Dempsie Henley State Jail: Visitation, Mail, Phone, and Commissary

The Dempsie Henley Unit is a female prison operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Dayton, Texas, and although people often call it a state jail, TDCJ classifies it as a prison built around substance abuse treatment programs. It sits at 7581 Highway 321, Dayton, TX 77535, on roughly 394 acres shared with the Hightower Unit and the Plane State Jail. Capacity is 384, and the population is held at J1 and J2 custody levels along with transient and substance abuse assignments.¹ The unit opened in May 1995 and is named for Dempsie Henley, who served four terms as mayor of Liberty and 16 years as Liberty County judge.

What Kind of Programs Run at Henley

Most women at Henley are there for treatment rather than long-term confinement. The Substance Abuse Felony Punishment Facility (SAFPF) is a six-month in-prison program followed by up to three months of residential aftercare in a transitional treatment center, then six to nine months of outpatient aftercare and up to 12 months of support groups.² A judge typically orders SAFPF as a condition of community supervision in place of prison or state jail time, or the Board of Pardons and Paroles votes an inmate into it as a modification of parole.

The In-Prison Therapeutic Community (IPTC) follows a similar structure. Both programs now offer an alternative to residential aftercare: eligible participants may be released to an approved home plan and report to a contracted facility for the same number of treatment hours.²

Visiting Someone at Henley

Get on the Approved Visitor List First

You cannot visit until the inmate’s list clears you. TDCJ handles this through its Online Visitation Portal. Create an account, complete your profile, search for the inmate by TDCJ number or SID number, choose your relationship from the dropdown, and click “Request Approval.”³ The request sits at “Pending Approval” until the unit reviews it. Once it shows “Verified Inmate Relations,” you can schedule.

Identification

Adults 18 and older must bring a current, official government-issued photo ID, and at least one document must show your current physical address.⁴ Staff can ask for additional verification, such as a birth certificate or a credit card with your photo, if there is any question about your ID.

Children 17 and younger must be accompanied by an adult on the inmate’s approved list for the entire visit.⁵ If a child’s physical maturity leaves their age unclear, staff may ask for a birth certificate, state-issued ID, or student ID. In limited hardship situations, 16- and 17-year-olds with prior written warden approval may visit a parent or legal guardian alone.

Dress Code

Tight, revealing, or see-through clothing is not allowed. Sleeveless tops and dresses must cover the shoulders. Shorts and skirts have to be no shorter than three inches above the middle of the knee while standing.⁶ Anything with profane or offensive images or language will get you turned away. The duty warden has the final call, so lean conservative.

Scheduling and Arriving

Once your relationship is verified, a “Schedule Visit” button appears on your portal dashboard. Pick the inmate, choose an available date and time, confirm, and submit.³ Give yourself time to clear screening. You will pass through a metal detector; phones and personal items go in the lobby storage lockers. Staff verify your identity before taking you to the visitation area.

Phone Calls

TDCJ phone service runs through Securus Technologies. To receive calls, register your phone number at TexasPrisonPhone.com or by calling (866) 806-7804. You will need the inmate’s TDCJ ID number.⁷ During registration you confirm the number is yours, agree to accept the inmate’s calls, and acknowledge that call forwarding, three-way calling, and speakerphone are prohibited. The name on your driver’s license or state ID has to match the name on the phone account.

Calls can be paid three ways: collect, a Friends and Family Prepaid account that you fund, or a Securus Debit Account funded by the inmate or family.⁷ Local and interstate rates are both $0.06 per minute, plus government-mandated taxes and regulatory fees.⁸

Sending Money and Commissary Items

You can deposit money into an inmate’s trust fund by money order or cashier’s check, monthly ACH debits from a checking account, or online through vendors including JPay, Access Corrections, TouchPay, and the eCommDirect portal.⁹ JPay takes Visa, Discover, and MasterCard, with service fees starting at $3.95. Cash deposits can go through MoneyGram locations nationwide.¹⁰ If you don’t have the TDCJ ID number, look it up through the TDCJ Inmate Search or call (936) 295-6371 or (800) 535-0283.⁷

eCommDirect

eCommDirect lets approved friends and family buy commissary items online for delivery to the inmate, usually within five business days. You must be on the inmate’s Approved Sender’s List, and your name at checkout must match that list.¹¹ Quarterly spending is capped across all senders combined: up to $70 for January–March, April–June, and July–September, and up to $95 for October–December.¹²

