Buster Cole State Jail

Men's TDCJ state jail in Bonham, Fannin County, northeast of Dallas, with weekend visitation under TDCJ's statewide rules.

Overview

The Buster Cole State Jail is a men’s state jail operated by TDCJ in Bonham, in Fannin County in far-northeast Texas. TDCJ lists it at about 900 beds. It holds people serving state-jail sentences and also functions in part as a transfer point, so its population includes a mix of custody classifications.

Two facts shape almost everything about visiting here: the unit’s small-town location northeast of Dallas and the fact that a separate TDCJ unit operates right next to it.

What Makes the Cole Unit Different

• A men’s state jail, distinct from the regular prison units in TDCJ’s system — it holds people serving state-jail terms alongside a transfer function
• Co-located with the Choice Moore Unit, a separate TDCJ unit also in Bonham and Fannin County, on the same roughly 697-acre complex; because the two units sit together and share the same town, it is easy to confuse them, so families should confirm the exact unit on the TDCJ inmate locator before traveling — a nearby unit is a different visitation list
• Sits about three miles west of Bonham, near the corner of FM 87 and Old Silo Road
• Programs include a faith-based dormitory, a CHANGES pre-release program, and electrical-trades vocational education

Visiting Hours and Procedures

The statewide rules above — approval, ID, prohibited items, and dress code — apply at the Buster Cole State Jail. What follows is specific to this unit.

TDCJ does not publish unit-specific visiting hours for the Buster Cole State Jail on its unit page; the times above reflect the standard weekend window, and TDCJ’s visitation page is the authority for current hours. Visits are arranged through the TDCJ Online Visitation Portal, and a visitor must be on the incarcerated person’s approved Visitors List before a visit can be scheduled.

Because Cole holds a mix of state-jail and transfer classifications, the visiting format follows the incarcerated person’s classification rather than one unit-wide rule. General-population housing typically uses standard contact visiting, while more restrictive or transfer status can mean different room assignments or non-contact procedures on the same weekend. Two families arriving the same morning may have different experiences.

Getting There and Parking

The Buster Cole State Jail is northeast of Dallas in Fannin County, about three miles west of Bonham near the corner of FM 87 and Old Silo Road. The drive is by private vehicle.

There is no fixed-route bus to the unit, so the trip is by car. Bonham is a small town, and services thin out on the roads west of town toward the complex.

Phones, Mail, and Video

Contact has a sequence to it. A phone number must be on the incarcerated person’s approved contact list before calls can connect, and after intake or a transfer that approval can take time to process. Calls are placed by the incarcerated person on TDCJ’s Securus phone system; a prison cannot be called into. Account setup, rates, and video options are covered in Phone & Video Calls.

Nearby Services

Bonham is a small town with limited commercial services. It has gas, food, and groceries in town, with additional lodging, restaurants, and shopping in Sherman, about 25 miles west on U.S. 82. Families traveling a distance often base out of the Sherman area, where chain hotels and a wider range of services are available.

For support beyond the unit itself, the Texas Inmate Families Association is a statewide nonprofit focused on education, advocacy, and prison-system navigation resources for families with someone in TDCJ custody.

Learn More

For detailed information about visiting and communicating with someone at a Texas state prison:

• Visiting in Texas — TDCJ approval process, dress code, scheduling
• Mail & Packages — what you can send and what gets rejected
• Phone & Video Calls — Securus accounts, call costs, video visits
• Sending Money — how to add funds to a TDCJ trust account
• Medical & Mental Health — healthcare in TDCJ facilities
• Transfers — what happens during transfers