Lavaca County Jail Inmate Bail & Bonds

A magistrate fixes it. That first appearance has to happen fast, inside 48 hours of the arrest (CCP 14.06, 15.17). It may take place across a desk or through a two-way video link. Justices of the peace qualify, as do the county judge and both district judges who sit here (CCP 2A.151).

Here is what gets covered:

• The charge, read out so the person hears it.
• Rights: silence, a lawyer of one's own choosing, a lawyer present in any questioning, and the option to halt questioning whenever they like.
• An offer of an appointed lawyer, plus hands-on help with that request form.
• A bail ruling fitted to the individual, picking the gentlest terms that do the job (CCP 17.028).

A public safety report, required once a charge reaches Class B, goes to the magistrate beforehand. It pulls together criminal history and gives no score or bail number (CCP 17.021, 17.022). The FM 318 jail desk, 361-798-2420, can tell you the hearing's date and time.

On paper Texas recognizes two kinds of bail (CCP 17.01): the bail bond and the personal bond. At the jail window that turns into three options:

• Cash bond. The full bail is put on deposit. The court keeps it until the case wraps up (CCP 17.02).
• Surety bond. A bondsman takes on the risk for the entire bail amount. In return you pay a premium, and that premium stays with them.
• Personal bond. No deposit at all, only a signed promise to show up (CCP 17.03). The law allows a fee of $20 or 3 percent, whichever figure is higher, and a judge may waive it (CCP 17.42).

Texas bars personal bonds for many violent offenses, for a felon charged with a firearm, and for some protective order cases (CCP 17.03). Judges may attach conditions to any of the three. Staying away from the alleged victim is common, and repeat DWI brings a mandatory ignition interlock (CCP 17.441).

Tickets that carry a fine and no jail can end with no bond whatsoever. The magistrate may simply release the person with a written court date (CCP 15.17(b)).

No statewide chart of prices exists in Texas, so each figure is set for the case at hand. CCP 17.15 lists what the magistrate must balance:

• A sum large enough that a court return is likely.
• A limit, because bail may never be used to oppress.
• How grave the offense is, especially if violence or a weapon was part of it.
• What the accused can actually raise.
• Safety of any victim, of officers and of the wider community.
• Past record, plus citizenship status.

The statute does fix two ceilings. Take a case where officers acted without a warrant, and then the magistrate missed the probable cause deadline. The law then limits a misdemeanor bond to $5,000 and a felony bond to $10,000 (CCP 17.033). A person who simply can't pay may sign an affidavit saying so, which earns a quick second hearing (CCP 17.028).

For the actual sum on each count, ask jail staff at 361-798-2420. The state courts also gather completed bail forms in their TOPICs database.

Both the Sheriff and the jail work from 38 FM 318, Hallettsville, TX 77964. Follow these steps:

1. Ring the jail, 361-798-2420. Spell the name and say the birth year.
2. Make sure magistration is finished and every charge has a bond.
3. Jot down the total owed, which payments count, and who the money order should name.
4. Ask the jailer to run a check for other warrants, probation papers and ICE detainers.
5. Show up with a state ID or license plus the payment, and don't leave without a receipt.

Using a bondsman? The bondsman delivers the paperwork to the jail for you. When the jail line rings busy, the Sheriff's main number is 361-798-2121.

The jail is the first place to ask, since staff can see where each bond is being handled. Case files live in these offices:

• District Clerk (felony files): 109 North LaGrange Street, Hallettsville, TX 77964, 361-798-2351. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m.
• County Clerk (Class A and B files): Courthouse Annex, 412 North Texana Street, Hallettsville, TX 77964, 361-798-3612. Monday through Friday, 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., shut over the noon hour.
• Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace (Class C files): Criminal Justice Center, 38 FM 318, Hallettsville, TX 77964, 361-798-3945. Monday through Friday, 8 to 5, shut over the noon hour.

Both clerks run card payments for fines and court fees. The county's justice court page lists a ticket payment site for each precinct. Those tools handle fines, not bonds. Before driving to any counter, call and ask whether it can accept bond money on this case and whether the jail will release once it does.

The jail writes its own payment rules, so call 361-798-2420 before you head out. Run down this checklist with staff:

• Cash: accepted, and in the exact sum?
• Money orders or cashier's checks: allowed, and payable to whom?
• Debit and credit cards: taken, and with what surcharge?
• Personal checks: ever okay?

