For an online check on a Fayette prisoner, the statewide custody tool does the job. Here's how:

1. Open Texas IVSS-Counties in any web browser.
2. Type in the person's first and last name. Spelling matters, so try nicknames and maiden names too.
3. Pick the match held by Fayette's Sheriff and read the status line.
4. No luck online? IVSS takes calls around the clock at 866-268-8959, in English or Spanish.
5. Still stuck? Call the jail itself through 979-968-5856 and ask for Booking.

You can also start from our link to the official jail search. IVSS-Counties replaced the state's older notification service in 2025, so ignore any page sending you to the old system.

Four explanations cover most no-match results:

• Booking is still underway. Fingerprints and paperwork eat up time, so search again later that day.
• Released. Bond may already be posted, or the person was let go before you looked.
• Held elsewhere. Someone picked up past the county line goes to that county's lockup instead; nearby jails are listed below.
• Spelling or a hyphenated name. Try every version you can think of.

Fayette has no city jail and no annex. Police in La Grange, Schulenburg and Flatonia bring their arrests straight to the Justice Center on Jefferson Street. That makes the Sheriff's Office, 979-968-5856, the one number that can confirm a local booking. Keep their date of birth handy for that call.

Inside Fayette's borders there is exactly one adult jail: the county jail at the Justice Center, 1646 North Jefferson, La Grange, TX 78945, 979-968-5856. The Sheriff's Corrections page lists 45 beds and 16 jailers holding state jail-standards certification. A TCJS report says a renovation and addition there wrapped up in 2025, so today's bed count may differ. Minimum-security prisoners may join an outside work crew, guarded by an armed officer, that does landscaping, roadside trash pickup and jobs for nonprofits.

Arrested just over the line? Try these nearby county jails:

• Austin County Jail, 417 N. Chesley St., Bellville, TX 77418, 979-865-5321
• Bastrop County Jail, 1601 Mills Street, Bastrop, TX 78602, booking 512-549-5073
• Caldwell County Correctional Facility, 1204 Reed Drive, Lockhart, TX 78644, 512-398-6777
• Colorado County Jail, 2215 Walnut Street, Columbus, TX 78934, 979-732-2388
• Gonzales County Jail, 1713 E Sarah DeWitt Dr, Gonzales, TX 78629, 830-672-6362
• Lavaca County Jail, 38 FM 318, Hallettsville, TX 77964, 361-798-2420
• Lee County Jail, 2122 FM 448, Giddings, TX 78942, 979-542-2800
• Washington County Jail, 1206 Old Independence Rd., Brenham, TX 77833, 979-277-6251

Mugshots come from the Sheriff's Office, and the request has to be in writing. Booking photos are records under the Texas Public Information Act, and the law lets the Sheriff release them on request (Government Code 552.108(c)). Fill out the Sheriff's open records request form, or call 979-968-5856 to ask how to submit it. Reporters go through the same office.

• Federal booking photos almost never go public; a fugitive's photo from the Marshals Service is the usual exception.
• For a photo from an ICE arrest, file through the ICE FOIA request page.

Texas regulates private mugshot websites as well. Any site asking $150 or more to pull a photo must, at no charge, fix or take down a record that's wrong or incomplete, and expunged or nondisclosed records are off limits for it (Business and Commerce Code chapter 109). This law stops short of banning removal fees altogether.

Sign up on Texas IVSS-Counties. It's free and confidential, and it covers people held in Texas county jails, Fayette's included. Once registered, you get a notice when custody changes, for instance a release or a transfer. Prefer the phone? Register by calling 866-268-8959, open any hour, in Spanish or English.

Victims use the same sign-up. Once an offender lands in state prison, TDCJ Victim Services handles notices too: 800-848-4284.

Within 48 hours of arrest, a magistrate tells the prisoner the charges and their rights and sets bail (CCP art. 15.17). From there, release takes one of three shapes:

• Cash bond. The full amount is paid.
• Surety bond. For a fee that isn't returned, a licensed bondsman guarantees the full amount.
• Personal bond. Only a signed promise to come to court is required, not cash. Some charges rule it out.

Since a statewide vote on November 4, 2025, prosecutors can ask a judge to deny bail entirely for certain violent crimes such as murder (Tex. Const. art. I, §11d). Where and how to post bond in Fayette, plus holds that can delay release, are on our bail page. To check whether bond is set and the jail is ready to take it, call 979-968-5856.

