Before You Drive to Smith Unit: Final Checks to Avoid a Wasted Trip
A few quick checks before you leave can save you hours of driving. Run through this list to make sure your visit will actually happen once you get to Smith Unit.
Before you hit the road, confirm your loved one is actually assigned to Smith Unit and has visitation privileges. Don't know their 8-digit TDCJ number or SID number? Use the TDCJ Offender Search to look it up - you'll need the correct number when adding them to your visitation profile. Once you've confirmed the unit assignment, check the unit's visitation information for your planned visit day. That page updates once daily on weekdays and multiple times per day on visitation days, so what you saw earlier in the week might not be accurate anymore. This single step prevents a lot of "we drove all this way for nothing" trips.
Note: Confirm the unit visitation schedule and verify visitation hasn’t been canceled - if visitation is canceled, even an eligible inmate can’t receive visitors. Call Smith Unit for final confirmation before you leave.
Using the online visitation scheduler? Check your status before leaving. A Relationship Request sits under "Relation Requests Pending Approval" on your home page until TDCJ staff at the inmate's unit approves it. Until that happens, you're not fully cleared in the system. If the relationship is still pending, sort that out first - otherwise you might arrive only to find out you can't visit.
If you're 18 or older, bring a current, government-issued photo ID. Here's the part people miss: at least one ID must show your current physical address. There's an exception for victims of family violence certified by the attorney general for address protection - the address rule may be handled differently in those cases. For everyone else, keep it simple: bring an unexpired photo ID showing your current physical address.
Dress conservatively or risk getting turned away at the door. No tight-fitting, revealing, or see-through clothing. Shorts and skirts must have hems no shorter than three inches above the middle of your knee while standing. On the fence about an outfit? Change before you leave. The duty warden has final say on what's appropriate, and that decision can end your visit before it starts.
Prohibited Items
- ✓ Paper money
- ✓ Tobacco
- ✓ Lighters
- ✓ Matches
- ✓ Cell phones
- ✓ Smartwatches
- ✓ Laptop computers
- ✓ Cameras
- ✓ Digital recorders
- ✓ Other electronic or wireless devices
Final check: Call Smith Unit right before you leave home to reconfirm the schedule and make sure visitation hasn’t been canceled - visitation information is updated regularly, and changes can happen.
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