1. Open the jail lookup, or go straight to Texas IVSS-Counties.
2. Type a last name, then a first name. Partial spellings catch typos, which bookings sometimes contain.
3. If a list of agencies appears, choose this county.
4. Read the custody line: held, released or sent somewhere else.
5. Nothing turned up? Phone the jail, 903-536-2749, with a full name and birth date.

IVSS staff pick up at 866-268-8959, day or night. Spanish speakers get help too. Its search only covers names now jailed or on supervision.

Here's why a search might return nothing:

• Paperwork lag. Prints, pictures and forms can delay the record.
• They already left. Posting bond or having charges dropped can free someone within hours.
• Another agency holds them. A neighboring sheriff, federal marshals or ICE might have custody now.
• They are hospitalized. Injured arrestees may see a doctor before booking.

No city lockup is known anywhere in this county, so ask the Sheriff's jail desk about Buffalo arrests too. Phone the jail desk at 903-536-2749. For a past case, the County Clerk keeps a public terminal with criminal records back to 1995: Annex II, 155 N. Cass Street, Centerville, TX 75833, 903-536-2352.

State jail inspectors list only one adult jail for this county, at 606 E. St. Mary's Street, Centerville, TX 75833, 903-536-2749. It holds 53 beds. When it fills, some prisoners get boarded out; an August 2022 state count showed five held in another county, though which county went unnamed.

Nearby jails to check if Centerville comes up empty:

• Anderson County Jail, 1200 E. Lacy Street, Palestine, TX 75801, 903-729-6068.
• Brazos County Detention Center, 1835 Sandy Point Road, Bryan, TX 77807, 979-361-4800.
• Houston County Jail, 700A South 4th Street, Crockett, TX 75835, 936-544-2862.

Open warrants in Anderson, Brazos or Houston County can mean a transfer once the local case wraps up.

No photo is promised by any lookup named on this page. Booking pictures can be sought from the Sheriff with a Public Information Act letter (P.O. Box 278, Centerville, TX 75833 is the department's mailing box); phone 903-536-2749 to ask how they prefer to receive it. Gov't Code 552.108(c) leaves basic arrest information public. Agencies must answer promptly, and a stalled request can be reported to the Open Records Division at the Attorney General's office.

Bus. & Com. Code chapter 109 binds private mugshot websites: one demanding $150 or more for a takedown must correct errors without charge. It may not post expunged or nondisclosed records either. ICE photos require a FOIA request; federal booking photos generally stay private.

Yes. Texas IVSS-Counties sends automatic notices whenever a registered name is booked, released, given a new court setting, moved to TDCJ, escapes or dies. Registration is free, needs no account and stays secret from the person behind bars. Prefer the phone? Dial 866-268-8959, any hour.

After a transfer to state prison, notices shift to TDCJ Victim Services, 800-848-4284.

A magistrate, usually a justice of the peace, sets bail within 48 hours of arrest. Releases come in three main forms:

• cash: the full amount paid up front, largely refunded at the end when every court date was met;
• surety: a county-licensed bondsman posts the full amount in exchange for a nonrefundable premium;
• personal: release on a signed promise, barred for some violent charges.

Locally, a Bail Bond Board licenses bondsmen and meets four times a year at Annex II, 155 N. Cass Street, Centerville, TX 75833; the District Clerk takes questions at 903-536-2227. Ask the jail at 903-536-2749 about posting hours and payment forms. Every step is on our bail page.

The jail desk, 903-536-2749, can recite current charges and the bail on each count. After the magistrate hearing, charges also appear on the warning form the arrestee signs. Once a case gets filed:

• felonies: District Clerk, 139 E. Main Street, Centerville, TX 75833, 903-536-2227, option 2;
• misdemeanors: County Clerk, Annex II, 155 N. Cass Street, Centerville, TX 75833, 903-536-2352.

Felony charges may change once a grand jury acts, so recheck after an indictment.

Ask for one at the magistrate hearing. People who can't pay get a private lawyer appointed by the court. Paperwork goes to a coordinator:

• felonies: Felony Indigent Coordinator, 139 E. Main Street, Centerville, TX 75833, 903-536-1032;
• misdemeanors: the County Judge's office handles appointments through its Misdemeanor Indigent Coordinator, 130 E. St. Mary, Centerville, TX 75833, 903-536-2331.

Families may also hire private counsel any time. Retained or appointed, a defense lawyer can request a lower bail.

Call 903-536-2749 before driving over to learn days, hours, sign-up rules and whether any video option exists, either from home or a lobby kiosk. Under Texas jail standards, inmates get a minimum of two noncontact visits weekly lasting 20 minutes or more, and evenings or weekends must offer at least one. Jails also set rules for approving visitors and for children visiting a parent. Bring photo ID. Our visitation guide covers etiquette and dress.