The charge gets read aloud at the magistrate hearing, so the prisoner learns it first. Families can check three ways:

• Call the jail, 979-968-5856, and request the booking charge.
• Once a felony is filed, call the District Clerk at 979-968-3548. Misdemeanor filings sit with the County Clerk, 979-968-3251.
• Register free on re:SearchTX, the state's e-filing portal, which shows charges and judgments in filed cases.

Keep in mind that the booking charge can change. The County Attorney, who prosecutes both felonies and misdemeanors here, decides what is actually filed.

Short on money for counsel? Say so at the magistrate hearing. A request form is handed out there, and the magistrate has to help fill it in. Fayette then appoints from a group of private lawyers under contract, taking turns.

• Felony requests: the 155th District Judge, 151 North Washington, La Grange, TX 78945, 979-968-8500.
• Misdemeanor requests: the County Judge, same address, 979-968-6469.
• Appointment deadline: the third working day after the request lands on the judge's desk (CCP art. 1.051).

Missed the chance at the hearing? A family member can call the judge's office above and ask how the prisoner can still apply. Families can also hire private counsel at any point.

Fayette's Corrections page sets two visiting days:

• Thursdays: women 8 to 9 a.m., men 9 to 11 a.m., plus afternoon blocks from 1 to 2 p.m. and 2 to 4 p.m.
• Sundays: women 9 to 10 a.m., men 10 to 11:45 a.m., plus afternoon blocks from 1 to 3 p.m. and 3 to 4 p.m.

The afternoon blocks aren't marked men or women, so ask which one fits. Before driving to Jefferson Street, call 979-968-5856 about ID, dress, children and whether video visiting is available. State standards give each prisoner at least two noncontact visits a week of 20 minutes or longer (Government Code 511.009). Our visitation page covers general visit rules.

Commissary money and care packages go through the online commissary company that Fayette's Corrections page links to. Commissary covers snacks, hygiene items and similar extras the jail doesn't hand out.

1. Open the Corrections page and follow its commissary link.
2. Follow the vendor's prompts to find the prisoner and pay.
3. Save the confirmation number.

Phone money is separate, covered in the next answer. Fees, limits and other deposit choices: see the money page plus the commissary page on our site. Other deposit methods? The jail can tell you.

Prisoners call out on the jail's contracted phone system. To pay for those calls, use the phone company linked from the Corrections page, either online or by calling 866-700-4545. Urgent family news should go through jail staff at 979-968-5856.

Ask the jail whether tablets or e-messaging exist there. For background, we keep a phone page and an email page. Treat every call as recorded. Discuss the charges only with the lawyer, never over a jail line.

The Sheriff's postal address and the jail share one spot: 1646 North Jefferson, La Grange, TX 78945. Before writing, call 979-968-5856 and ask three things: how to address an envelope to a prisoner, whether the envelope needs an inmate number, and what items are banned.

State standards for Texas jails don't cap incoming letters. Legal mail may be opened, but only while the prisoner watches. Write on plain paper with the prisoner's full legal name and your return address. Details live on our mail page.

At booking, jailers bag up clothing, wallets, phones and keys, and the jail stores them. Ask whether the prisoner can sign a release letting someone else collect items. Call 979-968-5856 before you come and confirm:

• which items the prisoner released and to whom,
• what photo ID you must bring,
• and what hours the jail hands items out.

Until a court or the prosecutor releases it, evidence held for the case stays with law enforcement.

The Sheriff's Office says the jail gives prisoners a nutritional diet and adequate medical care. If someone has a condition, takes medicine or is hurt, call 979-968-5856 right away and tell jail staff. Doctors' names and prescription details help.

Complaints about care or conditions? The state's jail commission, TCJS, has a complaint page and a phone line, 512-463-5505. In an emergency, call 911.

Warrants here come mostly from the four justices of the peace and the courts. Deputies and Fayette's constables carry them out. The Sheriff's Office, 979-968-5856, can say whether one is on file; the court you suspect issued it can too. Find each constable's contacts on the county's constable page. Texas DPS lists its 10 Most Wanted fugitives online.

Got one? Talk to a lawyer before surrendering at the jail, 1646 North Jefferson, La Grange, TX 78945, or have the issuing court reschedule. The District Clerk, 151 N. Washington St., Room 102, La Grange, TX 78945, 979-968-3548, has felony case files.

