The tool runs on any phone or laptop. Try these steps:

1. Open the Sheriff's Inmate Confinements page.
2. Pick a view. "Current Confinements" holds everyone sleeping at the jail tonight. "Admits by Date Range" reaches back over the last 24 hours, the last 7 days, or a custom window of up to 31 days.
3. Type the surname. Then try nicknames, hyphenated forms and a second last name, since bookings may use the full legal name.
4. Sort by charge or arresting agency when the list is long.
5. Copy the intake date plus every offense shown, word for word.

Bond figures and release timing are best checked by voice. Ring Booking at 325-235-5487. Have the spelling and an approximate age ready.

Common reasons, roughly in order:

• Still in intake. Fingerprints, photos and paperwork take a while, so a fresh arrest can lag. Give it a couple of hours and refresh.
• Already gone. Bonded out or released? Switch to the date-range view and scan the past week.
• Booked elsewhere. The local defense plan says that, when space runs short, an accused person may be held outside the district. Ask the jail where they went.
• Federal or immigration custody. U.S. marshals and ICE run separate systems, covered below.
• Too young. Anyone 16 or under is routed to a youth center instead of Avenger Field Road.
• Different spelling. Try partial names.

Next, call the jail itself at 325-235-5487 and request Booking. If a city officer made the stop, the Sweetwater police office at 400 East Avenue A, Sweetwater, TX 79556, can be reached through the city's line, 325-236-6313.

The county runs just one adult jail, the lockup at 211 Avenger Field Road, Sweetwater, TX 79556. State inspectors counted room for 96 people there in June 2022, with 86 inside. Two months later, 13 local prisoners were sleeping in other counties' cells. Overflow like that is why a name can vanish from the lookup without a release. The Sheriff's Office, 325-235-5471, can say which outside jail took someone.

Nearby county jails with their own JE pages:

• Mitchell County Jail, reached via that county's Sheriff, 333 Pine Street, Colorado City, TX 79512, 325-728-5261.
• Taylor County Detention Center, 910 South 27th Street, Abilene, TX 79602, 325-691-7423.
• Scurry County Jail, 400 37th Street, Snyder, TX 79549, 325-573-3581.
• Runnels County Jail, 200 South Hickory Hill Road, Ballinger, TX 76821, 325-365-2110.

Fisher and Coke, two other neighbors, closed their jails, according to the 2025 annual report of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

Treat the lookup as a list of names, dates and charges. For mugshots, go to the source. Write a Public Information Act letter that gives the arrest date and the jailed person's name. Address it to the Sheriff's Office, 211 Avenger Field Road, Sweetwater, TX 79556, or email sheriff@nolanso.org.

Gov't Code 552.108(c) keeps "basic information" about any arrest open to the public. Offices must answer promptly. Needing over ten business days, the Sheriff's Office must give you a release date. Wanting to withhold an item, it generally seeks a ruling from the Attorney General and lets you know. Hear nothing for ten business days? Complain to the open records staff at the Attorney General's office.

Commercial mugshot websites are regulated too, by Business and Commerce Code chapter 109. Where a site asks $150 or more for takedowns, a wrong or partial entry must be fixed or pulled at no cost. It also can't show records that were expunged or sealed by nondisclosure. Not every takedown fee is illegal, though. For an immigration photo, file an ICE FOIA request. As for federal booking pictures, they aren't handed out, except that a wanted fugitive's photo can come from the U.S. Marshals.

Register at Texas IVSS-Counties, which costs nothing and tracks county custody statewide. It replaced the older statewide notice system. It does more than warn victims. Anyone can follow whether a person sits in a county jail, where, and when that changes.

1. Search the person by name on the site.
2. Choose phone, text or email for notices.
3. Hear about each booking, release or transfer as it happens.

Prefer to talk? Staff at 866-268-8959 pick up day and night, speak English or Spanish, and keep registrations confidential. Even with alerts set, peek at the Sheriff's Inmate Confinements page now and then.

Step one is a magistrate. Under the local defense plan, that hearing happens without unnecessary delay and never past hour 48. The magistrate reads rights, offers a free lawyer and sets bail.

Bail usually takes one of three shapes:

• Cash. The whole amount, paid up front.
• Surety. A licensed bondsman covers the full sum and keeps a nonrefundable cut.
• Personal bond. The defendant signs, pays nothing at the start and pledges to show up. Many violent charges rule this out.

The same plan adds a deadline for arrests made without a warrant. Absent a probable-cause ruling, a misdemeanor suspect gets out on bond of $5,000 or less by the 24th hour. A felony suspect gets out on $10,000 or less by the 48th hour. Someone who can't afford it gets a personal bond. The state can seek a delay, capped at 72 hours.

Paid but still inside? On family violence charges, CCP art. 17.291(b) keeps the person four hours after bond. Other holds also delay release. Booking at 325-235-5487 can say what's pending. Our bail page digs into bondsmen, ways to pay and getting money back.

