1. Load the online jail search.
2. Enter just the surname. Shorter entries catch more spellings.
3. Scan for the right first name and age. Copy down whatever booking or ID number appears.
4. Nothing there? Repeat the name search on Texas IVSS-Counties.
5. Still stuck, ring the jail at 940-894-2871 and ask for Booking.

Staff can confirm custody, list each charge and say whether bail has been set. They usually can't discuss the facts of a case.

• Booking takes time. A record appears only after prints, a photo and intake forms are finished.
• The person already left. A paid bond, or a personal bond from the magistrate, would do that.
• Another agency took over. A warrant from elsewhere, a federal case or a TDCJ transfer can move someone fast.
• Spelling. Swap in a maiden name or nickname. With a two-part surname, search each part alone.
• Age. For children 16 and under, Texas uses juvenile detention, so this jail never lists them.

Jail staff at 940-894-2871 can clear up most of these. For a deputy's arrest or a warrant question, the Sheriff's administration line is 940-894-2491.

Only the Detention Center houses adults in this county. Official records show no annex and no town lockup. Arrests just over the line, or warrants issued by a neighbor, can land someone in one of these:

• Clay County Jail, run from the Sheriff's Office, 215 W. Gilbert Street, Henrietta, TX 76365, 940-538-5611.
• Jack County Jail: 1432 FM 3344, Jacksboro, TX 76458, 940-567-2221.
• Wise County Detention Center: 200 Rook Ramsey Drive, Decatur, TX 76234, 940-627-5971.
• Cooke County Detention Center: 300 County Road 451, Gainesville, TX 76240, 940-665-3471.

Before calling around, ask the home jail at 940-894-2871 whether the person was booked and then sent somewhere else.

Mugshots are a top search, but the county's lookup may or may not show photos. A booking photo can be sought in writing. Mail that letter, citing the Public Information Act, to P.O. Box 127, Montague, TX 76251, the Sheriff's address. Questions go to 940-894-2491. Under GC 552.108(c), core arrest details are public, and the office has to hand them over promptly. Ask whether the photo can come with it.

• Commercial mugshot sites charging $150 or more to remove a record have duties under Bus. & Com. Code ch. 109. Wrong or partial entries must be fixed or taken down without a fee. Expunged records, and records under a nondisclosure order, can't be published at all.
• Federal booking photos are not handed out. The single exception: the U.S. Marshals may share one, say, when hunting a fugitive.
• ICE's own photos? Ask through its FOIA request page.

Free alerts come from Texas IVSS-Counties, a state service for county jails. Registration also works by phone, day or night, at 866-268-8959.

• Alerts go out when someone is booked or freed, when a hearing lands on the calendar or shifts, and on a TDCJ transfer, an escape or a death.
• The service costs nothing and works in English or Spanish.
• Registering is confidential. The jailed person is never informed.
• An account is optional. Search by full or partial name, then pick the person.

Alerts can trail real events. For anything urgent, call the jail directly.

Texas allows 48 hours, counted from arrest, for the magistrate hearing. Warnings come first, then bail if it hasn't been set (CCP arts. 15.17, 17.028). The county's plan doesn't fix a time or room, so the jail at 940-894-2871 is your source for when it happens.

• Bonds. Options are cash for the full amount, a surety's bond, or a personal bond (a signed promise to return). Violent charges often rule the last one out.
• Paying. Ask the jail where the bond is accepted today, what forms of payment work and whom to make a check out to.
• Holds. ICE detainers, blue warrants from parole and warrants from other counties each survive a bond.
• No-bail cases. Since a 2025 constitutional change, a judge must refuse bail on certain violent charges once a prosecutor proves danger or flight risk at a hearing.

Statewide rules get a deeper look at our Texas bail laws page, and the full walk-through, from bond costs to refunds, lives on our bail page.

Booking staff at 940-894-2871 can read the listed charges and the bail on each. Once a prosecutor files the case, the court file tells more:

• Felony files sit with the District Clerk, 101 E. Franklin Street, Montague, TX 76251, 940-894-2571. Its records portal is searchable online.
• The County Clerk holds the Class A and B files: 11339 State Hwy 59 N, Montague, TX 76251, 940-894-2461.
• Fine-only tickets are handled by one of the two justice courts, or by a town court.
• Statewide filings, such as an indictment, show on re:SearchTX, which asks you to register at no charge.

Charges at booking can change. Prosecutors may add, drop or lower them later.

At the first hearing, the person is told how to ask for appointed counsel, and the form gets the magistrate's help, per CCP art. 15.17(a). Missed that chance? Under the county plan, the Sheriff's Office hands over the sworn income form on the day it's requested. After a jail officer notarizes the form, it is emailed to the coordinator for the District Court.

• The appointment comes within three working days of the request.
• On felonies the choice belongs to the 97th District Judge. On misdemeanors, it belongs to the County Judge.
• The ability to post bail is not held against the person.
• Capital murder defendants get the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases, 806-696-3740.

Every rule is in the county's indigent defense plan. The defense lawyer is the one person who should hear the details of the case. Jail calls may be recorded.

Visiting days and sign-up steps can change, so call the jail at 940-894-2871 before you go. Ask whether visits happen in person, behind glass or by video screen, and whether you must book ahead.

TCJS standards set the floor: twice a week minimum, noncontact, 20-plus minutes each, with one slot on an evening or weekend. Bring a current photo ID, and expect a search of anything you carry in.

Our jail visiting guide covers etiquette, dress and what to expect.

Jail accounts pay for snacks, hygiene items and often phone time. The deposit method can change, so ask the jail at 940-894-2871 how money gets in right now and whether a fee applies.

