How to Fill Out and Submit the TDCJ I-60 Request Form

The TDCJ I-60 form, officially titled “Inmate Request to Official,” is the written request an incarcerated person at a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility uses to communicate with staff about administrative questions, service requests, and non-emergency complaints. To get a useful answer, fill it out completely, keep it to one issue, address it to the specific department that handles that issue, sign and date it, and drop it in the unit’s I-60 box. Keep a record of what you sent, because the returned form can matter later.

What the I-60 Is For

TDCJ’s own health care policy describes the I-60 as “generally used for administrative type questions.”¹ Typical uses include:

Checking with the mailroom on whether a book or magazine has been approved for delivery.²
Requesting permission to correspond with an incarcerated family member or a co-party in active litigation.³
Raising concerns about medical care already received, through the informal resolution process.⁴
Following up on property inventories, classification status, or other unit records.
Contacting the Institutional Parole Officer at your unit when in-person access is not available.⁵

Two boundaries worth naming up front. The I-60 is not for new medical symptoms or to ask to see a provider. TDCJ policy states that any written communication reflecting “symptoms or a request to see a provider” is to be handled as a Sick Call Request instead, using form HSA-9 placed in a Sick Call Request box.¹ It’s also not for emergencies; notify the nearest officer in person rather than writing a form that may sit in a collection box for hours.

How to Fill Out the Form

Forms are available from housing wing officers, case managers, and common areas on the unit. The form is short, but incomplete entries get delayed or routed to the wrong office. Include each of the following:

Your full legal name as it appears in TDCJ records, not a nickname.
Your 7-digit TDCJ number assigned at intake.⁶
Your unit of assignment and current living quarters, including wing and cell or bunk, so the response can find its way back.
Your work assignment, which some requests (particularly correspondence approvals) require.³
A specific “To” field. Address the form to the person or office that actually handles the issue: the Warden’s Office, Mailroom, Classification, Unit Records, the Health Administrator (as Complaints Coordinator), the law library supervisor, or another named department. “Whoever is in charge” almost guarantees a slow response or no response at all.
The request itself, written as a brief, clear statement. One issue per form. Two unrelated questions means two I-60s.
Your signature and the date. An unsigned form may not be treated as an official communication.

Writing the Request

Space is tight, so lead with what you want: an answer, an appointment, a status update, a correction. Explain the background in the next sentence or two, not the first. Include any reference numbers, dates, or names that help staff pull your records quickly. If you’re asking about confiscated property, give the approximate date it was taken and any property receipt number.

Skip the complaints, threats, and emotional appeals. Staff process many of these a day, and a form that reads as a rant tends to come back with a generic answer. The strongest I-60s read like short memos: who you are, what happened, what you need done.

How to Submit It

Completed forms go into an I-60 drop box on the unit, which staff check on a regular schedule.⁵ Some units allow staff to accept forms directly during rounds or administrative sessions, but that varies by unit and security level.

Before you submit, write down the date, the department addressed, and a short summary of the request. If you never get a response, that log is your evidence that you tried, and that evidence matters if the issue later moves into a formal grievance.

What to Expect Back

Staff from the addressed department review the form and write a response, which comes back to your housing area through internal mail. TDCJ does not publish a fixed public deadline for I-60 responses, and turnaround varies by unit, department, and complexity. Mail or commissary questions tend to come back faster than requests involving classification records or coordination between units.

Hold on to the returned form. It is proof of the exchange and may be needed later.

Why the Answered Form Matters Later

This is where the I-60 carries real legal weight. TDCJ requires inmates to attempt informal resolution of a problem with staff before filing a Step 1 grievance on the I-127, and that attempt has to be documented on the grievance form itself. The grievance pamphlet does not name the I-60 as the only acceptable method of informal resolution, but it does list answered I-60s among the “official documents that support their claim” that inmates may attach to a grievance.⁷

For medical complaints the path is specific: contact the treating professional first, then submit an I-60 or written request to the facility’s Health Administrator (who serves as the Complaints Coordinator), and file a formal grievance (I-27) only if you remain dissatisfied.⁴ The Complaints Coordinator is expected to respond promptly because the inmate has only 15 days from the date of the incident to file a Step 1 grievance.¹

The stakes extend past TDCJ. The Prison Litigation Reform Act requires inmates to exhaust available administrative remedies before filing a federal lawsuit, which in practice means completing both Step 1 and Step 2 of the grievance process before a federal court will hear the case.⁸ Because the I-60 often functions as the documented informal resolution attempt that precedes Step 1, keeping every answered form is part of building a usable paper trail.

One boundary on the grievance side: some issues cannot be resolved through grievances no matter how many I-60s you send. Time-served credit disputes are classified as non-grievable and must be directed to the Classification and Records Office, Time Section.⁹ An I-60 is still the right way to raise them; the follow-up just does not run on the grievance track.

Retaliation Is Prohibited

Staff cannot punish you for submitting an I-60 or using the grievance process. TDCJ policy states that “harassment, retaliation, or reprisal for using the inmate grievance process is strictly prohibited.”¹⁰ If a staff member refuses to provide forms, discards submissions, or threatens consequences for sending them, document the interference as fully as you can and file a grievance about the retaliation itself.

Requesting Inmate-to-Inmate Correspondence

One of the more detailed I-60 uses is asking for permission to write to another incarcerated person. TDCJ limits this to specific family relationships: parent, grandparent, step-parent, spouse, common-law spouse, child, grandchild, step-child, or sibling. Submit the I-60 to your Unit Records Office with your name, TDCJ number, unit, living quarters, and work assignment, plus the other inmate’s name, TDCJ number, current unit, and your relationship.³

If the other person is a co-party in active litigation rather than a family member, send the I-60 to the law library supervisor instead, and include the cause number, case style, whether the case is criminal or civil, and the presiding court including state or federal division or district.³ Missing any of those details will stall the approval.

1
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Correctional Managed Health Care Policy A-12.01 Attachment C – Informal Resolution Process
2
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Classification and Inmate Transportation Division – Mail System Coordinators Panel
3
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Frequently Asked Questions – Correspondence Rules
4
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Correctional Managed Health Care – Complaint Process
5
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. How Do I…? – For Supervised Inmates
6
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Inmate Information – Requests by E-mail
7
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Inmate Grievance Program
8
Texas State Law Library. Grievances and Complaints
9
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Administrative Directive AD-03.82 – Management of Offender Grievances
10
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Administrative Review and Risk Management – Inmate Grievance Program