One lookup covers all five county jail buildings. Here is how to work it:

1. Open Find Someone in Jail on the Sheriff's site.
2. Choose how to search: SPN, social security number, last name alone, last and first name, or last name with a date of birth.
3. A last name needs three letters or more. A common surname brings back a long list, so add the first name or birth date.
4. Open the match. If the person is out, the record says they are not currently in jail.
5. If they are held, copy the SPN and the jail location onto paper. The Sheriff asks for that location before anyone sends money, and contract jails use their own codes.

Got the SPN from a bond paper or a court notice? Searching by it is the fastest route, because it skips any spelling trouble.

A blank screen usually has a simple reason:

• Booking isn't finished. A fresh arrest can sit in processing at the Joint Processing Center for a while. Give it time and search again, or phone inmate information at 713-755-5300.
• A city has them. Baytown and Webster hold their own arrests at first. Baytown's Who's in Jail list refreshes every 45 minutes, and it points to the Chambers County search because part of Baytown sits in that county. Webster answers by phone at 281-332-2426; press 5 to ask who is in jail.
• The spelling is off. Search with a birth date, a second surname or the SPN.
• They were let go. Released people walk out of the processing center on San Jacinto, and the lookup then shows them as out.
• The arrest crossed a county line. An arrest in a neighboring county sends the person to that county's jail, so search there.

The Sheriff's Office runs five adult buildings downtown:

• Joint Processing Center, 700 N. San Jacinto Street, Houston, TX 77002, 713-755-5300. Deputies and Houston police book people here. It also holds the bond windows, the video magistrate court and the release exit, and it has a housing unit with its own visiting hours.
• The 701 Jail, 701 N. San Jacinto Street, Houston, TX 77002, 346-286-2840. Housing.
• The 711 Jail, 711 N. San Jacinto Street, Houston, TX 77002, 346-286-2998. Housing.
• The 1200 Jail, 1200 Baker Street, Houston, TX 77002, 346-286-2211. Housing.
• The 1307 Jail, 1307 Baker Street, Houston, TX 77002, 346-286-2600. Housing.

The four housing buildings keep people after booking. Which groups each one holds, such as men, women or a security level, is best asked of that building's staff at the number above.

Overflow goes to contract jails, and each has its own housing codes on the lookup:

• LaSalle Correctional Center (XL55, XL56), 15976 US-165, Olla, LA 71465, 318-495-6200.
• Natchitoches Parish Detention Center (NP55 to NP57), 299 Edwina Drive, Natchitoches, LA 71457. Get its current number from the inmate information line above.
• Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility (CT55, CT56), 19351 US Hwy 49 North, Tutwiler, MS 38963, 662-345-6567.
• Jefferson County Downtown Jail (X281 to X283), 1001 Pearl St, Beaumont, TX 77701, 409-434-4653.

The Sheriff's FAQ page also names Newton County Correctional Facility, 2402 East Court St, Newton, TX 75966, 409-379-3000, and West Carroll Detention Center, 180 Capital Bank Dr, Epps, LA 71237, 318-926-4626. Ask whether either still takes county inmates before you drive there.

Two cities hold their own arrests: the Baytown Municipal Jail, 3100 N. Main Street, Baytown, TX 77521, 281-425-1104, and the Webster Jail inside the police station at 217 Pennsylvania Ave., Webster, TX 77598, 281-332-2426. Youths under 17 are held apart from adults; see the answer on youths below.

Mugshots are the photos taken at booking. We can't promise the Sheriff's search displays a picture, since its job is custody status. The sure route is a written request under the Texas Public Information Act (Government Code chapter 552):

1. Write to the Sheriff's Office, 1200 Baker Street, Houston, TX 77002, 713-221-6000, attention public information officer. Name the person, the SPN and the arrest date, and ask for the booking photo.
2. The law says basic facts about an arrest must come out promptly (GC 552.108(c)).
3. When the reply will take longer than ten business days, the office must give you a date. To hold something back, it generally must ask the Attorney General for a ruling and let you know.
4. Heard nothing in ten business days? You can complain to the Attorney General's Open Records Division.

Some websites post mugshots and charge to remove them. Under Business and Commerce Code chapter 109, a site with a removal price of $150 or more must fix or delete a record proven wrong for free. Records it knows were expunged, or sealed under a nondisclosure order, are off limits to it.