• Never mail cash.
• Keep every receipt until release.
• Ask how any balance is returned at release.

Our deposit guide covers the usual options. Our commissary page lists what deposits get spent on.

Inmates dial out. They can't receive calls. Setting up a prepaid account with the phone vendor may be needed. The jail, 940-894-2871, can name the company and say if tablets or messages exist.

Assume every call can be recorded, except legal calls set up properly with a lawyer. Keep the case itself off every jail call. Setup and pricing are covered in our phone call guide. For messages, see the inmate email page.

The Sheriff's Office takes its mail at P.O. Box 127, Montague, TX 76251. Phone the jail at 940-894-2871 first. Ask whether inmate letters go to that box, what number to write beside the name, and which items get rejected.

Under TCJS standards, letters have no numeric limit. Legal mail can be opened only with the person standing there. Address the envelope with your own return address and the inmate's legal name, in full.

Packages, photos and books are covered in our jail mail guide.

Clothes, wallets, phones and keys are stored at booking. A few things to know:

• Someone in custody can often sign a release so a relative picks up property. Ask staff for that form.
• Items held as evidence stay with the case until a court or the prosecutor lets them go.
• Everything left goes out with the person on release day.

Pickup times vary. Phone the Detention Center at 940-894-2871 before driving to 111 South Grand Street, Montague, TX 76251, and bring photo ID.

Phone 940-894-2871 and request the shift supervisor. Share prescriptions, allergies, pregnancy or recent injuries. Staff may not discuss health details back, but they can pass your information along.

Suspected mental illness triggers a 12-hour duty under CCP art. 16.22, since staff must alert the magistrate. An assessment, and sometimes a changed bond, may follow.

Concerns about care can go to the Sheriff's Office at 940-894-2491. If nothing changes, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards oversees county jails and accepts complaints through its online form or at 512-463-5505.

Warrants here are mostly served by sheriff's deputies, with constables and town officers able to arrest on them too. Ask the Sheriff's Office at 940-894-2491 whether one is open, or contact whichever court may have issued it. The state's fugitive list, Texas 10 Most Wanted, comes from DPS.

A warrant rarely goes away by itself. With a lawyer beside you, turn yourself in at the Detention Center, 111 South Grand Street, Montague, TX 76251. Or ring the issuing court and ask about bond or a fresh date. Felony warrants come from the 97th District Court. Its clerk works at 101 E. Franklin Street, Montague, TX 76251, 940-894-2571.

• Felony settings: check the District Clerk's case portal, or phone 940-894-2571.
• Misdemeanor settings: the County Clerk's line is 940-894-2461.
• Tickets: Precinct 1 justice court at 940-894-2541, or Precinct 2 at 940-894-2542, both housed at 101 East Franklin Street, Montague, TX 76251.

IVSS-Counties can alert you when a court event is set or moved. For how a case moves step by step, see our court page.

Wichita Falls hosts the Northern District division that hears U.S. charges from here. Hearings use the courthouse at 1000 Lamar Street, 2nd Floor, Wichita Falls, TX 76301, which is staffed for sessions only. For the clerk, contact Fort Worth: 501 West 10th Street, Room 310, Fort Worth, TX 76102, 817-850-6600.

• Pretrial freedom hinges on a detention hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Housing for federal prisoners before sentencing is arranged by the U.S. Marshals. Ask their Wichita Falls office, 1000 Lamar Street, Room 218, Wichita Falls, TX 76307, 940-723-8662.
• Post-sentence, the BOP's inmate locator takes a register number or a name.

1. The process opens with ICE's Form I-247A reaching the jail.
2. The jail may then hold the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released, so ICE can pick them up (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Per CCP art. 2A.060, Texas jails comply with such requests, but someone who proves lawful presence must go free. GC 752.053 (2017) forbids local rules that restrict immigration enforcement. Then there's a 2025 statute, S.B. 8, with its date of December 1, 2026. By then, each sheriff with a jail is expected to have requested a 287(g) partnership with ICE.
4. ICE's Dallas Field Office takes over the case: 8101 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75247, 972-367-2200.
5. Use the ICE Online Detainee Locator. It searches on an A-number, or on name and country of birth together.

After a prison or state jail sentence, the person stays in the local jail until a TDCJ transfer to intake. Testing and classification there decide which unit fits.

• Use the TDCJ online inmate lookup with a name, SID or TDCJ number. Its data refreshes on business days, so a recent move may lag.
• For unit phone numbers and addresses, browse our Texas state prisons page.

Texas counts 17-year-olds as adults in criminal cases. Kids between 10 and 16 when the act happened go through juvenile court, and if held, they go to juvenile detention, not this jail. That age line comes from FC 51.02(2). A parent must hear quickly about the custody (FC 52.02).

FC 54.01 caps the wait for a detained child's first hearing at two working days. Counsel for the child must be in place before that hearing begins. No youth detention center operates in the county itself. Juvenile Probation knows where a child is kept and when the hearing falls: 11339 TX-59, Montague, TX 76251, 940-894-6121.

These agencies police a county of roughly 21,966 people. That figure is the Census Bureau's July 1, 2025 estimate.

• Sheriff's Office: P.O. Box 127, Montague, TX 76251, 940-894-2491. Deputies patrol more than 900 square miles, and its dispatch center answers for several local and state agencies.
• Town police in Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo: call Sheriff's dispatch at the number above to be connected to the right department.
• Constables: they serve papers and warrants. The Sheriff's Office can tell you which precinct is involved.
• Texas DPS troopers: troopers work the highways. Ask the Sheriff's dispatch how to reach the trooper office that covers the area.

Whoever arrests the person, booking happens at the Detention Center. Its number is 940-894-2871.