1. Go to the official inmate search the Sheriff's Office provides.
2. Enter the last name. When the spelling is shaky, try two or three versions.
3. Copy down the ID number the jail assigned. Letters and deposits both need it, and the money rules call it a SPIN. If the search leaves it out, Jail Records can give it.
4. Still stuck, or several people share the name? Call Jail Records at 512-393-7832 with the person's complete name plus birth date.

The list shows only people held right now. When someone bonds out, finishes a sentence or moves elsewhere, the entry goes away.

Several things can keep a person off the list:

• Booking is still going on. Someone brought in moments ago may not be entered yet. A phone call to Jail Records at 512-393-7832 beats refreshing the page.
• Release already happened. The jail lets people go 24 hours a day, so a missing name often means the person walked out.
• A spelling mismatch. Search again with the middle name, either half of a hyphenated surname, a second surname, or a nickname.
• Picked up past the county line. Then the neighbor's jail normally books them. The next answer names those jails.
• It's a juvenile. Children under 17 are held apart, at juvenile detention, and the adult list leaves them out.
• Federal agents or ICE hold them. The federal and ICE answers below give their locators.

The jail's main desk answers at 512-393-7800 too.

This county runs one adult lockup, the Hays County Jail. The county also calls the building its Law Enforcement Center. It stands at 1307 Uhland Road, San Marcos, TX 78666, phone 512-393-7800. State jail inspectors (TCJS) rate it for 633 beds, and their 2025 annual report says a major renovation and addition was finished that year.

Other places worth checking:

• Anyone under 17: the county's juvenile detention center in San Marcos, which the state registry calls the Juvenile Pre-Detention Center. Phone 512-393-5220 for its street address.
• An arrest in Austin or elsewhere in Travis County: Travis County Central Booking, 500 W. 10th St., Austin, TX 78701, 512-854-4180.
• Jails in the other bordering counties: the Comal County Jail, the Guadalupe Adult Detention Center, the Caldwell County Correctional Facility and the Blanco County Jail. Each of those pages carries the street address and the jail's phone.

This page makes no promise that the Sheriff's search displays booking photos. For mugshots, families and reporters can file a records request.

• Government Code 552.108(c), part of the Public Information Act, treats basic arrest details and basic facts on the person as public, to be handed over promptly.
• Put the request on paper and address it to the Sheriff's Office, 1307 Uhland Road, San Marcos, TX 78666, 512-393-7800. Name the booking photo as the item you want.
• Given more than ten business days of work, the office owes you a date. Holding something back usually means asking the Attorney General for a ruling. Silence on both counts after ten business days can be reported to the Attorney General's Open Records Division.
• Business and Commerce Code chapter 109 covers private mugshot websites that ask $150 or more to take a record down. Such a site must fix, or take down, any record that is wrong or incomplete, and may not bill for that (109.004). Expunged records, and those under an order of nondisclosure, must stay off its pages (109.005).
• To get an ICE photo, file a FOIA request to ICE, the only route the agency offers. Booking photos taken by federal agencies are normally withheld. The exception is the U.S. Marshals, who sometimes publish a photo, such as a fugitive's.

Yes, through Texas IVSS-Counties, a free state service the county itself recommends. Sign up on the IVSS-Counties website or by phone at 866-268-8959, which answers every hour of every day in English or Spanish.

• Search by a full or partial name. An account is optional.
• Alerts cover a booking or release, a court event that is set or changed, and custody changes such as a transfer to state prison.
• Signing up stays private; the jailed person gets no word of it.
• When the system is down, the county asks callers to phone the jail at 512-393-7800.

Within 48 hours, a magistrate sees the person, explains the charge and rights, and sets bail. Here that is the job of the county's Magistrate's Office, whose four associate judges hold hearings every day of the year. The county says most people leave on a personal bond, which means signing a promise to appear and paying nothing up front. A long record can lead to a cash or surety bond instead.

• The Bonding Department at the jail gives amounts and status: 512-393-7807.
• Cash bonds must be the exact amount, paid by cashier's check or money order.
• The Sheriff's Office keeps a list of approved bondsmen that rotates weekly. Staff cannot suggest one.
• Bonds are worked in the order they arrive, so the wait varies.

Statewide law sits on our Texas bail laws page, and local bond types, fees and holds on our bail page.

Three quick routes:

• Phone Jail Records at 512-393-7832 and ask what charges are on the booking.
• Once a case is filed, the clerk has it. The District Clerk (felonies) is at 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, Suite 2211, San Marcos, TX 78666, 512-393-7660. The County Clerk (Class A and B misdemeanors) is at 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, Suite 2008, San Marcos, TX 78666, 512-393-7330.
• The state's free re:SearchTX site shows filed cases after you register, including the charging paper on most criminal files.

