1. Open the Sheriff's inmate roster. The City of Waxahachie points to the same list from its own website.
2. Give the list a moment to load, since it fills in after the page opens.
3. Look for the last name first. If the search comes back empty, drop a letter or two, since nicknames and booking typos happen.
4. Note the booking number. Staff, the mail center and deposit systems all ask for it.
5. Call jail information at 972-825-4931 to check anything the entry leaves unclear, such as bond amounts or a pending transfer.

The Sheriff's Office runs around the clock, so the jail line can be tried day or night.

Check these four likely causes:

• Booking takes time. New arrivals wait in an open area until intake is finished, and only then are they added.
• A city lockup has them. Ennis and Red Oak keep some arrestees in their own jails. Phone Ennis police at 972-875-4455 or the Red Oak records clerk at 972-617-7632, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ennis also publishes local arrest reports.
• They left already. A bond, a court order or a transfer can take a name off fast.
• Another county made the arrest. Border towns reach into Dallas and Tarrant counties, so check those jails too.

Still stuck? Sheriff's dispatch answers 24 hours a day at 972-937-6060.

Several places can hold a person arrested here. Each one serves a different purpose.

• Wayne McCollum Detention Center, 300 S. Jackson Street, Waxahachie, TX 75165, 972-825-4931. This is the main county jail for adults, built in three stages in 1990, 2002 and 2010, with room for about 856 prisoners. Staff sort people by their record, health and behavior. Through the Sheriff's Alternative Prisoner Program, inmate workers mow and handle other county upkeep under an armed detention officer.
• Ennis Detention Center, inside the police station at 1700 Lake Bardwell Drive, Ennis, TX 75119, 972-875-4455. It is staffed all day and night. It holds people waiting on charges and people serving Ennis Municipal Court sentences for misdemeanors.
• Red Oak Police Department holding facility, 547 N. Methodist, Red Oak, TX 75154, 972-617-7632. It is also staffed 24/7. A municipal judge usually sees new arrestees once each weekday and sets bond.
• Grand Prairie Detention Center, 1525 Arkansas Ln., Grand Prairie, TX 75052, 972-237-8951. Grand Prairie stretches into this county. Its jail usually keeps people for less than 72 hours.
• Lew Sterrett Justice Center, 111 West Commerce Street, Dallas, TX 75202, 214-761-9025. This is Dallas County's main jail. It may hold someone arrested on the Dallas County side of a shared city like Cedar Hill or Glenn Heights.
• Tarrant County Corrections Center, 100 N. Lamar, Fort Worth, TX 76196, 817-884-3000. Worth checking when Mansfield officers made the arrest outside this county.

Waxahachie police have no jail. They bring arrestees to the county jail.

Check the entry on the roster itself. For a copy of a booking photo you can rely on, ask the Sheriff's Office for it in writing.

• Write a Public Information Act request. Send it to the Sheriff's Office, 300 S. Jackson St., Waxahachie, TX 75165, 972-825-4901. Name the person, the arrest date and the booking number.
• Know the timeline. Texas law makes the basic details of an arrest public, and the office must hand them over without delay (Gov't Code 552.108(c)). Requests that take over ten business days must be answered with a release date.
• Private mugshots sites. Websites that ask $150 or more to remove a photo cannot bill you for removing one that is wrong or incomplete. Pictures tied to an expunged or sealed record must stay off those sites (Bus. & Com. Code ch. 109).
• Federal and ICE photos. ICE pictures require an ICE records request. Federal booking photos usually stay private. One exception is a Marshals Service release, for instance to help catch a fugitive.

It can. Texas IVSS-Counties, the state system for county jail custody news, sends free notices. Visit ivss-counties.tdcj.texas.gov, enter the name or just part of it, and choose the right person. People on supervision appear too, not just those in jail. Alerts can be requested as a guest or through an account.

The help line, 866-268-8959, takes calls in English or Spanish at any hour. If the person later moves into a state prison, TDCJ Victim Services can help at 800-848-4294.

No later than 48 hours after the arrest, a magistrate meets the person in person or by video. The magistrate reads the charges, explains their rights, asks whether they want an appointed lawyer and sets bail (Crim. Proc. Code art. 15.17).