For an ICE photo, file a request through ICE FOIA. Federal booking photos usually stay sealed. A Marshals wanted poster is about the only time one becomes public.

Texas switched its custody notices to Texas IVSS-Counties on September 1, 2025. Search it by a full or partial name for anyone held or supervised, then ask for notices, with an account or without one. Phone help runs day and night at 866-268-8959, in English or Spanish.

Once a person moves into state prison, TDCJ Victim Services takes over notices at 800-848-4284. For a city arrest in Baytown, recheck the city's jail list, since it updates through the day.

Within 48 hours of arrest, a magistrate sees the person in Probable Cause Court. That court sits around the clock by video from the processing center, and the public can watch from a viewing room on its second floor. Here the magistrate reads out the charge and the person's rights; the person can ask for appointed counsel, and bail is set. Pretrial Services, 346-286-1400, prepares a report for the magistrate first.

• Cash bond. Pay the full amount at the 24-hour Bonding Desk, 700 N. San Jacinto Street, Houston, TX 77002, holidays included. A debit or credit card works online through the Sheriff's AllPaid payment page, up to $10,000 a payment plus a service fee.
• Surety bond. A bondsman licensed here charges a fee, which you don't get back, and the bondsman signs for the full bond. The county Bail Bond Board, 346-286-1240, keeps the list of approved bondsmen.
• Personal bond. No money is paid up front. Only a judge grants one, using the Pretrial Services report, and service fees may follow later.
• City of Houston tickets and charges. Pay at the city's own Jail Bonding Window in the same building, also open 24 hours. The city's help line, 713-837-0311, quotes the amount owed.

Paying doesn't always mean walking out. Before paying, ask inmate records at 713-755-5300 whether another agency has a hold. Since November 2025, judges must deny bail on certain violent charges when, after a hearing, the state proves a flight risk or danger (Tex. Const. art. I, sec. 11d). For every step, read our bail page.

The Sheriff's Offense Inquiry shows each jailed person's cases, the offense, the next court setting and how the case ended. Keep the SPN handy when you search.

Other places to read charges:

• Felony and Class A or B cases: the District Clerk's records search, or call the clerk at 832-927-5800.
• Fine-only Class C cases filed by deputies or constables: the justice courts' Find My Case tool.
• Charges from the City of Houston: municipal courts, 713-247-5479.

Early on, the charge is only what police wrote. A felony becomes formal once a grand jury returns an indictment, and a misdemeanor once the District Attorney files an information.

Ask for appointed counsel at the magistrate hearing; Pretrial Services helps with the financial forms. After the court gets it, appointment must follow within one working day (CCP art. 1.051(c)). Two offices handle those cases:

• The Public Defender's Office, Suite 400 at 1310 Prairie St., Houston, TX 77002, 713-274-6700, staffs courts and charges clients nothing.
• The Office of Managed Assigned Counsel, 1310 Prairie St., Suite 1600, Houston, TX 77002, 832-927-3949, places private lawyers on appointed cases.

Retained counsel can step in at any stage, too. The rules for who qualifies are in the county's felony appointment plan.

Visits happen in the lobby of whichever building holds the person. The main schedule runs Tuesday through Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. and 7:30 to 10 p.m., with the last visit starting at 9:30. Mondays have none. The processing center's own unit allows visits 4 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

1. Register and book a slot on the visit scheduling site, up to seven days out. Lobby kiosks also take walk-ins, but same-day times can fill up.
2. Bring the printed confirmation. The Visitor Control Center can print it for you.
3. Get there 30 minutes early. Each visit lasts 20 minutes, with two visitors at most.
4. Each adult needs an original photo ID; copies are refused. A U.S. license, state ID, military ID or passport works, as do a Mexican Matricula Consular, a Guatemalan consular ID, a foreign passport with a visa or an ICE-issued ID.
5. Kids 16 and under skip registration but need an adult 17 or older with them.
6. Dress modestly: sleeves to at least halfway to the elbow, hems no higher than mid-thigh, nothing see-through. Leave everything but a locker key in the free lockers in the 701 and 1200 lobbies.

Each floor gets certain days, and the days rotate. No one can be visited while in processing, at court or in a hospital. Video visits from home run through the phone provider's app, and you'll need earbuds. Help is at 800-844-6591. At LaSalle in Olla, video visits are free on weekdays 3 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.; book at 318-495-6209. More on our visitation page.

