call the unit if you are not sure.
- Schedule the visit through TDCJ’s online portal at visitation.tdcj.texas.gov. You will need to create an account and visitor profile, and your relationship to the inmate must be approved before you can book a slot.
Bring a valid photo ID. A state driver’s license or passport works; TDCJ publishes the full accepted list on its visitation page.
The dress code is enforced at the door. Nothing tight, revealing, or see-through. Sleeveless tops are allowed only if they cover the shoulders. Shorts and skirts can be no shorter than three inches above the middle of the knee, though that length rule generally does not apply to children age ten and younger. No clothing with offensive graphics or language. Sandals, flip-flops, and open-toe shoes are fine. The duty warden has the final say on whether an outfit passes, so when in doubt dress conservatively and keep a backup outfit in the car.
Visitation can be canceled unit-wide on short notice. TDCJ posts cancellations on its homepage, so check the day before you travel.
Sending Mail
General letters do not go to the unit address. They go to TDCJ’s Digital Mail Processing Center, where staff scan correspondence before it reaches the inmate. Every envelope must include the inmate’s full commitment name and TDCJ number, or it may not be delivered. Incoming and outgoing letters are reviewed, and mail that violates TDCJ rules can be rejected.
A few specific limits trip people up:
- You cannot mail stationery to an inmate.
- Books, magazines, and newspapers must come directly from the publisher, a publication supplier, or a bookstore.
- Legal documents that need an inmate’s signature, like a power of attorney, should go care of the Law Library at the inmate’s unit, not through regular mail. If you include anything beyond the document and basic instructions, the package will be denied.
Inmates cannot contact crime victims without authorization, and anyone who commits serious correspondence violations can lose mailing privileges with a particular person entirely. Legal mail, special mail, and media correspondence are handled separately and go directly to the unit of assignment.
Phone Calls and Messaging
TDCJ uses Securus Technologies for inmate phone service. Calls are capped at 30 minutes, with a one-minute warning before disconnection, and inmates have unlimited monthly minutes. All calls are monitored and recorded.
You have three ways to pay:
- Collect calls, where you accept charges when the phone rings.
- A Friends and Family prepaid account tied to your phone number, which you fund in advance.
- An inmate debit account the inmate draws from when placing calls, funded by the inmate or by family.
FCC rate caps apply. Beginning April 6, 2026, the per-minute cap for prison audio calls is $0.11, and for video calls it is $0.25. Providers cannot add fees for automated payments or third-party financial transactions.
Securus also provides electronic messaging and video visitation through inmate tablets. These are faster than postal mail but carry per-message fees. Pricing and tablet details are on the Securus platform linked from TDCJ’s Inmate Technology Services page.
Putting Money on an Inmate’s Account
Every inmate has a trust fund account managed by TDCJ’s Commissary and Trust Fund Department. You can add money several ways:
- eCommDirect, TDCJ’s own online portal, accepts up to $300 per transaction on Visa, Discover, MasterCard, or American Express. You can also buy from a catalog of about 100 commissary products and send them directly to the inmate. Deposits post on the second business day after submission.
- JPay, an online payment platform.
- Access Corrections, another approved electronic deposit service.
- TouchPay for online deposits.
- ACE (America’s Cash Express) walk-in locations for cash deposits.
- Money orders or cashier’s checks mailed to TDCJ’s trust fund processing.
- Monthly ACH debit from your checking account using TDCJ’s ACH authorization form.
Every transaction needs the inmate’s full name and TDCJ number. Inmates can spend up to $105 on commissary items every two weeks. That cap covers food, hygiene products, stationery, and similar items from the unit commissary. Quarterly purchases family members make through the eCommDirect catalog do not count against the biweekly limit, so they are a way to supplement what the inmate buys directly.
Healthcare and Copays
TDCJ provides medical, dental, and mental health care at every unit. Non-emergency sick calls carry a $13.55 copay for each of the first seven healthcare visits an inmate requests during the state fiscal year, capped at $94.85 a year. After the seventh charged visit, additional visits in the same fiscal year are free. Emergency care, chronic care follow-ups, and certain other visit types are exempt from the copay.
If an inmate believes care is being denied, the complaint goes through TDCJ’s grievance process. Medical grievances at Step 1 are signed off by the unit practice manager or facility health administrator rather than the warden.
Grievance Procedures
TDCJ runs a two-step grievance system. Inmates must complete it before taking a prison-conditions complaint to federal court; the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires exhausting administrative remedies first, and judges dismiss cases that skip this step.
Step 1
Before filing, the inmate must try to resolve the issue informally with staff. If that fails, the inmate has 15 days from the date of the incident to submit a Step 1 grievance form that states a specific requested remedy. If the form is returned for corrections, the inmate has another 15 days to resubmit. A unit grievance investigator reviews the complaint, and the warden or assistant warden signs the response (the practice manager or health administrator signs medical grievances). Staff normally have 40 days to respond if they take an extension, and they must notify the inmate in writing.
Step 2
If the Step 1 response is unsatisfactory, the inmate has 15 days from the warden’s signature date to file a Step 2 appeal, submitting the answered Step 1 form with it. Staff can take up to 35 days at Step 2, or 45 days for medical grievances. Only after both steps and a final response is the inmate considered to have exhausted administrative remedies. Emergency grievances bypass many screening requirements and are processed immediately.
Education and Work Programs
The Windham School District provides academic and career training inside TDCJ facilities, including Beto. Programs include literacy, GED preparation, life skills, special education, and postsecondary education. Windham’s Career and Technical Education program covers roughly 40 trade areas aimed at entry-level industry standards; which trades are offered at a given unit depends on demand and facility infrastructure. At Beto, the on-site metal sign plant provides a hands-on work assignment under TDCJ’s industrial division rather than Windham.
Since July 2023, incarcerated students can again receive federal Pell Grants, but only through a formal Prison Education Program approved by the Department of Education and run by an accredited nonprofit college. Students must file a FAFSA and must not already hold a bachelor’s degree. For current certifications and education options at Beto, the inmate’s case manager or Windham counselor can provide the active list.
For anyone approaching release, parole planning typically begins months in advance. Work with the assigned case manager to line up resources in the county where the inmate plans to live, since reentry support varies by region.