How Texas jails are organized
Each county in Texas runs its own jail, and each has its own page here. Houston is Harris County. Dallas is Dallas County; Fort Worth is Tarrant — two cores in one media market. San Antonio is Bexar. Austin is Travis; Georgetown is Williamson; San Marcos is Hays — the Austin split. El Paso is El Paso County. Hidalgo and Cameron are the Valley. Collin (McKinney, Plano) is not Dallas County. Austin is the state capital, but arrests are booked in the county where they happen.
Texas county jails are sheriff-run and regulated by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. TDCJ (the state prisons, Huntsville and the rest) is not a county booking log. City lockups (Houston, Dallas, Austin PD) are overnight paths into the county jail. This site currently has live roster pages for 23 of 254 counties (23 jail pages, 14,196 records tracked). The other 231 counties have a jail information page with lookup steps and contacts; until a roster feed is connected, the sheriff or detention center is the official source for who is in custody there.
Finding someone in a Texas jail
Large Texas sheriffs publish detailed inmate searches (charges, bond, class). 254 counties means this grid is the largest in the country and the gaps are real. We do not invent a statewide TDCJ-style name search for every county. If you know the county, open its roster above and search by name or charge. If you only know the city of arrest, find which county the city is in first.
District and county courts-at-law sit in the county. Harris County Criminal Justice Center is not Fort Bend. A Plano case is often Collin, not Dallas. Municipal courts handle city ordinances. The courthouse and the jail are often in different buildings. Confirm the facility name on the booking paperwork or with the attorney before you travel.
Bond, visits and money in Texas
Texas cash and surety bonds are a huge industry. Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, and Bexar each have bondsmen who work that jail. A Travis County bondsman does not walk Williamson’s window. Magistration is fast; websites lag. Bond amounts shown on a roster can change after the first court appearance. CurrentPrisonList does not post bail or accept payments.
Harris County’s 1200 Baker / related complexes are not Fort Bend. Dallas County’s Lew Sterrett is not Tarrant’s. Video vendors differ. Do not copy a Harris schedule onto Hidalgo. Dress codes, video-visit providers and appointment times are set by each jail. Check the sheriff's website on the day of the visit.
Travel and common mistakes in Texas
IAH and HOU for Harris. DFW and DAL for Dallas/Tarrant (still two counties). AUS for Travis/Williamson. SAT for Bexar. ELP for El Paso. I-35 does not merge Travis with Bexar. Take the jail address from the sheriff's website or from the contact section of the county page, not from a generic map search.
A common mistake: searching Dallas County for a Tarrant or Collin booking, or calling TDCJ about a county jail inmate still awaiting trial. Neighboring states have their own state pages on this site.