Orange County Correctional Facility Inmate Bail & Bonds

Jail staff don't pick the bond. A magistrate does, and in Texas that title covers justices of the peace, city judges, county and district judges and several more officials (CCP art. 2A.151). Officers get two days at most to put each arrested person before one, face to face or over two-way video (CCP art. 15.17). The county's indigent defense plan repeats that 48-hour deadline for local magistrates.

The hearing is short. The charge gets read, the person hears about silence and counsel, and the magistrate asks if they want a free lawyer. Any lawyer request reaches the Court Administrator inside 24 hours.

Felony warrants have a local twist. According to the county's felony case page, each felony arrest warrant here arrives with a bond figure the District and County Attorney recommends. At arraignment a justice of the peace fixes the real bond, and that judge may set it above or below the suggestion.

If the top charge is Class B or worse, a written summary of the person's record must be reviewed first. That summary has to arrive within two days and may contain no risk rating or dollar suggestion, per CCP arts. 17.021 and 17.022. The ruling itself also has a two-day clock, and it should use the mildest terms that still work (CCP art. 17.028).

The CCP treats both bail bonds and personal bonds as "bail" (arts. 17.01 to 17.03). In practice, families here meet one of these:

• Personal bond. The person's own signature stands in for money, and nothing is paid toward the bond itself. A small court fee can apply.
• Cash bond. Someone hands the court the entire amount. It is refunded, minus any fee, after the case ends and the person has kept every condition.
• Surety bond. A Texas-licensed bondsman puts their own guarantee behind the full bond. You pay a fee for that, and it is gone for good.
• Ticket-style release. On a fine-only charge, the magistrate can simply hand over a written court date, unless the person has an earlier felony or jailable conviction (CCP art. 15.17(b)).

Rules can ride along with any of them. After a repeat DWI or an intoxication assault, CCP art. 17.441 requires an ignition interlock, a breath-test lock on the car. Family violence cases often bring stay-away orders and GPS.

Signature-only release is barred for crimes the law labels violent, for a felon caught with a firearm, for Class A-or-worse terroristic threat and for certain protective order breaches. S.B. 9 grew that list in 2025. CCP art. 17.03 leaves the call on burglary, organized crime and some higher drug felonies to the trial judge alone.

Texas never set one bail chart for the whole state. A local schedule is allowed, but the magistrate still has to size up each person (CCP art. 17.028). On a felony warrant here, the prosecutor's figure is only a starting point for the justice of the peace.

Under CCP art. 17.15, these factors count:

• enough money at stake to bring the person back and keep them on the rules
• never so high that bail becomes a tool of oppression
• the charge itself, including any violence
• the person's real budget for bail
• whether release would put the alleged victim, the police or the community in danger
• past arrests, missed court dates and the safety report
• citizenship

Only two dollar limits appear in the statute. If someone picked up without a warrant still has no probable cause ruling by the deadline, the misdemeanor deadline for release is hour 24, with bond capped at $5,000. The felony deadline is hour 48, with a $10,000 cap. Under CCP art. 17.033, anyone unable to cover that gets a personal bond instead.

Booking can give the amount set on an actual case at 409-883-2612. You can look up Texas bail forms through the state judiciary's TOPICs portal.

The jail stands at 205 S. Border St., Orange, TX 77630. Because each case differs, phone before making the drive:

1. Dial 409-883-2612 and ask for Booking.
2. Read the person's legal name letter by letter, then the birth date. Then go charge by charge and get each bond.
3. Confirm the magistrate hearing is done, since no bond moves before it.
4. Ask where bond is accepted today, which payments work, and the payee spelling the jail wants on a money order or check.
5. Have staff read off any holds, like an outside warrant or a family violence wait.
6. Show photo ID at the window and save the receipts.

Paying ahead on a warrant won't keep someone out of a cell. The Sheriff's Office says booking and the magistrate come before any warrant bond, and its deputies collect no money on warrants. Class C warrants get paid at whichever justice or city court signed them.

Cash bail may legally go to the court's custodian of funds in place of a bondsman (CCP art. 17.02). Phone any office first. Ask three things: does it take bond on your case, how can you pay, and how fast does the jail learn of it.

