Gregory S. Coleman Unit

Caldwell County TDCJ women's unit south of Austin, formerly the privately operated Lockhart Correctional Facility, now state-operated with a substance-abuse mission.

Overview

The Gregory S. Coleman Unit is a TDCJ prison for women in Lockhart, Caldwell County, about 30 miles south of Austin. TDCJ lists it at about 1,000 beds, with G1 and G2 custody and a substance-abuse program mission.

The unit opened in January 1993 as the privately operated Lockhart Correctional Facility and is now operated directly by TDCJ. The name change and the operator change are the main reasons families may encounter the prior name in older paperwork.

What Makes the Coleman Unit Different

• A women’s unit with a substance-abuse mission, including a DWI Recovery Program and an In-Prison Therapeutic Community
• Hosts a Goodwill Excel Center high-school-diploma campus — one of four such campuses in Texas prisons and the only one located in a women’s facility
• Site of the Empowering Women Out of Prison reentry program, along with a Faith-Based Dormitory and chaplaincy programs
• Formerly the privately operated Lockhart Correctional Facility; now state-operated, so records and addresses may still reference the older name

Visiting Hours and Procedures

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

Visits are arranged through TDCJ’s statewide system: a visitor must be on the incarcerated person’s approved list, and visits are scheduled through the TDCJ Online Visitation Portal. The visiting format follows the incarcerated person’s classification, so general-population housing typically uses standard contact visiting while more restrictive housing can mean different room assignments or non-contact procedures.

Because the prior name remains in some records, families should confirm the current unit assignment on the TDCJ inmate search before scheduling, so the visit is booked at the correct unit.

Getting There and Parking

The Coleman Unit is in Lockhart, the seat of Caldwell County, south of Austin. The drive is mostly highway, finishing on local roads into Lockhart.

There is no fixed-route bus to the unit, so the trip is by private vehicle. Lockhart has gas, food, and groceries in town; the nearest hospital is in the Austin and San Marcos area rather than next to the unit.

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.

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.

Mail is addressed to the incarcerated person by name and TDCJ number at the unit. Because this unit was formerly the Lockhart Correctional Facility, mail using the old name may be delayed or returned, so families should use the current unit name and the TDCJ number. What can and cannot be sent is covered in Mail & Packages.

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