A search on the state tool takes a minute or two:

1. Go to Texas IVSS-Counties from any phone or computer.
2. Enter a surname and a given name. A fragment of either is accepted, handy when spelling is in doubt.
3. Choose the entry whose age and county fit your relative.
4. Note the custody status, the holding facility and any booking or ID number listed.
5. Release and transfer alerts can be requested from that same screen.

Results cover only people jailed or supervised at this moment. For an arrest made today, ring 806-872-7560 and ask for the jail.

An empty search is no proof of release. Typical explanations:

• Still in booking. Prints, photos and forms get finished before a record goes live.
• Out already. Bail might be paid, or a personal bond granted by a magistrate.
• Transferred. Custody may now sit with a different county, a state unit or federal officers.
• Spelled another way. Retry with a middle name, a hyphenated or maiden surname, or a nickname.
• A minor. Youths under 17 are handled by the juvenile system, apart from this adult lookup.

A quick call clears it up. Reach the Sheriff's Office at 806-872-7560 with the exact spelling and birth date.

Just one adult jail exists in the county: the Sheriff's 54-bed building on 2nd Street. Even so, a state count in August 2022 found 19 county inmates boarded at other jails, so a nearby lockup is possible. Neighboring county jails:

• Lynn County Jail, 810 Lockwood Street, Tahoka, TX 79373, 806-561-4505
• Garza County Jail, 412 East 15th Street, Post, TX 79356, 806-990-9974
• Gaines County Jail, 305 E Avenue A, Seminole, TX 79360, 432-758-9871
• Terry County Jail, 1311 Tahoka Road, Brownfield, TX 79316, 806-637-2212

The Sheriff's Office at 806-872-7560 knows whether someone was boarded out.

IVSS-Counties tracks custody, not photos. Photo requests must be made in writing.

• Send the Sheriff a Public Information Act request in writing, using the P.O. box shown in the letters answer below. Under Gov't Code 552.108, basic arrest information must be released. Staff can say whether the photo itself will be released, and questions go to 806-872-7560.
• Texas law (Bus. and Com. Code ch. 109) says a website that demands $150 or more to pull down a booking photo must, for free, fix or remove any entry that is wrong or missing details. Those sites are also barred from showing any arrest a judge has wiped clean by expunction or nondisclosure.
• ICE photos are requested through the agency's records request page. Other federal agencies usually keep booking photos private, although a photo might be released by the U.S. Marshals while they hunt a fugitive.

DPS keeps a statewide gallery, the Texas 10 Most Wanted, with photos of its top fugitives.

IVSS-Counties will notify you free, by phone or email, when a county inmate is booked, freed or transferred, a move to state prison included. Changes to court events trigger notices too. It took over from Texas VINE in 2025, though the Sheriff's page still points to the old service.

• Signing up works on ivss-counties.tdcj.texas.gov, whether or not you create a login.
• The phone route, 866-268-8959, runs 24 hours a day and has Spanish-speaking help.
• Your registration is confidential. Nobody in the jail is told you signed up.

Treat notices as a safety net. The jail's own line, 806-872-7560, has the newest information.

Each arrestee goes before a magistrate inside 48 hours. That hearing covers the person's rights, any request for appointed counsel and the amount of bail. Texas uses no set bail schedule. The figure weighs the charge, criminal history, public safety and ability to pay.

• Personal bond: the defendant signs a pledge to come back and pays nothing up front. Numerous violent offenses bar it.
• Cash bond: the full figure is paid to the court in cash, refundable at the end if every condition is met.
• Surety bond: a bonding company posts it and keeps the premium.

Certain holds outlast a posted bond, among them a family violence hold, a parole warrant and an ICE detainer. For the full process, see our bail page. State rules are covered in plain words on our Texas bail laws page.

Expect to hear the charges early. The magistrate reads them aloud at the first hearing, and the jail can repeat them by phone at 806-872-7560.

After filing, the court file carries the formal wording. Misdemeanors are charged by "information," felonies typically by grand jury "indictment." A free account on re:SearchTX lets you read filings in Texas cases.

• Felony files: District Clerk, 806-872-7373
• Class A and B files: County Clerk, 806-329-3311
• Felony prosecutor: 106th Judicial District Attorney, 400 S 1st Street, Lamesa, TX 79331, 806-872-2259

Possible punishments for each level are listed in the Penal Code punishment chapter.

Someone who cannot pay for counsel can request an appointed lawyer from the magistrate at that first hearing. Felony request forms are available inside the jail. After the request reaches the appointing official, appointment should follow within three working days.

• For felonies, appointments rotate through a list kept for the 106th District Court.
• For misdemeanors, the county judge appoints. That list includes the Caprock Regional Public Defender Office, 3311 18th St., Lubbock, TX 79409, 806-742-4312.

Relatives can pay for private counsel instead if they prefer. Attorneys book jail visits or calls by contacting the jail at 806-872-7560. The county's appointment plans are kept on the website of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission.

The Sheriff's Office sets visiting days, sign-up rules and any video choices. Before driving over, phone 806-872-7560 and find out:

• Open days and times, plus how much notice a booking needs
• Whether you'll talk through glass or on a screen
• Which IDs adult visitors must show, and the rules for kids
• Clothing rules and items allowed past the door

Texas standards promise each inmate a minimum of two non-contact visits per week. Each runs 20 minutes or longer, and evenings or weekends must be covered by one or more. State law lets certain jails swap in-person visits for video. A veterans service officer may also visit veterans for free. See our visitation page for more.

Funds on a jail account buy commissary snacks, toiletries and calling time. Phone 806-872-7560 to learn the current deposit options, fees and weekly caps, and have the inmate's legal name ready.