Commissary money pays for snacks, soap and phone minutes. Before sending any, ask 903-536-2749 which methods work today (kiosk, website or mailed money order) and what each costs. Double-check the spelling of their name and their booking number. Our guide to sending money compares common options.

Inmates usually phone out on a prepaid or collect system; outside callers generally cannot ring a cell block. Set up an account with whichever provider the jail uses so calls reach your number. Ask at 903-536-2749 which company that is, and whether tablets or messaging exist. Our inmate calling guide and messaging guide explain accounts and charges.

Send letters to the Sheriff's mailing box, P.O. Box 278, Centerville, TX 75833, with the recipient's complete legal name written above it. Phone 903-536-2749 to confirm address format and any postcard-only rule. State standards cap nothing on letter count, and attorney mail gets opened solely while the inmate looks on. Ask before tucking anything besides paper into an envelope. Our jail mail guide lists typical banned items.

Booking officers bag up wallets, phones, keys and clothes, then store them at 606 E. St. Mary's Street, Centerville, TX 75833, until release. Call 903-536-2749 before driving over. Ask what hours property gets handed back, whether a relative can collect it with signed permission, and how any leftover commissary balance is returned. Bring photo ID.

Tell jail staff right away at 903-536-2749, naming medications, doses, allergies and the prescribing doctor. Each inmate must receive the jail's written grievance steps, which are also posted where inmates gather. If staff don't respond, contact the Texas jail standards commission: dial 512-463-5505, use its online form, or email info@tcjs.state.tx.us. In September 2026 that commission listed this jail as out of compliance with a standard.

Deputies serve most warrants here; ask the Sheriff's Office at 903-536-2749. Constable offices also handle papers: Precinct 1 at 430-216-5014, Precinct 2 at 903-512-0362. Buffalo's department covers city warrants. Statewide, the DPS Ten Most Wanted list posts top fugitives. Checking at a clerk's window works too. Rather than waiting for an arrest, hire a lawyer to arrange a surrender, or ring whichever court signed it to discuss bond. Felony paperwork sits with the District Clerk, 139 E. Main Street, Centerville, TX 75833, 903-536-2227.

Court calendars come by phone from the clerk on the case: the District Clerk, 903-536-2227, handles felony dates, and the County Clerk, 903-536-2352, handles misdemeanor and juvenile dates. Supply the name and date of birth, then copy down the cause number. The county also has a court dockets page. Our Leon County court guide walks through every hearing type.

Waco handles federal charges from here, in the Western District of Texas: 800 Franklin Avenue, Room 380, Waco, TX 76701, 254-750-1501. Whether they go home before trial is a question a magistrate judge answers under 18 U.S.C. 3142.

Before sentencing, the U.S. Marshals pick where federal defendants wait, county jails included. Their Waco office: 800 Franklin Avenue, Room 200, Waco, TX 76701, 254-750-1570. Post-sentencing moves appear in the BOP inmate locator.

1. First, ICE sends Centerville jailers a detainer, Form I-247A, identifying whom it wants kept.
2. Jailers may keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Under Texas law, a jail must go along unless shown papers proving citizenship or lawful presence.
4. Agents then collect them and move them to an immigration detention center, sometimes far from Centerville.
5. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator using a name and country of birth, or an alien registration number. Still stuck? Call a field office such as Houston, 126 Northpoint Drive, Houston, TX 77060, 281-774-4816.

Sentenced felons stay in Centerville until TDCJ collects them for intake. Staff there sort each newcomer and assign a unit that fits; anyone with a state jail term heads to one of those facilities instead. Look people up by name, TDCJ number or SID number with the TDCJ inmate search. Background on each prison sits on our Texas state prisons page.

Texas treats anyone at least ten and below seventeen at the offense as a juvenile; 17-year-olds count as adults. After notifying a parent, officers deliver the youngster to a juvenile processing site or youth detention, never the adult jail. A detention hearing follows quickly. Leon County Juvenile Probation, 125 E. Main, Centerville, TX 75833, 903-536-7003, can tell families where the child is held.

Agencies working in this county:

• Sheriff's Office, patrol for rural areas and towns without police: 606 E. St. Mary's Street, Centerville, TX 75833, 903-536-2749.
• Buffalo Police Department: 209 Stadium Street, Buffalo, TX 75831, 903-322-2921.
• Centerville, Jewett, Leona, Marquez, Normangee and Oakwood: ask the Sheriff's dispatch line listed above who patrols each town.
• Constable, Precinct 1: P.O. Box 537, Buffalo, TX 75831, 430-216-5014.
• Constable, Precinct 2: P.O. Box 4, Centerville, TX 75833, 903-512-0362.
• Constable, Precinct 4: 903-208-0904.
• DPS Highway Patrol: 204 E. St. Mary's Street, Centerville, TX 75833, 903-536-2275, open weekdays except the noon hour, 8 to 5.