Use the steps below. They take a few minutes.

1. Open the official jail search. Spell the legal name, not a nickname.
2. Nothing there? Try IVSS-Counties. Enter part of the name if you're unsure of spelling. A partial match can still find them.
3. Copy any booking or ID number onto paper. Jail staff, clerks and lawyers all ask for it.
4. Then phone the jail, 325-823-3201. Staff can confirm the person is inside and go over charges and bail.

Two tips. First, a date of birth sorts out people with the same name. Second, keep each call short and polite, since the same deputies may also be booking new arrivals.

No match yet? Usually there's a simple reason:

• Still in booking. Prints, photos and forms eat up a few hours. Give it until evening and search again.
• They already left. Bond may have posted, or a personal bond may have let them walk out. Fine-only cases often end with a written court date instead of a booking.
• A different agency has them. An Abilene arrest may go to Taylor County. A federal case means the U.S. Marshals. An immigration hold means ICE. The next answer lists each place.
• The name doesn't match. Search again with a maiden name, a hyphenated surname or just the first initial.

Still stuck? Phone the Sheriff's Office, 325-823-3201 (mailing address P.O. Box 821, Anson, TX 79501). Staff can say if the person came through booking, went home or was passed to another agency.

The county runs one jail. Some arrests still end up elsewhere, so here is every likely spot:

• Jones County Jail: 402 2nd Street, Anson, TX 79501, 325-823-3201. Adults on local charges stay here. In June 2022, the state counted 73 people in its 96 beds.
• Taylor County Adult Detention Center: 910 S. 27th St., Abilene, TX 79602, 325-691-7423. Worth a call if the arrest happened in Abilene.
• Shackelford County Jail: 791 W. US Hwy 180, Albany, TX 76430, dispatch 325-762-9555. The same district court hears felonies from both counties.
• Rolling Plains Detention Center: 118 County Road 206, Haskell, TX 79521, 940-864-6200. ICE uses it for immigration detainees.
• Taylor County Juvenile Justice Center: 889 South 25th Street, Abilene, TX 79602, 325-691-7462. It serves youths from this county.

Two state prison units with Abilene addresses also sit inside the county lines. Anyone housed there belongs to TDCJ. Search for them with the state prison tools, not the jail's.

A written request is the route. Texas calls it a Public Information Act request, and it goes to the Sheriff (mail: P.O. Box 821, Anson, TX 79501; phone 325-823-3201). Basic facts about an arrest are public, and the office must respond promptly (Gov't Code §552.108). Spell out the name and arrest date, then request the booking photograph.

• Websites that sell mugshot removal for $150 or more face state limits. If a posted record is wrong or incomplete, the site has to correct or remove it for free. Expunged cases, and ones sealed with a nondisclosure order, can't be posted by those sites at all. The mugshot-site law has the details.
• Pictures taken by ICE require an ICE records (FOIA) request.
• Federal booking photos usually stay private. An exception: the Marshals Service sometimes puts one out, say, to catch a fugitive.

Sign up with Texas IVSS-Counties. IVSS-Counties replaced the state's VINE alerts. Registration is free and confidential, so the person in jail gets no notice of it.

1. Go to ivss-counties.tdcj.texas.gov.
2. Look the person up by name.
3. Choose phone or online notices. Making an account is up to you.

Expect word when they're booked or freed, when a court date is added or shifted, and on custody changes like a move to TDCJ. Prefer the phone? Call 866-268-8959, any hour, in English or Spanish.

Within 48 hours, a magistrate meets each new arrestee and decides release terms. That duty comes from Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 15.17. Three bond types are common:

• Cash bond. You hand the court every dollar, and you can get it back at the end, minus allowed costs.
• Surety bond. A bondsman posts it, and keeps the fee for good.
• Personal bond. No cash is posted. Instead, the defendant signs, pledging to show up in court. Some violent charges rule it out.

Holds can block release even after payment. Think parole blue warrants, warrants from other counties and ICE detainers. Ask the jail at 325-823-3201 to list every hold first. Our bail page has the whole process, and state-level rules fill our Texas bail laws section.

