Texas Inmate Ministry, Support and Advocacy

10/14/2026

Moderator Position Available

We are seeking to expand our moderator/admin team in the following unit groups.

Allred
Baten/Jordan
Beto
Buster Cole/Choice Moore
Clemens
Clements
Crain
Daniel
Terrell
Torres
Travis
Wainwright

The role is simple. Approve incoming posts and to make sure everyone is having a great day. Occasionally verify lockdown status and Tricia will handle all escalations for larger issues such as phone and tablet concerns and so forth.

If you’ve got time to donate to one of these groups please send Tricia an email:

[email protected]

We just ask for the following:

1. Must have a LO at the unit
2 Your FB must be at least a year old.
3. No affiliation with an existing advocacy group. We know advocacy take a slit of time and attention and we don’t want to take away from that.
4. You cannot have a member of our admin team blocked.

If you want to help us grow these groups, send me an email and let’s talk!

10/12/2026

Our friends at the Hope Welcome Center have added a service to their ministry!

Live in the panhandle area? Need help with your video visitation? They have your back!

You can now swing by the Hope Welcome Center and use their video Visit Station to conduct your video visit!

Have questions? Send them an email : [email protected] or give them a call 806-378-9967!

This is a great option for those in the panhandle area that don't use the Video Visit system due to no device or stable connection!

-----
The mission of the Hope Welcome Center is to bring families together and to help strengthen the family bond. This is very important, especially for supporting family reunification after release.

We have thousands of families in the Texas Panhandle that have an incarcerated loved one. Many of which are incarcerated across the state. I have spoken with families and they indicated they do not utilize the video visitation as they do not have a stable internet connection or device to conduct the visit on.

We have launched our Video Visit Assistance program! Essentially you schedule your visit online in the TDCJ portal and then call us to schedule with us. Arrive a few minutes before your scheduled video visit. We will let you use our iPad or computer and you can visit with your loved one.

There is no cost for this service. We just ask that you consider leaving a donation to help us continue our mission.

Feel free to reach out if you have questions or need assistance!

10/10/2026

The TDCJ book portal will launch Oct 15, 2026

This is not a new discussion.

Due to the family advocate who mailed drugs into the Allred unit we are not able to send in hardback books.

We will now use the “book portal” to log any books we are sending our loved ones.

This will include current magazine subscriptions.

You will register for the portal just as you did the visitation portal.

You will log the necessary information for each book purchase.

Books must be ordered from an approved vendor and must be an approved title.

The infographic has the only provided to us at the summit on yesterday.

This has been in discussion and was announced when TDCJ announced we could no longer send in hard back books.

They announced the “live” date during the summit yesterday.

10/07/2026

The TDCJ previously had the Ecomm Website and Commissary closed for a system update and it reopened on 10/5/26.

There was an issue with the Ecomm system and the new system communicating with one another.

Due to this, the Ecomm website has been turned off for maintenance. They estimate this will be resolved today and that the Ecomm website will reopen tomorrow. Delays could happen but are not anticipated.

In addition, many items, including soups are not on the Ecomm Website. This is due to a price change and these items will be added back to the site after it reopens. There are approximately 10 items that need to be added back.

Please have patience as this is a really big system update and to be honest, the issues are minimal compared to what is usually anticipated in a change this extensive.

If you have questions you can ask in the comments or drop us an email at: [email protected]

09/24/2026

This is to be expected. This is why I said it would be a bumpy road. ⭐️

A federal judge ruled that the infamous summer conditions in Texas prisons violated inmates’ Eighth Amendment rights. A Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson said the department plans to appeal the ruling.

🔗 https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/after-years-of-deaths-inmates-resorting-to-toilet-water-texas-must-install-prison-ac-40717339/

09/22/2026

Fresh off the press

Air conditioning is coming to all Texas Units by the end of 2029.

While many advocates over the years made this possible, Casey Philips began this journey and this ruling comes after the anniversary of Justin’s death which could have been avoided had each unit had AC and better medical care. Let’s not forget her and Justin in this celebration.

While this gives us great hope, we have to accept that appeals can occur which can cause delays. If won on appeal for the opposing counsel that could change things.

That being said, expect a bumpy ride.

A federal judge has ordered Texas to air condition all of the state’s lockups, which the prison agency said could cost $1.5 billion, by the end of 2029.

https://www.texastribune.org/2026/09/22/texas-prison-air-conditioning-lawsuit-ruling/

Thinking of you Casey and Justin.

High temperatures violate the Constitution’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment, the judge ruled. Just over a third of Texas prisons are fully air conditioned.

09/15/2026

⭐️SHOE PRE-ORDER PROGRAM UPDATE ⭐️

We have had multiple inquiries regarding the show pre-order program/process. Many have been advised this has stopped.

Remember, two things can be true at once.

The program has not ended. It was temporarily paused. The TDCJ is transitioning to a new operating system. Due to this, they needed to clear out all existing orders prior to the transition. To do this, they have temporarily stopped pre-orders.

⭐️This is TEMPORARY and will resume on or after 10/05/26.⭐️

When orders resume, your loved one will need the full amount of the shoes on their books as the new system will "hold" the funds for the shoes and the purchase will be completed once they arrive at the unit.

The new system will allow the agency to better monitor the inventory and purchases.

We will continue to monitor and provide updates as they become available.

Have questions? [email protected]

09/11/2026

DRC Webinar

I want to just be transparent and direct. Out of the kindness of my heart I assisted families with navigating the DRC appeal process for years.

I only asked families to be honest with me. I have never nor would I ever judge anyone. But you cannot effectively appeal a DRC issue without the honest truth.

Towards the end of 2025 and beginning of 2026 the deception increased, the entitlement outweighed the kindness and the verbal abuse was too much for me to continue to take. So I made the hard decision to no longer assist.

I stepped away because of the dishonesty, the verbal abuse and lack of kindness. This was not everyone I helped. It was just so intense that it outweighed everything else.

In the past 72 hours I’ve had multiple people reach out privately asking for assistance. I am no longer offering private DRC assistance.

I understand many have found themselves on a disapproved list and you need help. The most effective help I can offer is to host a webinar to teach you the do’s and don’ts and to explain what the whole process truly is like.

If you have found yourself on a disapproved list and you need DRC guidance, please let me know in the comments if you would benefit from a webinar.

09/01/2026

TDCJ Ecomm Outage

The ecomm system is having technical issues and is currently offline. The agency is aware and working on a resolution. There is no hard ETA but the goal is to be up and running by tomorrow.

08/11/2026

Wedding Officiants:

If you would like to be listed in our Directory of wedding officiants please email us your Business Website, contact t information and units/regions you service.

We will be doing another newsletter to the units next month and this information will be included.

Deadline is 8/14/26.

[email protected]