Texas sorts each offense into a grade, and the grade picks the courtroom:

• Felonies, the lowest being a state jail felony and the highest capital murder, land in the 259th District Court. That district also covers neighboring Jones County.
• Class A and Class B misdemeanors carry possible jail time. Here they are heard by the constitutional County Court, a court found in all 254 Texas counties.
• Class C misdemeanors can cost money but never jail time. They go before the Justice of the Peace. A city's municipal court can too, inside city limits.
• Appeals in criminal matters may end up, if pressed far enough, before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

One office, the County and District Clerk, keeps the files for the felony court and the County Court alike, so a single phone call finds most cases.

Almost all of the county's court business is done in two buildings in town:

• Shackelford County Courthouse, 225 South Main Street, Albany, TX 76430, 325-762-9400. Felony settings for the 259th and County Court dockets are held in this building. Doors are open Monday through Thursday 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., and Friday 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
• County and District Clerk, on the courthouse's 1st Floor, 325-762-9415. Letters go to P.O. Box 2109, Albany, TX 76430. Jurors call 325-762-9444.
• Justice of the Peace, 309 South 2nd Street, Albany, TX 76430, 325-762-9430, keeping courthouse hours.

Mail for the 259th judge goes to Anson, at P.O. Box 429, Anson, TX 79501. The phone there is 325-823-2721.

Each incorporated Texas town has its own municipal court by law, and it shares fine-only cases inside town with the county's Justice of the Peace. So a citation written by Albany city officers may be due at the city's own court.

Your ticket answers this. Read it for the court's name and the day you must show up. If yours is smudged or missing, phone the Sheriff's Office at 325-762-9500 and ask where that ticket was filed.

The county's own fine-only court is the Justice of the Peace, 309 South 2nd Street, Albany, TX 76430, 325-762-9430. Pay there in person with Visa, MasterCard or Discover for a $5.00 charge, or with a cashier's check, money order or cash. Personal checks won't work. Anyone under 18 has to bring along a parent or guardian.

Within 48 hours of arrest, every prisoner goes before a magistrate, frequently on a video screen inside the Hwy 180 jail (CCP art. 15.17). At that meeting, the magistrate:

1. Says what crime the police believe happened.
2. Warns them that silence is their right, a lawyer is their right, and a police interview can be stopped at any point.
3. Points out that their own words can turn into evidence.
4. Explains how a free, court-appointed lawyer is requested, and helps with that form.
5. Sets bail and any conditions that go with it.

In a felony, the defense can also demand an examining trial before the grand jury acts. There, a judge weighs if the proof is strong enough to keep the case alive (art. 16.01). For the time of the magistrate hearing, phone the jail at 325-762-9555.

The County Attorney files misdemeanors. Instead of an indictment, that office drafts what Texas law calls an information. The County Court then hears the case. Expect three stages:

1. Arraignment. The defendant hears the accusation aloud and enters one of three pleas: guilty, no contest, or not guilty.
2. Pretrial settings. Lawyers trade discovery and may talk about a deal.
3. Plea or trial. A deal both sides agreed on may still be refused by the judge, and then the plea can be withdrawn.

Maximum punishments (Penal Code ch. 12):

• Class A: a $4,000 fine cap, up to one year of county jail, or both together.
• Class B: a $2,000 fine cap, a jail stay of 180 days or less, or both together.
• Class C: no jail, just a fine of $500 or less.

Deferred adjudication is a form of supervision where no guilty finding is entered. Misdemeanor terms run two years at most. Once it is completed, the judge dismisses the case (art. 42A.111).

A felony moves through more stages:

1. Magistrate hearing, where the bond amount gets set.
2. Examining trial, only when the defense asks for it before indictment.
3. Grand jury review. A panel of local residents studies the prosecutor's proof in private. Nine or more must vote yes to indict.
4. Arraignment before the 259th District Court, in the Albany courthouse.
5. Bargaining or trial. In open court, the judge announces whether any plea deal will be accepted.
6. Punishment phase, reached only after the person pleads or is found guilty.

Felony punishment ranges:

• State jail felony: at least half a year and at most two, inside a state jail.
• Felony of the third degree: a prison stretch of 2 to 10 years.
• Felony of the second degree: a prison stretch of 2 to 20 years.
• Felony of the first degree: a range of 5 to 99 years, or life.
• All four levels allow a fine of up to $10,000 as well.

Earlier felony convictions can lift a sentence into a higher range. For a felony, deferred adjudication supervision may last up to 10 years.

A serious violent charge changes the rules at several points:

• Bail may be denied. Voters added Proposition 3 to the Texas Constitution in November 2025. The prosecutor may ask for a denial hearing on listed crimes (murder and aggravated robbery are two). Should the state prove the accused would flee or would endanger others, the person stays jailed with no bail.
• Personal bonds are out. Release on a signature alone is barred for the violent offenses state law lists.
• Family violence steps. If a magistrate expects more violence at home, release waits four hours after bond. An emergency protective order can also be issued at that first appearance.
• Capital murder. Only two punishments exist for a convicted adult: death, or life with no parole. If the offender was under 18 on that date, life is the sentence (Penal Code 12.31).