The magistrate also reads the charge aloud to the person at the first hearing.

At the magistrate hearing, anyone who can't afford counsel may request one and complete the form. Texas counties of 250,000 people or more, which includes this one, must appoint counsel within one working day of getting that request (art. 1.051).

• Indigent Defense office: 512-878-6740, or 512-878-6597. The county's application page covers the forms.
• Public defender: Neighborhood Defender Service of Texas staffs the Hays County Public Defender's Office at 1340 Wonder World Dr., Suite 108, San Marcos, TX 78666, 512-749-0690.
• Judicial Services, the pretrial office, is not allowed to recommend a private attorney.

Calls between a jailed client and a lawyer are free, last 20 minutes and are not recorded. The attorney sets them up with the jail.

In-person visits run by appointment only, with no walk-ups. Call the visitation team at 512-393-7366 on a weekday or email them, as much as one month ahead. Visits take place Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, plus late afternoon and evening slots on Tuesdays. Each one lasts 20 minutes.

• Two on-site visits per week is the cap for each inmate, and only one per day.
• Up to three people may come at once, and children count toward that number.
• Every adult visitor shows a valid state ID or driver's license. Visitors under 17 need a parent, guardian or attorney with them.
• Leave phones, cameras, purses and baby carriers in the car. Arrive on time, because late visitors lose the slot.
• Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day have no visits.

Video visits from home run 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily through the jail's video vendor, Securus. They last 25 minutes, with a limit of two a day. Visitors must be 17 or older and show government photo ID when signing up, and approval usually takes 24 to 48 hours. Non-attorney video visits are recorded. Support line: 800-844-6591. Our visitation page has more.

Deposits land in the Inmate Trust Fund. Pick one route:

• Online, or by phone at 866-345-1884.
• Cash at a participating store, using a barcode from the deposit service.
• The lobby kiosk at 1307 Uhland Road, San Marcos, TX 78666, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays that are not county holidays. Cash works there, and so do credit and debit cards.
• A money order by mail to Hays County Jail, TX, 1307 Uhland Rd., San Marcos, TX 78666, marked "Attention: Inmate Trust Fund." Write the inmate's full name and SPIN. Put no letter inside, or the whole envelope comes back. Never mail cash.

Commissary orders go in on Tuesday mornings, and a mailed money order has to arrive by 8 a.m. Monday to count that week. Purchases can't be refunded. Care packages are ordered at 800-546-6283, with a $100 weekly limit apart from commissary. Our deposits page has more, and so does our commissary page.

Inmates place outgoing calls through Securus. Families can pay ahead with a prepaid account, or choose monthly billing, which needs a credit check. Securus help: 800-844-6591.

No one can phone an inmate directly. Jail staff will not pass along messages either, unless an emergency has been confirmed. Mail scanned at the out-of-state center shows up on tablets or kiosks inside. For the fine print, open our calls page or our inmate email page.

Since September 12, 2022, the jail turns away personal mail at its own door. Letters are routed to a scanning center in Florida instead:

Inmate first and last name, ID#
C/O Securus Digital Mail Center-Hays County, TX
PO Box 21167, Tampa, FL 33622

• Scanners capture the front side alone; writing on the back means the item is returned.
• Send ten photos at most per envelope, none larger than 4x6, and no instant prints that develop themselves.
• Paper bigger than 8.5x11, anything not on paper, packages and certified mail are all sent back.
• Originals are kept 30 days. To get them back, mail a self-addressed envelope with postage.

Legal mail and pre-approved publications use the jail address: inmate name and ID number, Hays County Jail, TX, 1307 Uhland Road, San Marcos, TX 78666. Our mail page goes deeper.

Property pickup runs 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except county and federal holidays. The person inside fills out a release card first, no later than a day (24 hours) ahead. Whoever picks up shows a state ID.

• Once told of excess property, the family has seven days to collect it.
• Belongings left behind after a transfer are destroyed or donated after 30 days.
• Jail court clothes are issued only for jury trials. Someone released without fitting clothes gets basic clothing from the jail.

Questions go to the jail at 512-393-7800.

Call the jail at 512-393-7800 and describe the health problem. Have the medicine names, doses and the doctor's phone number ready when you call.

• State rules make every Texas jail give inmates a complaint procedure, both in the handbook and posted in common areas (37 TAC 251.6(c)).
• Unresolved worries can go to the state's jail regulator, TCJS. File through its jail complaints page or call 512-463-5505.
• The jail chaplain is at 512-393-7862 for faith support.