The lookup shows the booking charge. That's the arresting officer's word, and prosecutors can change it. To follow the formal case:

• Felonies go to the District Attorney, 100 East Third Street, Suite 201, Sweetwater, TX 79556, 325-235-8639, and then to a grand jury.
• Class A and B misdemeanors are filed with the County Clerk, 100 East Third Street, Suite 108, Sweetwater, TX 79556, 325-235-2462. Its Online Records Search indexes judicial records from 2000 forward.
• Class C tickets end up before the Justice of the Peace, or at Sweetwater City Hall for city citations.

Statewide, re:SearchTX shows charges and judgments to anyone who registers for free. DPS sells a conviction name search for past convictions.

Short on money for an attorney? The jailed person can request one paid by the county. Fisher, Mitchell and this county share one appointment plan:

1. Ask the magistrate, a jailer or a court clerk for the indigence application and fill it out.
2. Staff send it on to the court within 24 hours.
3. Within three days, a judge decides. Felony picks come from the 32nd District Court and misdemeanor picks from the county courts.
4. The appointee comes from a rotating list of approved attorneys.

Relatives can't fill out the form for someone, but they can remind the person to ask, or hire private counsel. Death-penalty cases get attorneys from the regional capital defender office in Lubbock, 806-696-3740. For felony appointment questions, phone the District Clerk, 325-235-2111.

Texas sets a floor that the Avenger Field Road jail must meet. Under the state's jail standards, each prisoner gets at least two in-person, noncontact visits every week, each lasting no less than 20 minutes. One has to land after work hours or on a weekend day. Some jails, under Gov't Code 511.009, are excused from in-person visiting, and some rely on screens.

Other points:

• Children may visit, but often only with a parent, guardian or lawyer present.
• A 2025 law helps veterans. The jail checks veteran status at intake. A veterans service officer may then visit at no charge. A peer coordinator may come instead. Those visits don't count against the regular ones.
• Ask whether visitors need ID and how the approved-visitor list works.

Times and sign-up rules change, so ring the jail at 325-235-5487 before driving out. Our visitation page has more on video calls and lobby rules.

Before sending a dime, ring the jail at 325-235-5487 with three questions. How do deposits get in? Which fees come off the top? Is there a weekly ceiling? Note the answers, and never tuck cash in an envelope.

Deposit routes: see our money page. What the account buys: see our commissary page.

Under 37 TAC 259.119, Texas builds a detainee telephone into every booking area, so a first call home often starts there. After that, calls go through whatever phone or tablet system the jail uses. Ask whether relatives must open a prepaid account for the person inside to dial out.

Assume every call and message may be recorded. Keep the case out of conversation. Ask the jail how attorney calls are kept private.

For the current vendor, rates and message options, phone the jail at 325-235-5487. Then see our phone page and our email and messaging page.

Address it this way:

Nolan County Jail
c/o Nolan County Sheriff
211 Avenger Field Road
Sweetwater, TX 79556

Put the person's legal name above those lines, plus any booking or ID number the jail uses. Texas standards protect mail in several ways:

• No cap on how many letters, or how many pages, a prisoner sends or receives.
• Legal mail gets opened only with the prisoner watching, and only to look for contraband.
• A broke prisoner still gets enough stamps and stationery for at least three letters per week.
• Staff may reject a piece of mail that breaks a rule, one item at a time.

Pictures, paperbacks and greeting cards may face extra rules, so check with the jail at 325-235-5487 first. Our mail page has packing tips.

Whatever was in pockets at intake goes into storage at the jail. If the person needs a car key, a phone or work clothes picked up, call the jail first, 325-235-5487. Ask three things:

1. Has the prisoner signed a property release naming you?
2. Which hours can you come by Avenger Field Road?
3. What ID must you bring?

Evidence follows different rules. A phone or truck kept for the case stays with the agency that took it, and a judge's order may be needed to get it back. The District Attorney's office, 325-235-8639, can explain. Before a transfer to prison, ask the jail what happens to anything left behind.

Phone 325-235-5487 at once and request whoever is running that shift. List prescriptions, doses, the treating doctor and any diagnosis. Staff may say little back because of privacy rules, but they can take the information.

Texas law adds some protection. Health and Safety Code 573.001(a) bars mixing a person jailed solely under emergency mental health custody with anyone facing criminal charges. Complaint steps must appear in each jail's handbook and on its walls, too.

Got no answer locally? The state inspectors take complaints. Use the online complaint form from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, send an email to info@tcjs.state.tx.us, or phone the commission at 512-463-5505.

Sheriff's deputies, working out of 211 Avenger Field Road, Sweetwater, TX 79556, 325-235-5471, serve most warrants here. The constable and city officers serve some too. For the worst fugitives statewide, DPS shows faces on its Texas 10 Most Wanted list. Anything smaller means asking a person. Phone the Sheriff's Office, or go to the clerk counter and ask about open warrants by name. To clean one up, hire or request a lawyer first. Counsel can line up a voluntary surrender in the courtroom that issued it, or ask that judge for a new date. Misdemeanor warrants come out of cases at the County Clerk, 100 East Third Street, Suite 108, Sweetwater, TX 79556, 325-235-2462.