For hearing dates in a serious case, ask the County and District Clerk at 325-762-9415.

Two separate offices bring charges here:

• 259th District Attorney, who handles felony prosecutions here and in Jones County. Write to P.O. Box 507, Anson, TX 79501, or call 325-823-2742.
• Shackelford County Attorney, for misdemeanors and youth cases. This office also seeks protective orders for people hurt by violence. Find it on the 2nd Floor, 225 South Main Street, Albany, TX 76430, 325-762-9410.

On the defense side, the state's indigent defense agency includes this county in the San Angelo regional public defender's territory. Reach the Concho Valley office in the Edd B. Keyes Building, 1st Floor, 113 W. Beauregard St., San Angelo, TX 76903, 325-229-4671, and ask which local cases it takes. If money is short, tell the magistrate right away that you need appointed counsel. Being able to make bail is no reason to refuse a free lawyer, except as a sign of the person's money situation.

Try any of these:

• The clerk's online records search, reached from the County and District Clerk's page.
• re:SearchTX, the statewide records site run by the courts. An account costs nothing. It lists charges and key papers like the indictment and judgment, but leaves out hearing dates.
• The clerk's phone line, 325-762-9415. Have the name and birth date ready when you ask for the next setting.

For a fine-only ticket, ring the Justice of the Peace at 325-762-9430.

Deputies serve paper in every corner of the county, towns included. To ask if a warrant is out, dial the Sheriff's Office at 325-762-9500. The Sheriff's page has a Most Wanted Report section, and anyone who knows where a wanted person is can tell dispatch at 325-762-9555. The state's own roster of top fugitives is the DPS Texas 10 Most Wanted. Court files behind a warrant sit with the County and District Clerk, 225 South Main Street, Albany, TX 76430, 325-762-9415. Get legal advice first. After that, either surrender at the jail, 791 W. US Hwy 180, Albany, TX 76430, or phone the signing judge's court for a new hearing date.

Federal cases from here go to Abilene, home to a Northern District of Texas courthouse at 341 Pine Street, Room 2008, Abilene, TX 79601, 325-677-6311.

• A federal arrest leads to a detention hearing. There, a magistrate judge chooses: a cell until trial, or home on conditions (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Federal prisoners are guarded and driven to hearings by U.S. Marshals, whose Abilene office is at 341 Pine Street, Room 207, Abilene, TX 79601, 325-672-2147.
• Federal defendants without money for counsel may be paired with the Federal Public Defender. That office is based in Dallas at 525 South Griffin Street, Suite 629, Dallas, TX 75202, 214-767-2746.
• To find someone after a federal sentence, use the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

The criminal case moves ahead on its normal track. Only at release does a detainer change anything:

1. At the Hwy 180 jail, immigration agents lodge Form I-247A.
2. The Sheriff's staff can keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Texas law obliges every jail to follow the detainer and explain it. Release is required for anyone who shows they are a citizen or lawfully present (art. 2A.060).
4. Texas has barred local limits on immigration enforcement since 2017. Jail-running counties, this one among them, owe ICE a 287(g) application before a December 1, 2026 deadline written into a 2025 law. Whether that has happened here, the Sheriff's Office can tell you at 325-762-9500.
5. After ICE takes custody, search the ICE Online Detainee Locator, or call the Dallas Field Office, 8101 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75247, 972-367-2200.

A judge taking a guilty plea from someone who isn't a citizen must first explain that the plea could lead to removal from the country.

State jails and prisons alike answer to one agency, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Until that agency's transfer happens, the person stays put in the Albany jail. Intake staff then assess them and choose a unit.

• Type a last name, TDCJ ID or SID into the TDCJ inmate search.
• For a rundown of every unit, open our Texas state prisons page.

Juvenile court in Texas is for children from 10 through 16. People who are 17 face adult court (Family Code 51.02). Here, the County Attorney's office files juvenile petitions, 325-762-9410. A child held in detention gets a court hearing inside two business days, with a lawyer appointed first. For the worst felonies, a juvenile judge can, following a transfer hearing, certify a teen as young as 14 to be tried as a grown-up (Family Code 54.02).

No detention center for youth sits in the county. The closest one on the state's list is the Taylor County Juvenile Detention Center, 889 South 25th Street, Abilene, TX 79602, 325-691-7462. The Justice of the Peace has a Youth Diversion Plan for some minors with fine-only charges.

Texas law lists rights for victims of crime (art. 56A.051). Bail decisions have to weigh the victim's safety. Hearing dates go to any victim who requests them, and they may give a written impact statement before sentencing.

• Protective orders for people harmed by violence come through the County Attorney, 325-762-9410.
• Through Crime Victims' Compensation, the Texas Attorney General can repay up to $50,000 of costs like therapy, hospital bills and lost paychecks. Phone 800-983-9933 or fill out the online application.
• Texas IVSS-Counties alerts registered people, free and in confidence, when an offender is booked or released. Enroll through ivss-counties.tdcj.texas.gov or by calling 866-268-8959, which answers around the clock.