Not every inmate is eligible. Those on commissary restriction, in administrative segregation, or newly received (who wait until the next calendar quarter) cannot receive eCommDirect purchases. Unit lockdowns pause deliveries until the lockdown is officially lifted.¹¹

Sending Mail

As of September 6, 2023, TDCJ processes all personal mail digitally. Letters no longer go to the unit. Send them to the central processing center in Dallas, where staff scan and upload the mail to the inmate’s secure tablet.¹³ Address the envelope:

Texas Department of Criminal Justice
[Inmate’s Full First and Last Name] + [TDCJ Number]
PO Box 660400
Dallas, TX 75266-0400

The Dallas center accepts personal letters, greeting cards, photos, and legal services advertisements. Some items still go directly to the unit: legal mail, media mail, books, magazines, packages from verified publishers, and any document that requires an inmate signature.¹³ Scanned mail is held for 90 days and then destroyed. If you want your physical letter returned after scanning, include a self-addressed stamped envelope.¹⁴

Medical Care and Health Fees

TDCJ charges inmates $13.55 per health care visit, capped at $100 per state fiscal year, which runs September 1 through August 31. After seven inmate-initiated visits, the cumulative total reaches $94.85 and the rest of that fiscal year’s visits are free.¹⁵ Inmates with less than $5 in the trust fund are considered indigent and are not charged at the time of service, but unpaid fees accumulate and carry over, even after release and any later return to TDCJ custody.

Non-emergency medical or dental care starts with a written Sick Call Request form available in housing areas. For non-urgent conditions, a licensed health care worker must see the inmate within 72 hours of receiving the request.¹⁶ If someone at Henley tells you about a medical problem, urge them to submit the form. The 72-hour clock only starts when it is turned in.

Filing a Grievance or Contacting the Ombudsman

Complaints go through a two-step grievance process. The inmate should first try to resolve the issue by speaking with staff. If that fails, they file a Step 1 grievance with the Unit Grievance Investigator within 15 days of learning about the problem. Only one grievance per week is allowed, and each form covers a single issue. TDCJ has 40 days to respond.

If the Step 1 response is unsatisfactory, the inmate files a Step 2 within 15 days of receiving it. If 40 days pass with no Step 1 response, they can move to Step 2 anyway, and TDCJ then has 35 additional days.¹⁷ Finishing both steps matters legally: under the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act, inmates must exhaust these remedies before filing suit in federal court.

From the outside, the Office of the Independent Ombudsman acts as a liaison between the public and TDCJ. The office handles non-criminal complaints, answers questions about agency policy, and helps resolve problems. It cannot override judicial decisions, investigate criminal conduct, or handle medical concerns, which route to separate TDCJ offices. The office recommends trying the unit level first, then reaching out if that does not work.¹⁷

Phone: (936) 437-5620
Toll-free hotline: (833) 598-2700
Email: io@tdcj.texas.gov
Mail: Texas Board of Criminal Justice, Office of the Independent Ombudsman, PO Box 99, Huntsville, TX 77342-0099

1
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Henley (LT)
2
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Rehabilitation and Reentry Division – Substance Abuse Treatment
3
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Online Visitation Portal Instructions
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Forms of Identification
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Inmate Rules and Regulations for Visitation
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Dress Code
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Inmate Technology Services
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Texas Prison Phone. Calling Programs, Rates, and Fees
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Business and Finance Division – Commissary and Trust Fund
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice. For Supervised Inmates
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice. eCommDirect – Inmate Commissary Purchases and FAQ
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice. eCommDirect Inmate Direct Purchase Program
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Inmate Information – Digital Mail
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Frequently Asked Questions – Inmate Digital Mail
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Questions Regarding the Annual Health Care Services Fee for Inmates
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Daily Processing of Health Complaints and Sick Call
17
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Office of the Independent Ombudsman