A state count in June 2022 found 16 people held on North Plaza. To look for one of them:

1. Open the Sheriff's jail roster. It loads as an app, so give it a few seconds.
2. Look for the full legal name. If it isn't there, try the maiden name, a shortened first name or an odd spelling.
3. Jot down whatever the listing gives you, like a booking date.
4. Phone the jail at 325-884-2424 to confirm. Booking staff there know the charge, the bond and whether the person has left or been moved.

The same roster also shows up on the Sheriff's Jail Services page, at reagancountysheriff.org.

A missing name usually means timing, not trouble. Work down this list:

• Too soon. Booking takes time: photos, prints and paperwork come first. Wait an hour or two, then look again.
• Already out. Someone may bond out or be released after seeing a magistrate. The jail can say when.
• Arrested elsewhere. An arrest in a nearby county puts the person in that county's jail. See the next answer.
• Taken by another agency. Federal or immigration officers may have picked the person up.

When in doubt, the jail's records staff on North Plaza can search by name and birth date: 325-884-2424.

For an arrest inside this county, almost surely not. The Sheriff runs a single jail, with no annex, no work-release center and no city lockup in Big Lake. That jail is at 320 N. Plaza Ave., Big Lake, TX 76932, 325-884-2424, and it houses men and women alike.

A person stopped just over the line answers to that county's jail instead. Two nearby counties run their own:

• Upton County Jail, west of here, 1106 North Grand Street, Rankin, TX 79778, 432-693-2422.
• Crockett County Jail, to the south, 121 S. Hwy 163, Ozona, TX 76943, 325-392-2661.

Youths under 17 are never placed in this adult jail. Federal and ICE cases can also end with a move out of the county; later answers cover how to track those.

Whether the Sheriff's roster shows booking pictures is unconfirmed, so treat any photo you find there with care. For an official copy, use the state's Public Information Act (chapter 552 of the Government Code). Here's how a request to the North Plaza office goes:

1. Write a short letter or email naming the person, the arrest date and the record you want, such as the booking photo.
2. Mail it to the Sheriff at Post Office Box 832, Big Lake, TX 76932, or email sheriff@reagancounty.org. Questions go to 325-884-2424.
3. Expect a prompt reply. If staff need more than ten business days, the office has to say when you'll get it. Withholding a record generally takes an Attorney General ruling, sought by the office, and you'll be told of that request.

Basic facts about an arrest and the crime must be released quickly under section 552.108(c). Private mugshot websites face limits too: Texas bars them from charging to fix or remove a wrong record, and from posting one that was expunged (Bus. & Com. Code ch. 109). ICE photos need a FOIA request to ICE. Photos from a federal booking are kept out of public view, though a Marshals office may release one when a fugitive is being hunted.

The state's no-cost notice system for county jails is called Texas IVSS-Counties, and it has run statewide since 2025. Register online through the IVSS-Counties site or dial 866-268-8959. Then pick how you want word to arrive, whether a call, a text or an email, each time the person's custody status shifts. It works in English and Spanish, around the clock, and nobody learns who signed up.

The Sheriff's Office also offers a mobile app, linked from its jail services page.

A magistrate sees each person held in Big Lake inside 48 hours, often from within the jail. The magistrate reads the charge, explains rights and sets bail. There are three main ways out:

• Cash bond: the whole amount, paid up front and returned when the case ends, minus any lawful costs.
• Surety bond: a state-licensed bondsman puts up the bail, and the fee you pay that company stays with it.
• Personal bond: nothing paid; a signature pledging to appear in court is the whole deal. Certain violent charges bar it.

The county's appointment plan adds a time limit. Under it, a person held without a warrant goes free if a magistrate has not found probable cause in time. Release comes by hour 24 on a misdemeanor, on bond up to $5,000, and by hour 48 on a felony, on bond up to $10,000. Family violence charges carry a four-hour delay that begins when bond is paid. Release can also stall over an ICE detainer or an out-of-county warrant. Full steps are on our Big Lake bail and bond page.

The magistrate tells the person what the accusation is at the first hearing, so the person may already know. For family, these are the best routes:

• Ask the jail at 325-884-2424. The North Plaza desk can name the offense and the bail figure.
• Once a case is filed, the County and District Clerk keeps the file: 325-884-2442, Post Office Box 100, Big Lake, TX 76932. Give a full name and birth date.
• Sign up for a free account on re:SearchTX, the Texas courts' records website, to see filings such as an indictment.

