1. Head to the Texas IVSS-Counties website.
2. Enter a last name. A partial spelling is accepted, which is handy when you aren't sure of it.
3. Pick the entry whose age and county fit. The list covers anyone held or supervised in Texas right now.
4. For a second opinion, ring the jail, 325-396-4705. Jail staff can say yes or no once you give the legal name and birth date.

Stuck on the IVSS site? Its help line, 866-268-8959, runs 24 hours a day and handles Spanish as well as English.

An empty result has several innocent explanations:

• Paperwork trails the arrest; someone booked this morning might not appear until later.
• Bond may have been posted already.
• Space or the type of charge may have sent the person to a neighboring jail, a federal agency or the state.
• The booking may list a different spelling, a middle name or an alias.

Search again in a few hours with shorter name pieces. Then phone the Tipton Street jail, 325-396-4705. The JP, who also serves as magistrate, knows whether a hearing has happened yet: 325-396-2239.

The main stop is the Menard County Jail, 208 Tipton, Menard, TX 76859, 325-396-4705. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards counts eight beds there.

A jail that small can fill up. Where an extra prisoner goes depends on space and on deals between sheriffs, so ask the Sheriff's Office before you drive anywhere. Jails within reach:

• McCulloch County Jail, 900 East Main Street, Brady, TX 76825, 325-597-0639.
• Kimble County Jail, 415 Pecan Street, Junction, TX 76849, 325-446-2766.
• Mason County Jail (ask the Sheriff's Office, 205 Westmoreland Street, Mason, TX 76856), 325-347-5252.
• Sutton County Jail, 401 E. Oak Street, Sonora, TX 76950, 325-387-2288.
• Schleicher County Jail, 4 S. Divide Street, Eldorado, TX 76936, 325-853-2737.
• Tom Green County Detention Center, 4382 N US Highway 277, San Angelo, TX 76905, 325-659-6597.

Don't expect photos on IVSS-Counties; it gives names and custody status only. Want mugshots or other booking records? Write the Sheriff's Office a letter asking for them. Chapter 552 of the Government Code, the Public Information Act, is the law that applies. Send it to the Sheriff's mailbox, P.O. Box 307, Menard, TX 76859, or phone 325-396-4705 to ask which way they prefer.

• Section 552.108(c) says basic information on an arrest has to go out promptly. Booking photos aren't named in that section, so answers can differ from case to case.
• A request that needs over ten business days must come with a date for release. Withholding a record generally needs an Attorney General ruling.
• Paid mugshot sites: under Bus. & Com. Code ch. 109, one charging $150 or more for takedowns must correct or delete a disputed record that proves inaccurate, free of charge. Publishing a record covered by an expunction or nondisclosure order is barred.
• ICE photos: request them through an ICE FOIA request. Federal mugshots are kept back as a rule, though the U.S. Marshals can release one, for instance to help catch someone on the run.

Custody notices from Texas IVSS-Counties are free and confidential, and you can set one up with or without an account. Phone sign-up works too: 866-268-8959.

Treat the alert as a safety net. A quick call to the jail, 325-396-4705, confirms a release or a move faster. If a prison term follows, switch to the TDCJ lookup described near the end of this page.

Within two days of an arrest, each person must stand before a magistrate. Here, that job falls to the Justice of the Peace, available at any hour. That short hearing covers four things: the charge, the person's rights, the offer of a free lawyer, and bail.

• Cash: someone pays the whole bond amount up front.
• Surety: a licensed bail bondsman signs for the bond; the fee paid to the bondsman is not returned.
• Personal bond: a signed promise, no money down. Many violent charges are barred from it (CCP §17.03).

Paying bail doesn't always open the door. An ICE detainer or a warrant from somewhere else can still hold a person. Ask the jail what the bond is and where to pay it. Our bail page covers each step. For the statewide rules behind it all, visit our Texas bail laws page and come back.

A call to the jail usually gets you the booking charge. After prosecutors file, the courthouse on San Saba Avenue holds the case papers.

