Jerry H. Hodge Unit

Cherokee County TDCJ prison in Rusk that houses the Developmental Disabilities Program for incarcerated people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, with weekend visitation.

Overview

The Jerry H. Hodge Unit is a TDCJ prison in Rusk, in Cherokee County. TDCJ lists it at about 989 beds, with male custody at the G1, G2, and Developmentally Disabled levels.

The unit is the site of TDCJ’s Developmental Disabilities Program (DDP). The DDP is a program for incarcerated people who have intellectual or developmental disabilities, providing housing, supervision, education, and programming adapted to their needs. Because a person’s classification and program placement shape day-to-day routines here, the visiting format follows the incarcerated person’s situation rather than one unit-wide rule.

What Makes the Hodge Unit Different

• Houses TDCJ’s Developmental Disabilities Program (DDP) for incarcerated people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
• Also operates the Sex Offender Treatment Program (SOTP) and Sex Offender Education Program (SOEP)
• Provides ambulatory medical, dental, and mental health services managed by UTMB, plus CPAP housing accommodations
• Shares its Rusk campus with the Skyview Unit; the two are separate units, and the TDCJ inmate locator shows which one a person is assigned to

Visiting Hours and Procedures

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

The unit’s mix of custody levels and specialized housing is the main reason one posted schedule does not mean one visiting experience. General-population housing typically uses standard contact visiting, while a person in a treatment program or specialized housing may have different room assignments or procedures on the same weekend. The format follows the incarcerated person’s classification and placement, so confirming the arrangements with the unit before traveling avoids a wasted trip.

Getting There and Parking

The Hodge Unit is in Rusk, in Cherokee County, in East Texas. The drive finishes on farm-to-market roads west of town.

Rusk and the surrounding area are reached by car; there is no fixed-route transit to the unit. The nearest larger service center for gas, food, and lodging is the Tyler area to the north.

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.

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