Phone first. The District Clerk, at 325-235-2111, knows felony dates. The County Court at Law, 325-235-2353, sets misdemeanor dockets. Both work out of the courthouse at 100 East Third Street, Sweetwater, TX 79556. The County Clerk stops processing paperwork at 4:30 in the afternoon.

Other ways to keep track:

• Watch the misdemeanor court live on its YouTube stream.
• Ask for court-date notices through IVSS-Counties at 866-268-8959.
• Read the misdemeanor court's standing orders, which cover things like Zoom appearances.

Skip a setting and expect a fresh warrant plus a forfeited bond. For each courtroom and how a case moves, read our court page.

Federal arrests from here go to Abilene, in the Northern District of Texas. The federal courthouse is at 341 Pine Street, Room 2008, Abilene, TX 79601, and the clerk's office answers at 325-677-6311.

1. First appearance. The accused hears the federal accusation from a U.S. magistrate judge.
2. Detention hearing. The judge decides release or custody under 18 U.S.C. 3142.
3. Holding. Until the case wraps up, the U.S. Marshals Service controls custody and can contract for space at county lockups. For the location, ask the Abilene marshals' office, 341 Pine Street, Room 207, Abilene, TX 79601, 325-672-2147.
4. After sentencing. Next comes the Bureau of Prisons, which chooses a facility. Its online locator shows the prison once the person arrives.

The Federal Public Defender's Lubbock office, 1205 Texas Avenue, Room 507, Lubbock, TX 79401, 806-472-7236, represents people who can't pay.

1. Paperwork arrives first: an ICE Form I-247A sent to the Sweetwater lockup, asking jailers to keep the person.
2. Once the state case would let them go, the jail may hold them up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released, under 8 CFR 287.7(d).
3. Officers arrive and drive the person to an immigration detention center.
4. Family can find them with the ICE Online Detainee Locator. Searches go fastest with the alien registration number. Lacking that, the name plus birthplace country will do.

For North Texas and Oklahoma, the regional ICE office is in Dallas, at 8101 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75247, 972-367-2200.

Texas statutes add layers. County jails can't ignore a detainer under CCP art. 2A.060, except when the person documents lawful presence. Gov't Code 752.053 keeps any city or county from putting brakes on immigration enforcement. And S.B. 8 (2025) gives every jail-operating county a December 1, 2026 deadline to pursue a 287(g) pact. For this Sheriff's progress, call 325-235-5471. Talk with an immigration lawyer before posting bond or taking a plea.

Once the judge hands down state jail or prison time, expect a wait on Avenger Field Road until TDCJ takes custody. At intake, TDCJ checks health, security risk and program needs. It then picks a unit that fits.

Once intake begins, the name becomes searchable in the TDCJ inmate search. Type a surname plus one initial, or a state ID such as the TDCJ or SID number. Our Texas state prisons page covers how visiting, letters and deposits work at state units.

For conduct at ages 10 to 16, Texas uses juvenile court, and the child stays out of grown-up cells. Once someone turns 17, Family Code 51.02 counts them as an adult. Family Code 52.02 also makes officers contact a parent promptly.

Detention hearings in youth cases happen fast: within two working days, shortened to one if the pickup fell on a Friday or a Saturday (Family Code 54.01). Counsel gets named before it. Certification for adult trial is possible from 14 or 15, depending on the felony, under Family Code 54.02.

No secure youth facility operates inside county lines. Abilene hosts a state-registered option, the Taylor County Juvenile Justice Center, 889 South 25th Street, Abilene, TX 79602, 325-691-7462. To locate a child, call the Sheriff's Office at 325-235-5471 and ask for juvenile probation. Above the counties, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department registers youth centers; reach it at 1711 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin, TX 78701, 512-490-7130.

Census estimates put the 2025 head count near 14,117 residents. A handful of agencies make arrests here. Use the lookup's arresting-agency filter to see which one made the arrest. Then call:

• Sweetwater Police Department, 400 East Avenue A, Sweetwater, TX 79556. Officers patrol around the clock. Administration keeps Monday to Thursday hours of 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Friday hours of 8 a.m. to noon. Calls go through the city's main line, 325-236-6313.
• Sheriff's Office patrol, 211 Avenger Field Road, Sweetwater, TX 79556, 325-235-5471. Deputies handle ranch roads, farm country and any town lacking its own officers.
• Constable, at the courthouse, 100 East Third Street, Sweetwater, TX 79556, 325-235-2263, the courthouse main line.
• Roscoe and Blackwell. Arrested in one of those? Ring the Sheriff's line listed above, and staff will tell you which officer was involved.
• Texas DPS troopers work the highways. Deputies can tell you which trooper post made a given stop.

In an emergency, dial 911.