• Felonies plus Class A and B misdemeanors: the District and County Clerk, 206 E. San Saba Ave., Menard, TX 76859, 325-396-4682.
• Class C tickets, where a fine is the only penalty: Precinct 1's Justice of the Peace, 325-396-2239.
• From home: re:SearchTX is free after sign-up and shows charges, case numbers and certain filings.

The person hears the charge read at the magistrate hearing, and a defense lawyer can put it in plain terms later.

Unable to pay? The person can request appointed counsel at the magistrate hearing, which starts the process. Relatives can pick up the application at the clerk's counter, 325-396-4682.

• Turn in the finished application at the clerk's window for the court handling the charge.
• The County Judge picks counsel for misdemeanors, while the 452nd District Court's judge does it for felonies.
• Texas sets a three-working-day limit for naming the lawyer once the court gets the request (CCP §1.051(c)).
• Details for all five counties are in the local appointment plan.

Questions about how the plan works can go to the state agency that funds and reviews it, the Texas Indigent Defense Commission: 209 West 14th Street, Room 202, Austin, TX 78701, 512-936-6994.

Visiting days are set locally, so call 325-396-4705 about times, who's allowed and the ID needed. State standards guarantee some basics:

• Twice a week, at minimum, a person may have a noncontact visit of 20 minutes or more.
• Families who work days get at least one weekly slot in the evening or on a weekend.
• Young visitors may need to arrive with a parent, a guardian or a lawyer.
• A jailed veteran's visits with a veterans service officer cost nothing.

Because state law (Gov't Code §511.009) excuses certain jails from in-person visits, ask whether visits on Tipton Street happen in person or on a screen. General advice lives on our jail visits page.

Money on account buys commissary goods like snacks and soap, and sometimes phone time. Call the jail before sending money and ask:

1. What ways of depositing work today?
2. What fee applies, and when does the money show up?
3. Should an inmate number go on the deposit?

Never tuck bills in a letter. Deposit choices are explained on our inmate money page; what's for sale is on our commissary page.

Every Texas booking area must have a telephone for new arrivals. Once housed, a person calls out from inside; there's no number for family to call in.

For costs, call times and whether texting, email or video calls exist here, ask the jail at 325-396-4705. Keep case details off jail calls, which may be recorded. Our jail phone page covers the general picture, and so does our inmate messaging page.

Put the address together like this, and check it with the jail first:

Inmate's full name
Menard County Sheriff's Office
P.O. Box 307
Menard, TX 76859

• State jail rules put no limit on letters or pages, going in or out.
• A lawyer's letter is opened with the inmate watching, limited to a contraband search.
• Inmates who can't afford supplies still receive enough paper and stamps for three letters a week.
• A letter can be turned back, one item at a time, when it violates a rule.

Before sending photos, books or packages, ask what's allowed. See our jail mail page too.

Belongings collected during booking stay in jail storage. Call 325-396-4705 to find out when family can collect them and whether a signed OK from the inmate is needed.

Carry a photo ID when you go. After a transfer to prison or another jail, ask if the property traveled with the person or is waiting for family. Leftover account money is usually handled at release, so ask how it comes back.

Phone the jail at once, 325-396-4705. Tell staff about medicines, allergies and health problems. Jailers who hear that someone might be mentally ill or intellectually disabled must alert the magistrate; the deadline is 12 hours (CCP §16.22).

• Some people are held under emergency mental health detention. In a jail, they must be housed away from anyone accused of a crime. This comes from Health and Safety Code §573.001.
• The jail's complaint steps must appear in the inmate handbook and on a posted notice.
• For outside complaints, contact the state agency that sets jail rules, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. You can file on its complaints page, 512-463-5505, or its mailing address, P.O. Box 12985, Austin, TX 78711. The online form asks for the jail, the inmate's name and your contact details.