Call the jail first, 325-823-3201. Staff can share the booking charges. Expect those to shift once a prosecutor files formal papers.

• Felony papers go to the District Clerk, 100 Courthouse Square, Anson, TX 79501, 325-823-3731.
• Class A or B papers go to the County Clerk, first floor of that building, 325-823-3762.
• Fine-only tickets are with the Justice of the Peace, 325-823-3761, or a city court.

Online, a free re:SearchTX account shows charging papers such as an indictment or information. A paid DPS tool, the conviction name search, covers older convictions.

Broke and facing charges? A lawyer at county expense can be requested. The best moment is the first hearing before the magistrate, who must explain how and help with the form (Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 15.17).

• Appointments follow the county's written plan, and the lawyer is chosen from an approved list. That plan can be read online through the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, 209 West 14th Street, Room 202, Austin, TX 78701, 512-936-6994.
• Once appointed, the lawyer has to reach out fast: under art. 26.04, they have through the next working day to try reaching the client.
• Hiring your own lawyer is always allowed. That lawyer can ask the court to lower bail.

If days pass with no word, call the clerk over the case. Felony: 325-823-3731. Misdemeanor: 325-823-3762.

Texas sets minimums for county jails. Every person held must be offered two or more visits weekly, 20-plus minutes apiece. One of those has to be on an evening or weekend. These are noncontact visits, and some jails have state permission to skip the in-person kind (Gov't Code §511.009).

Before you drive over, call 325-823-3201 and ask:

• the visiting schedule, and whether visits need booking in advance;
• what photo ID adults need, and whether kids may come;
• whether video visits work from home, from the lobby, or both;
• the dress code, and which items stay behind.

Our jail visiting tips page shows how to get ready.

Funds in a jail account cover things like snacks, soap and phone time. Ask the jail, 325-823-3201, which ways it takes deposits: a lobby kiosk, an online vendor, or a money order by mail. Also ask about fees and the daily limit. Never mail cash.

Double-check the legal name and booking number. A deposit under the wrong name can sit unclaimed. See our sending money to an inmate page for the usual methods. Our commissary page shows what that money can buy.

Jails usually hire an outside company to run inmate calls. Families often set up a prepaid account. Ask the jail at 325-823-3201:

• which company handles calls, and how a prepaid phone balance gets funded;
• whether tablets, messages or photo sharing are offered;
• when calls are allowed during the day.

Treat any jail call as one that could be recorded, and keep the case off the line. Our inmate phone calls page and our messaging an inmate page explain how these accounts tend to work.

Mail for the Sheriff's Office uses P.O. Box 821, Anson, TX 79501. Before sending anything, call 325-823-3201 and ask two things. First, does inmate mail go to that box? Second, how should the envelope be addressed?

• Use the person's full legal name, plus any booking number.
• Up top on the left, print who it's from and where to send it back.
• State jail standards don't limit the number of letters.
• Legal letters from a lawyer must be opened with the inmate present.

Ask before mailing photos, books or magazines, since many jails restrict them. Our writing to an inmate page covers common rules.

At booking, staff inventory and store a person's things, such as a wallet, keys and phone. Most of it comes back at release. A family can sometimes pick items up sooner.

• Call 325-823-3201 and ask when property is released and to whom.
• Expect to need photo ID. You may also need a signed release from the person.
• Police keep seized evidence until the case is done. A lawyer can ask about it.
• Ask how money left in their jail account gets paid out after release.

Call the jail right away at 325-823-3201. Tell staff about medicines, allergies, pregnancy, seizures or recent injuries. Give the doctor's name and pharmacy so they can check. Ask how prescriptions are handled.

Mental health gets special handling. When there's reason to think someone has a mental illness or an intellectual disability, the Sheriff must alert a magistrate within 12 hours. The judge can then order an evaluation (Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 16.22). Mention any diagnosis to the defense lawyer, too.

Problems with care that drag on can go to state oversight. That means the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Letters for the agency: P.O. Box 12985, Austin, TX 78711. Calls: 512-463-5505.