• Three forms of bail exist: cash paid in full, a surety bond bought from a bondsman, and a personal bond, granted on a signed pledge to appear.
• Felony and Class A or B bonds for Ennis arrests are posted at the county jail. Ennis takes only exact cash, money orders or bail bonds for Class C warrants. It accepts no cards, checks or ATM withdrawals.
• A hold from another county, a parole warrant or ICE can keep someone in after bail is paid.

Read the full breakdown on our bail and bonds page, and the state rules on our Texas bail laws page.

Call jail information at 972-825-4931 with the person's name and date of birth. Ask for each count and the bond on it. In Red Oak, the judge announces charges and bond at the weekday arraignment.

Once a case is filed, the court clerk holds the file:

• Felonies: District Clerk, 109 S. Jackson St., Waxahachie, TX 75165 (second floor), 972-825-5091, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There is a records search as well.
• Class A and B misdemeanors: County Clerk's Criminal Misdemeanor Division, 109 South Jackson, Waxahachie, TX 75165, 972-825-5062.
• Class C tickets, punished by fine only, are handled by a JP or the city's own court. Check the ticket for which one.

No public defender office serves this county. Instead, judges appoint private attorneys, and the Indigent Defense Coordinator's office handles the requests.

• Ask for a lawyer when the magistrate asks. That starts the request.
• Family members can call the coordinators at 109 S. Jackson St., Waxahachie, TX 75165, 972-825-5385, or in Spanish at 972-825-5482. Hours run 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.
• The form is the Application for Court Appointed Attorney. A copy sent by mail or email must be notarized.

The Sheriff runs visits for the county jail through its video visitation page. Before you go, call 972-825-4931 to confirm the current days, the sign-up steps and the ID you need.

Texas jail rules call for no fewer than two visiting periods weekly, each lasting 20 minutes or longer. One must fall on an evening or a weekend. Gov't Code 511.009 sets which jails are exempt from in-person visits. A child visitor may need a parent or guardian along. Verified veterans can also get free visits with a veterans service officer.

The Ennis and Red Oak lockups allow no visits, so wait until the person is moved or freed. More tips: our jail visiting page.

Call jail information at 972-825-4931 and ask which deposit methods the jail takes today, along with any fees. Have the booking number ready.

Money on the account pays for store goods. A mobile commissary cart visits every housing unit seven days a week, except segregation. It sells hygiene items and snacks, handed over on the spot. Our inmate deposits page and commissary page have further tips.

People held in the city lockups get a call after booking. Ennis allows at least one free call, and Red Oak allows one.

For the county jail, ask 972-825-4931 how calling accounts are set up and whether messages or tablets are in use. Details on calling plans sit on our phone accounts page, and electronic messages on our jail email page.

Personal letters are scanned and delivered as images. Address them this way:

Ellis County Jail
Inmate's full name and booking number
2830 S. Hulen St. Box 809
Fort Worth, TX 76109

• Include the booking number and your return address.
• Keep each sheet to letter size (8.5 x 11) and the letter to five pages, written on one side.
• Add only one photo, and no staples.
• Paper originals are destroyed once scanned, not sent back.

Legal and medical mail skips the scanning center. Write the inmate's name and book-in number, then "c/o Wayne McCollum Detention Center, 300 S Jackson St., Waxahachie, TX 75165."

Reading material must be soft-cover and sent by the publisher itself, not by Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Two subscriptions at a time is the limit. A cell can keep one newspaper and three magazines. Our inmate mail page has more.

Belongings taken at booking stay in storage. The county jail releases property in its public processing area at 300 S. Jackson Street, Waxahachie, TX 75165. Call 972-825-4931 first to ask what the inmate must sign and the pickup hours. Have a photo ID with you.

Ennis gives property only to someone holding the inmate's written OK plus photo ID. Its released prisoners walk out through the Communications Center lobby at 1700 Lake Bardwell Drive, Ennis, TX 75119, 972-875-4455. In Red Oak, pickups happen in the police lobby at 547 N. Methodist, Red Oak, TX 75154, 972-617-7632.

The county jail checks health at intake, in an exam area inside processing. Exam rooms in the infirmary handle follow-up. Basic clinic and dental care happen on site. Volunteers and a chaplain run religious, library and drug recovery programs.

To share a health concern, call 972-825-4931 and give the booking number. Inmates use the jail's own complaint process first. If a problem goes unsolved, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, P.O. Box 12985, Austin, TX 78711-2985, 512-463-5505, takes jail complaints.