Sheriff's deputies serve warrants countywide, working from 208 Tipton, Menard, TX 76859, 325-396-4705. Precinct 1's constable, whose mail goes to P.O. Box 398, Menard, TX 76859, is reached on the same line. Texas DPS shows its most-sought fugitives, with photos, on the Texas 10 Most Wanted list.

Ask the Sheriff or a court clerk whether a warrant is out. Should one exist, get a lawyer on the phone first. Your lawyer can schedule a surrender with the judge's staff at the issuing court or seek a new setting there. The clerk's office is at 206 E. San Saba Ave., Menard, TX 76859, 325-396-4682.

Settings come from the court offices. Felony, Class A and Class B settings: the District and County Clerk, 325-396-4682. Class C tickets: the JP office, 325-396-2239.

A cause number speeds things up. re:SearchTX lists filings but leaves out hearing times, so the clerk and the defense lawyer stay your best guides. A missed court date can bring a fresh warrant. Our court page explains each court and step.

San Angelo is where federal cases from this county go; it sits in Texas's Northern District. Clerk: O.C. Fisher Federal Building, 33 E. Twohig Avenue, Room 202, San Angelo, TX 76903, 325-655-4506.

1. At the first appearance, or soon after, release or detention gets settled by a U.S. magistrate judge (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. From arrest to verdict, a federal defendant who isn't released is the Marshals Service's prisoner, sometimes housed in a contract county jail. San Angelo office: 33 East Twohig Street, Suite 106-D, San Angelo, TX 76903, 325-658-4056, staffed when court is in session.
3. After sentencing, the BOP inmate locator follows the person inside the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

1. A detainer arrives at the Tipton Street jail on ICE's Form I-247A.
2. Because of that detainer, jailers can keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. If ICE collects the person in that window, they move into immigration detention.
4. Search for them on the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

Two Texas ICE field offices: San Antonio, 3523 Crosspoint Drive, San Antonio, TX 78217, 210-564-3300; Dallas, 8101 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75247, 972-367-2200.

Texas jails have to honor ICE detainers, though the hold ends for anyone proving citizenship or legal status (CCP §2A.060). Since a 2017 law, cities and counties cannot restrict immigration enforcement; see Gov't Code §752.053. A 2025 law also has sheriffs who operate jails seek 287(g) agreements with ICE.

Once sentenced on a felony, the person waits at the county jail for state transport. Someone convicted of a state jail felony does that time inside the state jail system. Heavier felonies lead to a TDCJ prison (the Texas Department of Criminal Justice): intake first, a unit assignment later.

• For general facts about the system, see our Texas state prisons page.
• Searches on the TDCJ inmate search work by exact surname, TDCJ number or SID number.
• The database is refreshed only on working days, and records lag by a day or more.
• Someone not yet inside a TDCJ facility won't show up.

Offenses committed between ages 10 and 16 belong in Texas juvenile court. At 17, the law treats a person as an adult. Youths under 17 are detained in a juvenile center, not with adults.

• The probation office covering this county: 452nd District Juvenile Probation, 1000 South Wall Street, Brady, TX 76825, 325-792-4163. Ask there where the child is held.
• Within two working days of being locked up, a child must have a first hearing. Counsel gets named for the child first (Family Code §54.01).
• Lawyers for juveniles are assigned under a separate juvenile appointment plan.
• A commitment to state custody sends the youth to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, 1711 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin, TX 78701, 512-490-7130.

• Sheriff's Office, 208 Tipton, Menard, TX 76859, 325-396-4705: countywide patrol, plus the jail.
• Precinct 1 Constable, P.O. Box 398, Menard, TX 76859; calls go through the Sheriff's line above.
• City of Menard: for an arrest inside town, begin with the Sheriff's Office. City Hall: P.O. Box 145, Menard, TX 76859, 325-396-4616.
• DPS Highway Patrol: troopers handle state highway stops and arrests. For the DPS office assigned to this area, ask the Sheriff's Office.

Unsure which agency arrested the person? The jail on Tipton Street can tell you.