A charge can change after booking. Counts can be raised, cut or dismissed later by the prosecutor, so check again before each hearing.

A person without money for a defense can request an appointed attorney for free. The magistrate offers a request form at the first hearing. Fill it out honestly, listing income, rent and family. Three working days is the deadline for the judge to appoint one (CCP art. 1.051).

• Felony cases follow the 112th District Court plan.
• Misdemeanors follow the County Court plan.
• A capital murder defendant is represented by a regional team in Lubbock, Post Office Box 2097, Lubbock, TX 79408, 806-696-3740.

Lawyers chosen this way are private attorneys paid by the county, picked in turn from a list. Missed the form? Ask the jail staff for a new one, or call the clerk at 325-884-2442.

Visits happen in person at the jail, 320 N. Plaza Ave., Big Lake, TX 76932, 325-884-2424. The schedule splits by gender:

• Men: Wednesday and Saturday.
• Women: Thursday and Sunday.
• Both: 8:00 a.m. to noon, then 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.

The jail allows each inmate two or more visits weekly, none under 20 minutes, and a single visit on any one visiting day. Only immediate family may visit: parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, a spouse and children. Each person may list up to five of them.

• Every adult needs a driver's license or state ID, with no exceptions. Children come with a parent, guardian or lawyer.
• Visitors are checked for warrants, may be searched and are recorded.
• Leave purses, backpacks, food, drinks, gum, cell phones and cameras in the car.
• Dress code: a shirt, shoes, and either pants or shorts. Nothing revealing.

Lawyers can come on weekdays from 8 to 5, or at other times by giving the jail administrator notice. Under Gov't Code 511.009, a confirmed veteran is owed no-cost visits from a veterans service officer too. General visiting tips are on our jail visiting page.

Funds on the books can usually pay for phone time and store items. Ask the jail at 325-884-2424 which deposit methods it takes today before you send a cent.

One rule is firm: cash and checks are banned from envelopes under the jail's mail rules, and they won't reach the person. Our inmate deposit page walks through the usual ways families fund an account, and our commissary page explains what the jail store sells.

Phones at this jail dial out only, and no one on the outside can ring through to a person held here. Each call is collect, or it is paid from a prepaid account that family set up and fund online. For billing trouble, the phone company's help line is 800-984-1903.

• Calls are monitored and recorded, so never talk about the case.
• The booking area must have a phone for new arrivals under Texas jail standards (37 TAC 259.119).
• Our jail phone page covers how prepaid accounts work.

The North Plaza desk, at 325-884-2424, can say if messaging, email or a tablet is offered. Our inmate email page explains how such services usually run.

Address each envelope this way, with no booking number needed:

(Inmate's full name)
Reagan County Jail
320 N. Plaza
Big Lake, Texas 76932

• Use regular-size envelopes and paper.
• Don't include cash, checks, pictures, photographs or drawings. Even blank coloring sheets get turned away.
• Writing meant to stir up trouble and any pornography are rejected. A rejected item never reaches the person.
• Staff open and screen all regular mail. Legal letters from an attorney are opened with the inmate watching, under Texas jail rules.
• Mail that clears is handed out the day it comes in.

Under state jail rules, letters in and out are unlimited. See our jail mail page for more pointers.

At booking, jailers on North Plaza bag and store what the person carried. To collect something for the person, like car keys or a phone, call 325-884-2424 and ask:

• what the person must sign to release the items to you,
• which ID you should bring,
• when staff can meet you at 320 N. Plaza Ave., Big Lake, TX 76932, and
• whether clothing for court can be dropped off.

Before a transfer to TDCJ or another agency, collect what you can. Ask the jail what happens to items left behind.

Is the person sick, on a daily medicine or struggling with mental health? Call the jail at once at 325-884-2424. Ask to speak with the jail administrator. Share the doctor's name and the medicine and dose. Don't bring pills to the jail unless staff tell you how.

• Someone taken into emergency mental health custody and held in a jail must be kept apart from people charged with crimes (Health and Safety Code 573.001).
• Inmates must be told how to complain inside the jail; Texas wants that process in the handbook and on the walls of shared areas.
• If a problem isn't fixed, you can reach the Texas Commission on Jail Standards: Post Office Box 12985, Austin, TX 78711-2985, 512-463-5505, or the online complaint form.