A bondsman sets separate terms and might allow installments. The fee belongs to the bondsman as soon as the bond is filed. Mailing cash is never safe. Guard that slip of paper. A cash refund goes solely to the name it shows (CCP 17.02).

Texas makes a bail bond board mandatory once a county reaches 110,000 people. The Census Bureau's July 1, 2025 estimate for this county was 20,651, well under that line (OC 1704.002). Counties without a board may rely on a sheriff's list of approved sureties (CCP 17.141). Check with the jail which names are on it.

• State law caps nothing about a bondsman's charge, and none of it is refundable.
• Every payment or piece of property handed over must be receipted (OC 1704.305).
• Got a truck title tied up as collateral? Once the case is over, put your request in writing, and expect the title back inside a month (OC 1704.301).
• No bondsman may drum up clients inside the jail (OC 1704.304).
• A lawyer who represents the accused in that case may sign as surety, licensed bondsman or not (OC 1704.163).

Want to hand a client back? A bondsman first sends notice to the defense attorney. Felony cases add notice to the prosecutor (CCP 17.19).

A bond releases someone from one case, nothing more. Get the full hold list from jail staff before paying. Typical ones:

• Warrant from another Texas county. Bail may be taken here and the bond mailed to the issuing county (CCP 15.18). Sometimes that county sends deputies instead.
• Parole. A parole "blue warrant" holds the person pending a revocation hearing (GC 508.254).
• Probation. A motion to revoke may come with a separate judge's warrant.
• Family violence. When further violence seems probable, the jail keeps the person 4 hours after bond posts. A magistrate may lengthen that by written order, up to 48 hours in all (CCP 17.291).
• Mental health. If jailers suspect mental illness, they report it to the magistrate within 12 hours. A court-ordered evaluation can follow (CCP 16.22).
• Federal or immigration. See the last questions on this page.

Only rarely. The state constitution guarantees bail in almost every case (Tex. Const. art. I, §11). Refusal fits only a few cases:

• Capital murder where the evidence is overwhelming (§11).
• A fresh felony charge against a person with two felony convictions, or against a person already released on felony bail (§11a).
• Violating a safety-related bond condition (§11b), or disobeying a family violence protective order (§11c).

Voters added §11d in November 2025. Covered charges include murder, aggravated kidnapping, trafficking, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated robbery and other serious violent crimes. Bail is denied once prosecutors prove, at a special hearing, that the accused would likely skip town or hurt someone. That hearing happens only when prosecutors request it. Should the court free the person anyway, it owes the parties a written statement of reasons (Tex. Const. art. I, §11d).

Two laws passed in 2025 add more. Prosecutors may now ask one of the district judges to reconsider a felony bail amount. And in a set of violent crimes named in the statute, low bail can be appealed by the state (CCP 17.029, 44.01). Reach the County Attorney's office at 109 North LaGrange Street, Hallettsville, TX 77964, 361-798-4757.

Ordinarily the defense lawyer files paperwork asking the judge on the case for a lower figure. Hand the lawyer proof of income and monthly costs, such as paychecks and the rent or note. What the accused can afford is a factor the judge must count (CCP 17.15).

Delay helps too. Under CCP 17.151, a held defendant gets a personal bond or a reduced bail if the state isn't ready by these points:

• 90 days into a felony.
• 30 days into a Class A level misdemeanor.
• 15 days into a Class B level misdemeanor.
• 5 days into a fine-only case.

Some violent offenses are carved out of that rule. Felony paperwork goes to the District Clerk, 109 North LaGrange Street, Hallettsville, TX 77964, 361-798-2351. Misdemeanor motions go to the County Clerk, 412 North Texana Street, Hallettsville, TX 77964, 361-798-3612.

Tell the magistrate plainly that money for a lawyer isn't there. The magistrate completes the request with the accused and sends it on within 24 hours. Here, because the county is small, the appointment deadline is three working days from receipt (CCP 15.17, 1.051).

Appointments here can go to the Crossroads Regional Public Defender Office, which also covers Jackson, Refugio and Victoria counties. Find it at 203 North Liberty Street, Victoria, TX 77901, 361-582-5885. State law tells judges to favor a public defender office when one serves the county (CCP 26.04).

Counsel then gets roughly one working day to try reaching the jailed client. A request for counsel can't be held against the person. To read the local appointment rules, pick the county in the Texas Indigent Defense Commission plan lookup.