• District Clerk (felony files): 801 W. Division Ave., Orange, TX 77630, criminal desk 409-882-7817. Hours run Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.; Wednesday opens at 8:30 a.m.
• County Clerk (Class A and B files): 801 W. Division Ave., Orange, TX 77630, 409-882-7055; Vidor callers can use 409-769-2400. Hours run 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. through lunch, with an 8:30 a.m. start on Wednesday.
• Justice of the Peace courts (Class C warrants and tickets): Precinct 1, 801 W. Division Ave., Orange, TX 77630, 409-882-7800; Precinct 2, 3500 Edgar Brown Dr., Orange, TX 77630, 409-882-7805; Precinct 3, 2425 Hwy 87 S, Orange, TX 77630, 409-882-5310; Precinct 4, 190 Camp St., Vidor, TX 77662, 409-769-2284.

City police tickets belong to that city's court. The County Clerk can help sort out which court holds a ticket.

Payment rules for bonds can change, so check with Booking at 409-883-2612 before heading out. Exact funds help, and don't mail cash anywhere.

The jail runs two money systems that look like bond but aren't. The lobby kiosk near visitation and money orders payable to the Inmate Commissary Fund load the person's jail account for snacks and calls only. Our account deposits page walks through that.

The District Clerk's page links a defendant payment site, and the County Clerk keeps a court fines page. A fine is not a bond. Before sending bond-sized money through either one, ring the District Clerk at 409-882-7817 or the County Clerk at 409-882-7055 and ask what it pays.

The Census Bureau put the county at about 86,266 residents in July 2025. A bail bond board is mandatory only once a county passes 110,000, though smaller ones may form a board by choice (Occ. Code 1704.002). Without a board, the sheriff is allowed to post the names of sureties whose finances have been checked (CCP art. 17.141). Booking can say which bondsmen it takes.

• The bondsman's fee is yours to lose; it is not returned. Texas puts no ceiling on it.
• Demand a written receipt for cash or property (Occ. Code 1704.305).
• A bondsman can't drum up business inside the jail or a police station (Occ. Code 1704.304).
• When everything is finished, ask the bondsman in writing for your collateral. Texas gives the bondsman 30 days from that letter to return it (Occ. Code 1704.301).
• Defense counsel already on the case may write the bond without a bondsman license (Occ. Code 1704.163).
• Getting off a bond takes steps. The bondsman tells the client's lawyer, and on a felony the prosecutor too. Then a sworn statement goes on file (CCP art. 17.19).

Each bond answers for one charge. These can still hold the person on Border Street:

• Family violence wait. Since September 2025, someone booked on family violence must sit 4 more hours after posting bond if officers believe more violence is likely. With a written order, the magistrate may keep them up to two extra days (CCP art. 17.291).
• Warrant from another county. CCP art. 15.18 lets a magistrate here take bail on an outside warrant and mail the bond back to the issuing county. Otherwise that county must come get the person. The Sheriff's transport line, 409-882-7819, handles pickups for this county's own warrants.
• New felony while out on a felony bond. CCP art. 17.027 gives the release decision to the court with the older case, or to another court it names in writing.
• Parole warrant. Gov't Code 508.254 normally keeps a person held on a parole violation warrant in jail until the hearing.
• Probation. Adult Probation, 104 Border Street, Orange, TX 77630, 409-882-7865, can say whether a probation warrant is waiting.
• ICE. See the detainer answer further down.

Before money changes hands, have Booking at 409-883-2612 list every hold on file.

Texas's constitution starts from yes: bail for almost anyone accused. The oldest exception, in art. I, sec. 11, covers capital charges backed by evident proof. Once a hearing is held, a district judge may also say no to bail in some repeat or on-bond felonies (sec. 11a), after a broken safety condition (sec. 11b) and after a breached family violence order (sec. 11c).

Texans passed Proposition 3 at the polls on November 4, 2025. That vote wrote sec. 11d into the constitution. It reaches aggravated robbery and trafficking of persons. It reaches capital murder, aggravated sexual assault and murder. Indecency with a child and aggravated kidnapping are on it too. Aggravated assault is included if a victim was badly injured or a deadly weapon like a gun or knife was used.