The Sheriff's Office handles most warrant service: 325-823-3201, P.O. Box 821, Anson, TX 79501. The Constable, 325-823-2656, may serve papers as well. In town, so do Anson police (325-823-3056) and Stamford police (325-773-3647). Phone the Sheriff or the court clerk to ask if one is active. For the state's highest-priority fugitives, DPS runs a 10 Most Wanted page. Want it cleared? Hire a lawyer, then surrender together to the judge behind the warrant. Some people instead phone that court to get a new date set. Felony records: District Clerk, 100 Courthouse Square, Anson, TX 79501, 325-823-3731.

Hearing dates come by phone. Clerks give them out once you say the person's name and date of birth:

• felonies: District Clerk, 325-823-3731, open business hours;
• Class A and B: County Clerk, 325-823-3762, 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m.;
• fine-only cases: Justice of the Peace, 325-823-3761.

All three are at 100 Courthouse Square, Anson, TX 79501. A free re:SearchTX account lists filed papers, but not hearing times. IVSS-Counties will also ping you about new or changed court settings. Our court page walks through each kind of hearing, start to finish.

Abilene's federal court, in the Northern District of Texas, takes arrests from this region. Address: the U.S. Courthouse, 341 Pine Street, Room 2008, Abilene, TX 79601, 325-677-6311.

• A U.S. magistrate judge, at what's called the detention hearing, picks between freedom with conditions and jail until trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Ahead of trial, the U.S. Marshals have custody. Some people are boarded at county jails. Call the Abilene office, 341 Pine Street, Room 207, Abilene, TX 79601, 325-672-2147, and ask where the person is.
• After sentencing, the federal prison system takes over. Search the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator by register number or by name.

Here's how an immigration hold usually unfolds:

1. Paperwork from ICE arrives: Form I-247A, the detainer.
2. On ICE's request, the jail can hold them up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. A 2017 state law makes jails honor detainers (art. 2A.060, Code of Criminal Procedure). In 2025 the state added a December 1, 2026 deadline for jail counties to enter 287(g) agreements with ICE. Ask the Sheriff, 325-823-3201, what applies here.
4. Officers from ICE come for the person. This area falls under ICE's Dallas Field Office, 8101 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75247, 972-367-2200.
5. One place they may go is Rolling Plains Detention Center, 118 County Road 206, Haskell, TX 79521, 940-864-6200.

To track them, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator. Enter their A-number, or their full name with birth country.

Once sentenced on a felony, the person may sit in the county jail for a time until TDCJ takes them. TDCJ first runs them through intake, then assigns a permanent unit.

• Head to the TDCJ inmate search; it accepts a name, a TDCJ number or a SID.
• A transfer may not appear right away. Give it a few working days.
• Our Texas state prisons section has more on the state's prison units.

Until the transfer happens, the jail at 325-823-3201 can confirm the person is still there.

Anyone 10 to 16 counts as a child under Texas law, so a juvenile judge hears the case. At 17, the adult system applies (Tex. Family Code §51.02), so a 17-year-old can be held in the county jail.

• A secure bed for a youth means Abilene's Taylor County Juvenile Justice Center, 889 South 25th Street, Abilene, TX 79602, 325-691-7462.
• Officers owe parents prompt word of the arrest and its cause (§52.02).
• A judge reviews the hold within two working days, or sooner after a Friday or Saturday arrest, when it's due the next working day. A lawyer is assigned before it (§54.01).

Call the center to learn the hearing time and which probation officer has the case.

The arresting agency holds the report. Here is each one we know of:

• Sheriff's Office, county roads and towns without their own police: P.O. Box 821, Anson, TX 79501, 325-823-3201.
• Anson Police Department: 1301 Commercial Avenue, Anson, TX 79501, 325-823-3056.
• Stamford Police Department: non-emergency 325-773-3647. Stamford City Hall is at 201 E McHarg St, Stamford, TX 79553, 325-773-2723.
• Constable, who may serve court papers: 325-823-2656, mailing address P.O. Box 345, Anson, TX 79501.
• Abilene Police Department, if an Abilene officer made the arrest: 4565 South 1st St., Abilene, TX 79605, 325-673-8331.

An arrest in Hamlin or Hawley, or by a state trooper on a highway? Sheriff's staff can say which agency arrested the person and where booking happened.