Typical deposit methods are on our inmate money page, and commissary items are on our commissary page. Don't send loose cash by mail.

Under Texas jail design rules, booking areas must have a phone inmates can use. Calls after that are typically billed to a prepaid account opened by family or by the inmate.

The jail, at 806-872-7560, can explain account setup and whether it offers messaging or video calls. Background on these services is on our jail phone page, with messaging covered on our inmate email page.

Start the address with the inmate's legal name, then the jail and its box:

• Inmate's full name
• Dawson County Jail
• P.O. Box 1268, Lamesa, Texas 79331-1268

A return address, with your name, belongs on the outside. State standards don't limit how many letters an inmate sends or receives. Letters from lawyers get opened only in the inmate's presence. An inmate without funds receives supplies for three or more letters weekly. Mail that violates jail rules can be turned back.

Questions about books, photos or forbidden items go to the Sheriff's Office at 806-872-7560. Further pointers sit on our inmate mail page.

Clothing, wallets, phones, keys and cash are inventoried at booking and stored until release.

If a relative needs a car key or phone back sooner, call 806-872-7560. Ask whether a property release is allowed and which form the inmate signs. Bring photo ID to 401 S 2nd Street, Lamesa, TX 79331.

Tell the jail about prescriptions or health conditions without delay, at 806-872-7560. Share drug names, doses and the prescriber or pharmacy contact. Jail staff decide how medication is given.

Jailers who spot signs of possible mental illness must report it to a magistrate, and CCP art. 16.22 allows them 12 hours to do it. Every jail also needs an inmate grievance process.

If problems stay unresolved, the state can step in. File on the complaint page that the Texas Commission on Jail Standards maintains. Staff there also take calls at 512-463-5505.

Deputies serve most warrants issued here, so the Sheriff's Office at 806-872-7560 is the place to ask if one is active. Court papers also go out through the constables listed on the county constable page, and city officers serve warrants inside Lamesa. Statewide, DPS lists its highest-priority fugitives online, under Texas 10 Most Wanted.

A warrant can also be verified with the clerk of whichever court signed it. Dealing with it early pays off. A defense lawyer can arrange a surrender, a bond or a fresh court date with that court. The courthouse is at 400 S 1st Street, Lamesa, TX 79331, 806-329-3313.

Whichever clerk keeps the file can give the next setting. Felonies: District Clerk, 806-872-7373. Class A and B misdemeanors: County Clerk, 806-329-3311. Traffic and other fine-only tickets: Justice of the Peace, 806-329-3324, staffed weekdays 8:30 to noon and 1 to 5.

Felony settings may also appear on the county's district court hearings page. Deputies transport jailed defendants to court, so relatives mainly need the date if they plan to attend. Our court page describes every kind of hearing ahead.

Cases filed by U.S. prosecutors from this area go to Lubbock, at the George H. Mahon Federal Building, 1205 Texas Avenue, Room 209, Lubbock, TX 79401-4091, where the clerk answers at 806-472-1900.

• At a hearing under 18 U.S.C. 3142, a federal magistrate judge rules on pretrial release.
• Pretrial, the U.S. Marshals keep custody and often rent county jail beds. Their Lubbock office, 1205 Texas Avenue, Room C-126, Lubbock, TX 79401-4037, 806-472-7655, knows the location.
• When a federal sentence begins, the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator searches by name or by federal register number.

Here is how an ICE hold usually plays out:

1. Agents lodge Form I-247A at the jail. That detainer asks staff to keep the inmate until ICE arrives.
2. The jail can then hold the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released, per 8 CFR 287.7(d).
3. Texas requires jails to honor detainers under CCP art. 2A.060, but proof that the inmate is a U.S. citizen or lawfully present ends the hold.
4. Senate Bill 8, passed in 2025, makes sheriffs with jails seek 287(g) status from ICE before December 1, 2026. Whether that has happened here is something the Sheriff's Office can answer.
5. Once agents collect the person, the ICE Online Detainee Locator searches by A-number. Lacking that, combine the person's name with their birth country.

Nothing in the locator? Call the Sheriff's Office at 806-872-7560 and ask what day ICE picked the person up.

Anyone sentenced to prison or state jail stays in the county lockup until TDCJ, the state prison system, collects them. Intake comes first. A permanent unit is chosen after that.

• Type the surname and first initial in the search box of the TDCJ inmate search, or enter a TDCJ ID or SID. Records refresh on business days only, so recent moves may not show for a day or longer.
• Profiles of each prison sit on our Texas state prisons page.
• An IVSS-Counties alert reports the transfer to TDCJ as it happens.

Texas treats 17-year-olds as adults at booking. Youths aged 10 to 16 go through the juvenile system (Family Code 51.02).

No juvenile detention facility operates inside this county. A youth who has to be detained can be placed at a certified facility elsewhere. One regional example is the Lubbock County Juvenile Justice Center, 2025 N Akron Ave, Lubbock, TX 79415, 806-775-1800. Before a judge reviews the detention, which must happen by the second working day, the youth gets a lawyer.

Officers must notify parents promptly. The Sheriff's Office at 806-872-7560 can say where the child was taken.

Most residents live in or around the county seat. Arrests here come from these agencies:

• Dawson County Sheriff's Office: covers all of the county, including farmland and small communities lacking their own police. It also operates the jail. Phone 806-872-7560.
• Lamesa Police Department: handles calls within Lamesa city limits. The Sheriff's Office can provide its non-emergency number.
• Constables: deliver court papers and serve warrants. See the county constable page, or ring the courthouse switchboard, 806-329-3313.
• Texas Department of Public Safety: its troopers patrol state roads and can arrest anyone breaking state law.

The jail can tell you which agency booked a given person. In an emergency, call 911.