Thomas Goree Unit

A men's unit four miles south of downtown Huntsville with sex offender treatment programs — known for decades, long ago, as the women's prison of Texas.

Overview

The Thomas Goree Unit sits on Highway 75 four miles south of downtown Huntsville, on a site TDCJ dates to 1907. It houses lower-custody men (G1 through G3, plus administrative segregation, outside trusty, and transient populations) and hosts one of TDCJ’s sex offender treatment operations.

Families with much older information may know Goree as something else entirely: published Texas histories describe it as the women’s prison of Texas from around 1911 until the early 1980s — nationally famous in the 1940s for the “Goree Girls” radio band — before the women moved to Gatesville and Goree became a men’s unit. It has been a men’s prison for over four decades.

What Makes Thomas Goree Unit Different

• TDCJ lists the Sex Offender Treatment Program (SOTP) as the unit’s special treatment program; TDCJ’s program map lists sex offender education and treatment tracks under a combined Estelle/Goree entry — a placement reason families often want explained.
• Several people are at Goree only briefly: TDCJ lists a transient custody level, dynamic risk assessment for male offenders, and a transient function for female inmates en route to Hospital Galveston — so a locator entry showing Goree may be temporary.
• TDCJ’s horse breeding program is the unit’s agricultural operation, run with assistance from the Wynne Unit.
• TDCJ also lists U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) among the unit’s additional operations.
• It sits four miles south of downtown on Highway 75 South, so Houston-side visitors reach it before downtown Huntsville.

Visiting Hours and Procedures

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

TDCJ’s standard limits apply: normally one visit per weekly cycle, two-hour regular visits, two adults per visit with children 17 and under not counted, and extended visits of up to four hours may be granted at the warden’s discretion for visitors traveling more than 250 miles one way. Because the unit holds transient populations, confirming the person is still assigned to Goree before traveling matters — the inmate locator shows the current unit. Account setup and phone rates are covered in Phone & Video Calls.

Getting There and Parking

Goree is on Highway 75 South, the old highway paralleling I-45 on Huntsville’s south side.

TDCJ does not publish visitor parking details for the unit. There is no fixed-route bus service in Huntsville; Brazos Transit District operates shared-ride, advance-reservation service covering Walker County.

Nearby Services

Huntsville’s services cluster along I-45, including chain hotels (Best Western, Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Hampton Inn & Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites). Hospitality House, at 912 10th Street, is a donation-based guest house specifically for families of people incarcerated in the Texas prison system — it accepts guests Thursday through Saturday nights and recommends early reservations; (936) 291-6196.

Huntsville Memorial Hospital on Memorial Hospital Drive operates a 24-hour emergency room.

For support beyond the unit itself, the Texas Incarcerated Families Association (TIFA) is a statewide nonprofit focused on education, advocacy, and prison-system navigation for families; its helpline is (512) 371-0900.

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