Understanding Polunsky's Visiting Schedule: The One-Visit-Per-Week Rule

TDCJ runs visits on a "visiting cycle," which is a set weeklong window that starts on Monday and ends the following Sunday. This matters because the visit limit resets by cycle, not by calendar month or "seven days from your last visit." Think in Monday-to-Sunday blocks and planning gets a lot easier.

For eligible inmates, the standard rule is one visit per visiting cycle. In practical terms, that means one visit per week, even if multiple people want to come. If one group visits early in the cycle, another group showing up later that same week can be turned away because the visit "slot" has already been used.

• ✓ Coordinate with other people on the inmate’s Visitors List so you do not accidentally schedule competing visits in the same weekend or visiting cycle.
• ✓ Confirm the inmate is assigned to the unit you plan to visit.
• ✓ Confirm the inmate has visitation privileges before you travel.
• ✓ Call the unit for final confirmation before you leave, especially if you are traveling a long distance.

Standard visiting hours are Saturday and Sunday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Plan around those times when you're figuring out travel, child care, and coordinating with other family members.

A regular contact visit lasts two hours. The clock starts once both the inmate and the visitor(s) are present, so delays during check-in cut into your actual face-to-face time.

The online scheduler can be confusing if you don't know how it filters dates. When an inmate already has a visit booked for a given week, that entire week disappears from the calendar. This is why coordination matters: if someone else on the Visitors List books a visit, you won't see any available dates for that cycle at all. If the calendar seems to "skip" a week, check with the inmate and your family first. Don't assume the system is broken. Just plan for the next cycle instead.