Check the jail location first. The Sheriff warns that contract jails use separate accounts.

• County buildings: use the free app, the website, one of 800+ kiosks, or a live bilingual agent at 866-345-1884. Cash also works at stores that print a payment barcode. Anything mailed, whether cash, a check or a money order, gets sent back.
• LaSalle in Olla: mail a money order to LaSalle Correctional Center, Attention: Inmate Bank, 15976 U.S. Hwy 165, Olla, LA 71465. Phone deposits go through 877-618-3516 with site ID 24003.
• The Beaumont contract unit: send a cashier's check or money order, marked with the person's full name and SPN, to LaSalle Correctional Center, 2830 S. Hulen St. Box 809, Fort Worth, TX 76109.

Store orders arrive on a schedule by cellblock. A person can spend up to $150 a week if the account holds it and no discipline blocks it. Money can also come out to family. After the person signs a release and gives a thumbprint, pick it up at the building's Visitor Control Center, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., with photo ID. The minimum is $20, and $10 must stay behind. See the money page and the commissary page.

Calls go one way: people in the county jail can't take incoming calls. They can call collect, or call a prepaid Advance Pay account that family opens with the phone provider at 800-844-6591. Each call's cost comes off that balance.

• Don't transfer, conference or forward a jail call.
• Prepaid phone money stays with the county system. It won't follow a move to a LaSalle site, so ask before topping up.
• Letters to the jail are scanned and read on tablets or kiosks inside.

Provider details live on the phone page, with tablet messages on the messaging page.

Since June 16, 2025, the jail buildings refuse personal letters. Personal mail now goes to the Securus Digital Mail Center, which scans each page for tablets and kiosks. Ask inmate information at 713-755-5300 for its current address before you write.

What every envelope needs:

• your full name and return address;
• the person's full booking name and SPN;
• their housing facility and cell block.

Missing any of these, the letter comes back. Pages over 8.5 by 11 inches and anything not paper are refused. Photos may be 5 by 7 inches or smaller, ten per envelope, with nothing sexual, gang-related, or showing guns or drugs. Packages, certified mail, greeting cards, stamps, stickers, perfumed paper, printouts and photocopies are all turned away. Want the originals back? Enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope, or the scan center throws them out after 90 days.

Lawyers and pre-approved senders use the building address instead, made out to the Sheriff's Office:

• Processing center: 700 N. San Jacinto, Houston, TX 77002
• 701 or 711 buildings: 701 N. San Jacinto, Houston, TX 77002
• 1307 Baker St., Houston, TX 77002
• 1200 Baker St., Houston, TX 77002

Legal mail sent to the scan center comes back unopened. For books or magazines, ask the Sheriff's Office where to send them first. Tallahatchie in Mississippi takes no hard-copy books and photocopies all mail, keeping originals for 30 days. Our mail page has more.

The person inside must first agree to release property to you. Then:

1. Bring photo ID to that building's Visitor Control Center, any day from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
2. Once they sign off, staff give you a Property Release Form.
3. Take the form to 700 N. San Jacinto Street, Houston, TX 77002, within 24 hours to collect the items.

Things too big for storage at the processing center after a city arrest are kept at a Houston Police storage site. Call police non-emergency, 713-884-3131, to ask where. When someone is released, they leave through the processing center.

Everyone gets a medical and mental health screening at intake. The jail has medical, mental health, dental and eye care staff, and it runs a full pharmacy. Families can't drop off pills or prescriptions. Questions about a person's care can go to the inmate information line, 713-755-5300.

• Concerns about care go through the Sheriff's quality of life page.
• The inmate handbook, in English and Spanish, lists the rules inside.
• If the jail doesn't fix a problem, the state's jail regulator takes complaints online and by phone at 512-463-5505.

Deputies, the eight constable precincts and city officers all make warrant arrests. The Sheriff's warrant list, updated daily, covers Class A and B misdemeanors; tips go to 713-755-6055. Felony warrants show in the District Clerk's records search. Ticket warrants show at the justice courts and the city municipal courts. Statewide fugitives are on the Texas 10 Most Wanted. To resolve one, get a lawyer's advice and turn yourself in at the 24-hour Bonding Desk, 700 N. San Jacinto Street, Houston, TX 77002, ready with bail or a personal bond request. The District Clerk, 1001 Preston, Suite 630c, Houston, TX 77002, 832-927-5800, answers case questions.