• 25th and 2nd 25th District Courts (felonies): Lavaca County Courthouse, 109 North LaGrange Street, Hallettsville, TX 77964. The District Clerk answers at 361-798-2351. Each court also hears cases in other counties.
• County Court (Class A and B): files stay with the County Clerk, 412 North Texana Street, Hallettsville, TX 77964, 361-798-3612.
• Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1: 38 FM 318, Hallettsville, TX 77964, 361-798-3945.
• Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2 (Moulton): temporarily closed. Its mail goes to P.O. Box 288, Hallettsville, TX 77964, and its payments to Precinct 1.
• Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3: 116 West 6th Street, Suite A-3, Shiner, TX 77984, 361-594-8505.
• Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4: 113 Nelson Street, Yoakum, TX 77995, 361-293-9146.
• Hallettsville Municipal Court: 101 North Main Street, Hallettsville, TX 77964, 361-798-3681.

Shiner, Yoakum and Moulton police tickets go before each town's municipal judge. Deputies at the Sheriff's Office, 361-798-2121, can share those numbers.

Cash comes home after the final ruling, provided the bond rules were kept, and the check is made out to the receipt holder (CCP 17.02). The clerk can charge 5 percent, up to $50, if the judge found guilt or ordered deferred adjudication. Fines and court costs still owed may be paid from the deposit (CCP 17.53). At the end, the clerk must give you, free, the form that asks for the bail funds to be released.

A skipped court date reverses all that. The name is then called out at the door of the courthouse, and with no answer the judge enters a judgment nisi under CCP 22.02. Yet the surety is released when an arrest follows soon enough (misdemeanor: 180 days; felony: 270 days) (CCP 22.13).

Penal Code 38.10 turns a no-show into a new charge, ranked by the original case. A fine-only case means Class C, a jailable misdemeanor means Class A, and a felony case means a third-degree felony.

Ring the jail at 361-798-2420. Ask two things: how the money left on their books is returned, and when stored items can be claimed. If someone other than the released person is coming, find out what signed permission is needed. Bring ID. While the person is still inside, our deposits page covers adding funds.

Any U.S. charge filed here is heard in Victoria, in the federal court's Victoria Division. Its clerk sits at 312 South Main Street, Room 406, Victoria, TX 77901, 361-788-5000. Commercial bondsmen have no role there.

Release is weighed at a detention hearing under 18 U.S.C. 3142, held by a U.S. magistrate judge. The result is either a set of conditions or detention through trial. Throughout a pending federal case, the U.S. Marshals Service holds the prisoner. Its Victoria office is at 312 South Main Street, Room 326, Victoria, TX 77902, 361-578-4932.

After sentencing, the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator shows where the person is serving time.

No. Posting bail here and clearing an immigration hold are two unrelated things. What usually follows:

1. ICE sends the Hallettsville jail its detainer request, Form I-247A.
2. Deputies may keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released so agents can collect them (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Once ICE has custody, try the ICE Online Detainee Locator. An A-number works best. Name and country of birth also work.
4. Nothing found? Contact ICE's San Antonio Field Office, 3523 Crosspoint Drive, San Antonio, TX 78217, 210-564-3300.

Texas jails must comply with ICE detainers unless the person proves lawful immigration status (CCP 2A.060). Senate Bill 8 of 2025 adds a requirement: by December 1, 2026, every county operating a jail must have applied to ICE's 287(g) program. To learn where things stand locally, phone the Sheriff at 361-798-2121.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice operates state jails and state prisons alike. Once sentenced, the person stays on FM 318 until a state bus comes. First comes an intake unit for health checks and sorting by risk, then assignment to a unit suited to the sentence.

Try the TDCJ inmate search with the state ID number or the surname and first initial. Its records are refreshed each working day and are always at least a day old. For more on Texas units, see our Texas state prisons page.

Yes. In Texas, juvenile court hears the case of a child who was at least 10 but had not reached 17 when the act occurred. From 17 on, adult court applies, and so may the adult jail (FC 51.02).

No bail bond is posted for a child. Officers must quickly notify a parent (FC 52.02). Kept in detention? Then the juvenile judge must review that detention by the second working day, after first naming the child's attorney (FC 54.01).

Juvenile probation knows where a held youth is and when court is. That office belongs to the 2nd 25th Judicial District Adult and Juvenile Probation Department, Courthouse Annex, 412 North Texana Street, Hallettsville, TX 77964, 361-798-9906.