• The judge must deny bail when the prosecutor proves the person probably won't come to court. This lower standard is called a preponderance.
• Bail must also be denied if the prosecutor shows, by clear and convincing proof, that release would endanger the victim, officers or the community.

The prosecutor alone may ask for that hearing. Granting bail in one of these cases obliges the judge to write out the reasons. Another 2025 law, S.B. 9, lets the state ask an appeals court to raise bail it considers too low in certain violent cases. The person sits in jail until that court rules (CCP art. 44.01). The local office that would bring these requests is the District and County Attorney, 123 South 6th Street, Orange, TX 77630, 409-883-6764, open weekdays 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

It can. The county's felony page says a reduced bond may be requested in writing to the court, which usually means the defense lawyer files it. The usual path:

1. The lawyer puts a written motion before the court handling the case.
2. On Class B charges and higher, the person may swear they can't afford the amount, and that claim earns a prompt review (CCP art. 17.028).
3. Bring evidence of steady work, local housing and family who will help, plus an honest number the family can raise (CCP art. 17.15).
4. Suggest terms that ease the court's worries, like a nightly curfew, regular reporting or a no-contact rule.

Delays by the state also count. When the state can't go to trial in time, a jailed defendant becomes entitled to release on a personal bond or reduced bail: a felony after 90 days, a Class A after 30, a Class B after 15 and a fine-only case after 5, with some exceptions (CCP art. 17.151). Ask the District Clerk, 409-882-7817, about felony settings and the County Clerk, 409-882-7055, about misdemeanors.

The county has no public defender office. Judges instead assign private attorneys in rotation from an appointment list. A request made at the magistrate hearing moves on within 24 hours. With fewer than 250,000 residents here, the deadline for naming a lawyer is three working days from the day the request lands (CCP art. 1.051). CCP art. 26.04 then expects that lawyer to attempt contact with the jailed client within one more working day.

• File the Affidavit of Indigence with the Office of the Court Administrator, third floor of the courthouse, 801 West Division, Orange, TX 77630, 409-882-7075, in person or by fax.
• Medicaid, SSI, food stamps, TANF or public housing help counts as proof. So does income at or below the federal poverty line.
• The judge can't hold a posted bail against the person.

State oversight of the plan comes from the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, 209 West 14th Street, Room 202, Austin, TX 78701, 512-936-6994.

One building on Division Avenue, 801 W. Division Ave., Orange, TX 77630, holds most of them:

• 128th District Court (felonies): 409-882-7085
• 163rd District Court (felonies): 409-882-7090
• 260th District Court (felonies): 409-882-7095
• County Court at Law (Class B and Class A misdemeanors): 409-882-7084
• County Court at Law No. 2 (also Class B and Class A): 409-670-4189
• Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace (fine-only cases): 409-882-7800

Precinct 2 sits at 3500 Edgar Brown Dr., Orange, TX 77630 (409-882-7805). Precinct 3 is at 2425 Hwy 87 S, Orange, TX 77630 (409-882-5310). Precinct 4 is at 190 Camp St., Vidor, TX 77662 (409-769-2284). Vidor, Bridge City, Pinehurst, Pine Forest, Rose City and the county seat also run city courts for their own Class C tickets. The County Clerk, 409-882-7055, can tell you which city court has a ticket. Federal charges have their own answer further down.

Whoever's name appears on the cash bond receipt gets the refund, after the case closes and all conditions were met (CCP art. 17.02). The clerk must give you the release-of-funds form free once the case is final. The clerk is allowed to keep 5%, capped at $50, but only if the outcome was a conviction or deferred adjudication. Any fines and court costs still owed may also be taken from deposited cash, per CCP art. 17.53.

Here is what follows a missed court date:

• Under CCP arts. 22.01 and 22.02, the court enters a "judgment nisi," a forfeiture that becomes final unless a good reason is shown.
• Per CCP art. 22.13, the bondsman is excused if the person is jailed again within 180 days (misdemeanors) or 270 days (felonies).
• Missing court is also its own offense. Its level follows the first case, from Class C on a fine-only matter to a third-degree felony on a felony (Penal Code 38.10).