The quickest look is the Sheriff's Offense Inquiry, which lists the next setting for each jailed person. The District Clerk's records search covers felony and Class A or B cases heard at the Criminal Justice Center, 1201 Franklin Street, Houston, TX 77002.

• Released on a personal bond? Pretrial Services' Enhanced Support Division sends reminders: 49 San Jacinto, 1st Floor, Houston, TX 77002, 832-927-3520, weekdays 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Class C dates are on the justice courts' Find My Case page.
• For City of Houston tickets, call the municipal courts at 713-247-5479.

For what each hearing means, from magistration through sentencing, read the court page.

The Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, hears these cases at the Bob Casey United States Courthouse, 515 Rusk Avenue, Houston, TX 77002, 713-250-5500.

1. Soon after arrest, a detention hearing decides whether conditions can allow release or the person stays locked up until trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. The U.S. Marshals Service keeps and moves federal prisoners before sentencing. Its office is Room 10002 in that courthouse, 713-718-4800, and it can say where someone is held.
3. FDC Houston, the federal detention center, is at 1200 Texas Avenue, Houston, TX 77002, 713-221-5400.
4. Once sentenced, the person appears in the BOP inmate locator run by the Bureau of Prisons.

An immigration hold keeps the state case moving but can delay release. Step by step:

1. Jail staff get an I-247A detainer from ICE.
2. That allows them to hold the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Texas jails must follow detainers. Papers proving citizenship or legal presence end the hold (CCP art. 2A.060).
4. Officers from ICE's Houston Field Office, 126 Northpoint Drive, Houston, TX 77060, 281-774-4816, come for the person.
5. Detainees may go to places such as the Montgomery Processing Center, 806 Hilbig Road, Conroe, TX 77301, 936-521-4900.
6. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator with the country of birth plus an A-number, or plus the full name and birth date. If nothing shows, call the field office.

State prison and state jail time are run by TDCJ, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Following sentencing, the person stays downtown until a TDCJ transfer. TDCJ then sorts them at intake and sends them to a unit that fits.

• Check the state's TDCJ inmate search with a surname, TDCJ number or SID number. Only people already in a state unit appear, and the records run at least a day behind.
• The Sheriff's TDCJ information page explains the move from the county side.
• Visits, mail and money at each unit are covered on this site's Texas state prisons page.

Texas juvenile court takes youths aged 10 through 16 when the alleged act happened; 17-year-olds face adult court (FC 51.02(2)). Police must quickly tell a parent where the child is and why (FC 52.02). A judge then reviews detention within two working days, or one after a Friday or Saturday arrest (FC 54.01).

• Juvenile Detention Center, 1200 Congress St., Houston, TX 77002, 713-222-4100. Visits are by appointment: weekends noon to 3:45 p.m., and weekdays 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. and 6 to 7:30 p.m.
• Leadership Academy, 9120 Katy Hockley Rd., Katy, TX 77493, 713-222-4600. Weekend visits 2 to 4 p.m. or by appointment.
• Youth Village, 210 J W Mills Dr., Seabrook, TX 77586, 713-222-4700. Weekend visits 1 to 4 p.m. or by appointment.

All three belong to the Juvenile Probation Department. For a child, call the center itself rather than using the adult lookup.

Deputies and Houston police book people at the processing center downtown, while Baytown and Webster hold their own arrests first. Start with the agency that patrols the place where the arrest happened.

• Sheriff's Office (unincorporated areas): 1200 Baker Street, Houston, TX 77002, patrol and non-emergency line 713-221-6000.
• Houston Police Department: 1200 Travis Street, Houston, TX 77002, 713-884-3131.
• Baytown Police Department: 3200 N. Main Street, Baytown, TX 77522, 281-422-8371.
• Webster Police Department: 217 Pennsylvania Ave., Webster, TX 77598, 281-332-2426.

The eight constable precincts serve warrants as well. Find the right one with the county's precinct lookup by address, then visit its site:

• Precinct 1, Precinct 2, Precinct 3 and Precinct 4
• Precinct 5, Precinct 6, Precinct 7 and Precinct 8

The Sheriff's Office counts 41 incorporated cities in the county. For a town not listed here, call that city's hall or the Sheriff's line above and ask which department made the arrest. Texas Department of Public Safety troopers also patrol state highways here.