Deputies assigned to warrants handle papers from the district and county courts; ask about one at 972-825-4901. City police handle their own city's warrants, such as Ennis at 972-875-4455. Look at the Sheriff's warrant listings and the state Texas 10 Most Wanted list. A clerk can also look up a case by phone. Resolving one usually starts with a lawyer's call. Then the person surrenders at the jail, or the court that issued it sets a new date. Felony files are with the District Clerk, 109 S. Jackson St., Waxahachie, TX 75165, 972-825-5091.

For a felony, search the District Clerk's online records or call 972-825-5091. For a Class A or B misdemeanor, phone the County Clerk at 972-825-5070. Have the full name, birth date and, if you know it, the cause number.

Lawyers also learn each setting, so an appointed attorney is a good source. Our court process page walks through the courts, case steps and clerks.

Federal charges from here are filed in Dallas, in the Northern District of Texas. Its clerk works from 1100 Commerce Street, Room 1452, Dallas, TX 75242, 214-753-2200.

• A magistrate judge in the federal court holds a detention hearing and weighs jail against release until trial.
• While the case is open, federal defendants stay in Marshals Service custody, in a jail the Marshals choose. Ask their office in Room 1657 of the same building at 1100 Commerce Street, Dallas, TX 75242, 214-767-0836.
• The Federal Public Defender, 525 South Griffin Street, Suite 629, Dallas, TX 75202, 214-767-2746, represents many defendants without money for a lawyer.
• The BOP's inmate locator lists federal prisoners after sentencing.

1. The first sign is Form I-247A, an ICE request sent to the jail.
2. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), that hold can last up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released, to give ICE time to come.
3. Jails in Texas must go along with that request unless lawful status is proven (Crim. Proc. Code art. 2A.060). To learn whether this county has a 287(g) deal with ICE, ask the Sheriff's Office at 972-825-4901.
4. ICE officers then pick the person up. North Texas cases run through the Dallas Field Office, 8101 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75247, 972-367-2200.
5. Next, check the ICE detainee locator. An A-number gives the fastest match, and searches by name ask for the country of birth.

Red Oak police tell families of people sent from their lockup to ICE to call 214-905-5829.

A prison sentence means a later trip from the county jail to TDCJ. Each new prisoner goes through intake, then gets a unit that fits. State jail felonies are served in one of the state jails instead.

• On the TDCJ inmate search, enter a surname with its first-name initial, or the SID or TDCJ number. Its data refresh on working days and lag a day or more.
• Unit addresses and details are on our Texas prisons page.

Texas treats 17-year-olds as adults, so they go to the county jail. Children 10 to 16 go through juvenile court instead (Fam. Code 51.02).

Officers bring a detained child to a juvenile facility, not the adult jail, and must let a parent know right away. A detention hearing follows within two working days (Fam. Code 52.02, 54.01). Call Ellis County Juvenile Services, 2272 FM 878, Waxahachie, TX 75165, 972-825-5400, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The county's 8-bed detention center shares that number. The county's juvenile questions page has answers for parents.

Each agency knows where its own arrestees were booked. Non-emergency numbers:

Cities with their own lockup

• Ennis Police Department, 1700 Lake Bardwell Drive, Ennis, TX 75119: 972-875-4455
• Red Oak Police Department, 547 N. Methodist, Red Oak, TX 75154 (records clerk): 972-617-7632

Departments that book into the county jail or a nearby jail

• Waxahachie Police Department, 630 Farley Street, Waxahachie, TX 75165: 469-309-4400
• Bardwell Police Department: 972-646-5191
• Ferris Police Department: 972-544-2233
• Garrett Police Department: 972-875-5893
• Glenn Heights Police Department: 972-223-3478
• Italy Police Department: 972-483-6414
• Mansfield Police Department: 817-276-4700
• Maypearl Police Department: 972-435-3671
• Midlothian Police Department: 972-775-3333
• Milford Police Department: 972-493-4193

Sheriff's patrol and other towns

Deputies patrol the rural areas, including Crisp, Ike and Rankin. Reach Sheriff's dispatch at 972-937-6060 or criminal investigations at 972-825-4913. For Ovilla, Palmer, Oak Leaf, Pecan Hill, Alma, Cedar Hill, Grand Prairie or Venus, call that dispatch line and ask which agency covers the address. If a state trooper made the arrest, jail information can say where the person was booked.