The District and County Attorney's office pursues forfeitures in this county. Refund questions go to the clerk who holds the money, the District Clerk at 409-882-7825 or the County Clerk at 409-882-7055.

Under the jail's deposit rules, a person's leftover account money is handed back on release, during the jail's usual visiting hours. If the person transfers to another jail or prison, the money follows. Those hours are 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays, plus 8:00 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, and holidays can shift them.

For keys, phones, wallets and clothes, call 409-883-2612 before driving to 205 S. Border St., Orange, TX 77630. Ask when property is released and whether a release slip signed by the person must come first. Have photo ID with you. For more on jail accounts, see our guide to inmate accounts.

A federal case started here is filed in Beaumont, in the Eastern District of Texas. The clerk works from the Jack Brooks Federal Building and United States Courthouse, 300 Willow Street, Suite 104, Beaumont, TX 77701, 409-654-7000.

• A U.S. magistrate judge hears the release question. That detention hearing normally comes at the first court appearance. A short postponement is possible if a party asks (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Federal court uses no bondsmen. The judge sets conditions or orders detention.
• The U.S. Marshals keep federal defendants before trial. Call their Beaumont office at 409-839-2581, or the district office, 211 West Ferguson Street, 4th Floor, Tyler, TX 75702, 903-590-1370, to ask where the person is being housed.
• Once a prison term begins, use the Federal Bureau of Prisons locator.
• The Federal Public Defender keeps a Beaumont office at 510 Park Street, Suite 450, Beaumont, TX 77701, 409-839-2608.

It does. The immigration side follows its own steps:

1. Border Street staff receive Form I-247A from ICE. This detainer requests that the jail not let the person go on schedule.
2. The hold can last up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Texas jails must follow a detainer (CCP art. 2A.060). Someone who shows proof of citizenship or lawful status, a Texas driver's license for example, is not held on it. Since 2017, Texas has also stopped cities and counties from adopting policies that restrict immigration enforcement (Gov't Code 752.053).
4. S.B. 8 (2025) goes further: by December 1, 2026, a county with a jail must have signed on to ICE's 287(g) program. For this county's current status, phone the Sheriff's Office at 409-883-2612.
5. ICE's Houston Field Office handles Southeast Texas from 126 Northpoint Drive, Houston, TX 77060, 281-774-4816. One center used by that office is the Montgomery Processing Center, 806 Hilbig Road, Conroe, TX 77301, 936-521-4900.
6. Look the person up on the ICE Online Detainee Locator. A search needs either the A-number or the name and the country of birth.

Note for anyone signing with a surety: the bond is not discharged while federal officers hold the person over status (CCP art. 17.16). Talk to a lawyer first.

The offense level decides. Time for a state jail felony, 180 days up to two years, is spent in a state jail. For a third-degree felony or worse, the sentence is served in a TDCJ prison. Those ranges come from Penal Code 12.31 to 12.35. Once sentenced, the person waits on Border Street, moves to a TDCJ intake unit for sorting, then goes to a unit that suits them.

• Use TDCJ's inmate lookup. It searches by TDCJ number or SID number, or by a last name paired with a first initial. Results include only people now housed by TDCJ, refreshed on working days.
• For a rundown of the units, open our Texas state prisons page.

Texas juvenile court takes a child whose age at the alleged offense was between 10 and 16, inclusive (Family Code 51.02). Someone 17 or older is in adult court. A parent must be told quickly about the custody. If the child stays in detention, a judge holds a hearing within two working days of custody, or by the next working day if taken in on a Friday or Saturday. Counsel must be in place before that hearing (Family Code 54.01). No bail money is involved; the judge decides about going home.

Intake runs through Orange County Juvenile Probation, which tells parents where a child is held:

• 213 Market Street, Orange, TX 77630, 409-882-7885
• 190 Camp Street, Vidor, TX 77662, 409-769-8439

Both open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. At 14 or 15, a teen facing certain serious felonies can be certified for adult court, though only after a diagnostic study and a full hearing (Family Code 54.02).