Warrants here may be served by a constable, a sheriff's deputy or a city officer. For a phone check, the Precinct 4 Constable's Warrant Division takes calls at 512-858-7605. As its warrant check page explains, a courtesy postcard goes out first. After one to two weeks of silence, the case is entered statewide and assigned to a deputy constable for arrest. For the state's most-sought people, DPS runs the DPS Texas 10 Most Wanted pages.

To settle a warrant, have a lawyer arrange surrender or a bond with the court that issued it. On a misdemeanor, reach the County Clerk, 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, Suite 2008, San Marcos, TX 78666, 512-393-7330.

The jail does not set or track court dates. The clerk keeping the case file knows:

• Felony: District Clerk, 512-393-7660.
• Misdemeanor: County Clerk, 512-393-7330, or the line for County Court at Law hearings, 512-393-7625.
• On personal bond: Judicial Services tracks court dates for its clients, at 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, Suite 1204, San Marcos, TX 78666, 512-393-7785, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Our court page explains each court and the order of hearings.

Federal arrests here go to the Austin Division of the Western District federal court. Its clerk is at 501 West Fifth Street, Suite 1100, Austin, TX 78701, 512-916-5896.

1. Release or custody until trial is decided at a detention hearing under 18 U.S.C. 3142, usually at the first court appearance.
2. Until sentencing, the U.S. Marshals Service keeps custody and knows which jail holds the person. Its Austin office: 501 West 5th Street, Suite 3300, Austin, TX 78701, 512-916-5393.
3. The Federal Public Defender's Austin office takes eligible clients: 504 Lavaca Street, Suite 960, Austin, TX 78701, 512-916-5025.
4. Once a federal sentence begins, the BOP inmate locator takes over as the search tool.

1. The hold starts with ICE lodging a detainer (Form I-247A) at the Uhland Road jail.
2. With it on file, custody can last up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. State law says Texas jails must comply (art. 2A.060), and Government Code 752.053 blocks local limits on immigration enforcement.
4. A separate 2025 measure, Senate Bill 8, pushes every Texas sheriff with a jail toward a 287(g) partnership. For this county's progress, phone the Sheriff's Office.
5. ICE officers pick up the person. The San Antonio Field Office oversees this area: 3523 Crosspoint Drive, San Antonio, TX 78217, 210-564-3300.
6. Detainees may go to an ICE center, for example the Karnes County Immigration Processing Center, 409 FM 1144, Karnes City, TX 78118, 830-254-2000.
7. Put the A-number into the ICE Online Detainee Locator, or if that's unknown, the person's name and birth country. When it comes up empty, phone the field office.

TDCJ, the state prison system, takes custody after sentencing. A stop at intake sets the person's classification and needs, and a unit that fits is picked afterward.

• Three keys open the TDCJ inmate search: SID number, TDCJ number, or surname with one initial. Anyone not yet inside a TDCJ facility won't appear.
• The data trails by at least a day and is refreshed on working days. Last names must match exactly, so try each spelling.
• Our Texas state prisons page covers the system as a whole.

In Texas, juvenile court handles conduct by someone aged 10 to 16. A 17-year-old charged with something new is treated as an adult and booked into the adult jail (Family Code 51.02).

• The arresting officer has to let a parent or guardian know quickly, giving the reason for custody (Family Code 52.02).
• Youths are held at the county's juvenile detention center in San Marcos, 512-393-5220. Call for the street address and the juvenile probation office.
• Under Family Code 54.01, a detained child sees a judge within two working days. That clock drops to one working day when the youth was brought in on a Friday or Saturday. A court-appointed lawyer is already assigned by then.
• Juvenile files are confidential, so the adult roster won't list the child.

The agency's name sits on the booking record, or Jail Records can tell you at 512-393-7832. Departments in this county:

City police

• San Marcos Police Department, 2300 South IH 35, San Marcos, TX 78666, 512-753-2108 (press 2 for non-emergency). Its lobby is open 24/7 for custody swaps and to talk with an on-duty officer.
• Kyle Police Department, 1700 Kohler's Crossing, Kyle, TX 78640, non-emergency 512-268-3232, administration 512-268-0859.
• Buda, Dripping Springs, Wimberley, Woodcreek, Uhland, Niederwald, Mountain City and Hays: call the Sheriff's Office at 512-393-7800 to learn which agency patrols there and booked the person.

County and campus

• Sheriff's Office deputies: see the Patrol Division page and the sub-station list.
• Constables: Precinct 2, Precinct 3, Precinct 4 (warrants 512-858-7605) and Precinct 5.
• Texas State University Police: see the university police contact page.
• DPS troopers are peace officers anywhere in Texas and can make arrests here as well. The Sheriff's Office can direct you to the DPS office for this area.