Clerks hold the calendars. Call the District Clerk at 979-968-3548 for a felony, the County Clerk at 979-968-3251 for a misdemeanor, or the justice court printed on a ticket. A public computer in the District Clerk's Room 102 also shows open cases during business hours.

Defense lawyers receive every setting notice, so they're a good source. Each stage of a case at the 155th District Court and the County Court is laid out on our court page, step by step.

Federal prosecutions from Fayette are handled by the Southern District of Texas in Houston, at the Bob Casey United States Courthouse, 515 Rusk Avenue, Houston, TX 77002, 713-250-5500. Then a detention hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142) settles whether the defendant sits in custody or goes home pending trial; a federal magistrate judge presides.

Until sentencing, the Marshals Service holds federal prisoners. Its Houston office is at 515 Rusk Avenue, Room 10002, Houston, TX 77002, 713-718-4800. Call to ask where a prisoner is housed. Following sentencing, BOP becomes the custodian, and the BOP inmate locator shows the facility.

When ICE wants a person from the Jefferson Street jail, the process usually goes in these steps:

1. An I-247A detainer from ICE is lodged at the jail.
2. Staff may then keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. ICE collects the person within that time or the detainer expires.
4. ICE detainees from this region may be moved to the Montgomery Processing Center, 806 Hilbig Road, Conroe, TX 77301, 936-521-4900, or the Karnes County Immigration Processing Center, 409 FM 1144, Karnes City, TX 78118, 830-254-2000.
5. Look the person up on the ICE Online Detainee Locator using the A-number, or the full name along with country of birth.

Field offices: Houston, 126 Northpoint Drive, Houston, TX 77060, 281-774-4816; San Antonio, 3523 Crosspoint Drive, San Antonio, TX 78217, 210-564-3300. Texas law makes jails honor these holds unless the prisoner can show proof of lawful status in the country; CCP art. 2A.060 is the governing rule. Since 2017, Texas cities and counties have been barred from policies that limit immigration enforcement. Any Texas county operating a jail needs a signed 287(g) agreement by December 1, 2026, the deadline S.B. 8 set in 2025.

Longer felony sentences mean TDCJ custody (the Texas Department of Criminal Justice). A new prisoner goes to an intake center first for testing and classification, then gets assigned to a unit suited to their security level and needs. That move can take a while after sentencing in La Grange.

To see the unit, run a name or TDCJ number through the TDCJ inmate search. Unit addresses and visiting rules appear in our Texas state prisons list.

Juvenile court, not the adult system, takes Texans whose age on the offense date fell anywhere from 10 through 16, the juvenile range in Family Code 51.02. In Texas, 17-year-olds go to the adult jail. Children go to a juvenile detention center, and their detention hearing has to happen no later than the child's second working day there.

Start with Fayette's Juvenile Probation office, 252 North Main Street, La Grange, TX 78945, 979-968-6865. The office knows which detention center is holding the child, the hearing time, and how parents can take part. Lawyers for children are appointed under the juvenile board's appointment plan.

Fayette, home to 25,459 people (Census estimate, July 1, 2025), has three city police departments. Each one books arrests into the county jail, and the Sheriff's dispatchers handle their radio traffic.

• Sheriff's Office (rural patrol; residents of Fayetteville, Round Top and Carmine should call here): 1646 North Jefferson, La Grange, TX 78945, 979-968-5856
• Schulenburg Police Department: 607 Upton Ave., Schulenburg, TX 78956, 979-743-2677
• Flatonia Police Department: 205 E South Main St., Flatonia, TX 78941, 361-865-3337
• La Grange Police Department: call the Sheriff's dispatch line above to be connected or to get the department's current number.

Constables carry out warrants in four precincts, reached by the justice court numbers:

• Precinct 1: 1646 N Jefferson St., La Grange, TX 78945, 979-968-3648
• Precinct 2, Fayetteville: P.O. Box 458, Fayetteville, TX 78940, 979-378-2573
• Precinct 3, Flatonia: P.O. Box 404, Flatonia, TX 78941, 361-865-3500
• Precinct 4: 312 Paulus St., Schulenburg, TX 78956, 979-743-4041

DPS state troopers also patrol Fayette's highways; the Sheriff dispatches them. For a trooper arrest, start with the jail at the same 979-968-5856 number.