Rufus H. Duncan Geriatric Facility

TDCJ geriatric facility for men in Diboll, Angelina County, East Texas, with weekend visitation under the statewide portal system.

Overview

The Rufus H. Duncan Geriatric Facility, commonly called the Duncan Unit, is a men’s geriatric prison in Diboll, in Angelina County in East Texas. TDCJ lists its capacity at about 530 beds. The unit opened in August 1992 and is operated by TDCJ’s Correctional Institutions Division.

The unit’s mission is its defining feature: it is built around housing older and infirm men, with services arranged on a single level and a block of wheelchair-accessible beds.

What Makes the Duncan Unit Different

• A dedicated geriatric facility — TDCJ adapts it for elderly and infirm men, with all services on a single level, 40 wheelchair-accessible beds, and on-site ambulatory medical and dental care
• A small unit by TDCJ standards, with capacity for about 530 men
• A separate facility from the Diboll Unit, which is also located in Diboll, on the same street; the two are distinguished by mission and address — the Duncan Unit (geriatric) is at 1502 South First Street, while the Diboll Unit (general-population men) is a different prison nearby
• Because two TDCJ prisons sit in the same town, families should confirm the exact unit on the TDCJ inmate locator, since a different unit means a different visitation list

Visiting Hours and Procedures

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

TDCJ does not publish per-unit visiting hours for the Duncan Unit. Statewide, in-person visiting is on Saturdays and Sundays for visitors on the approved Visitors List, scheduled through the TDCJ Online Visitation Portal. Regular visits run up to two hours, and visitors who travel more than 300 miles may request a special visit of up to four hours. Current hours are posted at tdcj.texas.gov/visitation.

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 housing can mean different room assignments or non-contact procedures on the same weekend, so two families arriving the same morning may have different experiences.

Getting There and Parking

The Duncan Unit is in Diboll, in Angelina County, in East Texas south of Lufkin. Diboll sits along U.S. 59 between Lufkin and the Lufkin-area highway grid, and the trip is by private vehicle.

The nearest hospital and most services are in Lufkin, the larger city just north of Diboll, rather than in Diboll itself.

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

Diboll is a small city with limited commercial services. Lufkin, immediately to the north, is the nearest service center for gas, food, groceries, and lodging, and is where most chain hotels and restaurants in the area are located. Families typically base in the Lufkin area when visiting 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.

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