The Sheriff's Office serves warrants across the whole county, with no city police or constables sharing the job. Ask its staff whether one is active: 325-884-2424, 320 N. Plaza Ave., Big Lake, TX 76932. For the state's top fugitives, DPS posts a Texas 10 Most Wanted roundup. The County and District Clerk can check for warrants tied to a court case: 325-884-2442, Post Office Box 100, Big Lake, TX 76932. Before anything else, get a lawyer's advice on clearing it. With counsel at their side, the person can surrender to the issuing judge, or that court's staff can be asked by phone for a new date.

Most hearings for jail cases happen at the courthouse just across the street from the jail. The County and District Clerk keeps the calendar for felonies and for Class A and B misdemeanors. Phone 325-884-2442 with a name and date of birth. The staff can find the cause number (the clerk's case number) and the coming court date.

• Felonies are heard by the 112th District Court, which rides a five-county circuit. Its office is at the Crockett County Courthouse, 909 Ave D, Ozona, TX 76943, 325-392-5225.
• A Class C city ticket goes to Big Lake Municipal Court, 608 N. Plaza, Big Lake, TX 76932, 325-884-2511.

Our criminal court page walks through each court, the prosecutors and how a case moves.

Federal cases from Big Lake are heard in San Angelo by the Northern District's local division, whose courtroom and clerk use the O.C. Fisher Federal Building, 33 E. Twohig Avenue, Room 202, San Angelo, TX 76903, 325-655-4506.

1. Early in the case, a federal magistrate in San Angelo decides on detention: home while the case is pending, or jail (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Anyone kept locked up before trial is a Marshals Service prisoner. The Marshals' office in San Angelo, 33 East Twohig Street, Suite 106-D, San Angelo, TX 76903, 325-658-4056, can say which jail holds the person. It is staffed while court is in session.
3. Once a sentence begins, custody shifts to the Bureau of Prisons. Check the BOP's locator with a register number, or with a first and last name.

Step by step, here is what an immigration hold means:

1. ICE (the U.S. agency for immigration enforcement) sends the jail on North Plaza a Form I-247A detainer.
2. On the day the Texas charge alone would free them, the person can still be held for ICE up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. If ICE doesn't come for the person within that window, the hold expires.
4. After a pickup, search the ICE Online Detainee Locator. Searching by A-number is easiest. No A-number? Then the locator wants a full name together with the nation the person was born in.

Texas law adds three points. Local rules that materially limit enforcement of immigration law have been barred since 2017 (Gov't Code 752.053). Jails must also honor ICE detainers, under CCP art. 2A.060. A third law, S.B. 8 from 2025, gives each jail-running county a December 1, 2026, cutoff for joining ICE's 287(g) program. Where the Sheriff here stands on that is a question for 325-884-2424.

A felony sentence usually means a wait in the county jail until a bed opens at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). Intake comes first, where staff sort people by risk and needs. Each person then moves to a unit suited to them. A state jail felony means time at a state jail. Prison is for terms on third-, second- or first-degree felonies.

• The state's TDCJ inmate search accepts three kinds of input: SID number, TDCJ number, or surname with a first initial at minimum. Its records get refreshed on working days, and every entry is 24 hours old or more.
• Find each prison's details on our Texas state prisons page.

Kids are handled in juvenile court if the act came when they were 10 through 16; a 17-year-old who is newly charged goes to adult court (FC 51.02). Children don't go into the adult jail on North Plaza. Family must hear quickly from the officer about the custody and its reason (FC 52.02). A parent may stay with the child in the processing office (FC 52.025).

No more than two working days pass before a judge holds a detention hearing; a lawyer is appointed for the child first (FC 54.01). Youth cases from here are handled by Upton/Reagan Juvenile Probation, at the Upton County Courthouse, 205 E 10th St, Rankin, TX 79778, 432-693-2170. The Rankin staff can say where the child is detained and on what day the judge will hear the case. Free lawyers for youths follow a juvenile appointment plan.

Nearly always, the Sheriff's Office. It is the main police force for the whole county, Big Lake included. About 15 full-time deputies patrol the town and the open country around it.

• Sheriff's Office: 320 N. Plaza Ave., Big Lake, TX 76932, 325-884-2424. Mail goes to Post Office Box 832, Big Lake, TX 76932, and email to sheriff@reagancounty.org.

The town itself relies on the Sheriff for policing, with no city force of its own. If a state trooper or a federal agent made the stop, the Sheriff's Office can say which agency booked the person and whom to call next. For a sex offender registry question, use the Sheriff's registration page.