The county jail system books about 35,000 people a year, so the lookup holds a lot of names. Use these steps:

1. Load the Sheriff's inmate search page.
2. Enter the surname, plus a first name when you have it. Use the spelling from their driver's license or ID card.
3. Too many hits? Narrow them with the race and sex boxes, or show more records per page.
4. Open the right record and copy down the CID number. Staff and the mailroom move faster with it.
5. For a very fresh arrest, also check the Sheriff's daily booked-in reports.

Still unsure? Staff on the Inmate Information Line, 817-884-3000, can look the person up by name and birth date.

An empty result can mislead. Think through these reasons:

• Still in booking. Intake for the whole county runs through one building, and it can take hours.
• Held by a city. Some cities keep their own arrests for a short stay before transfer or release. See the next answer.
• Already released. Bond may have been posted, or a magistrate may have granted a personal bond.
• Moved. They may have left for a state prison, for federal custody or for another county holding a warrant.
• Too young. Anyone 16 or under is sent to the juvenile center instead.
• Spelled another way. Try it with both surnames, a former married name or a nickname.

The quickest check is a call to the Inmate Information Line at 817-884-3000.

The Sheriff's Detention Bureau runs five jail facilities with room for about 5,000 people. All share one phone line, 817-884-3000, and the same visiting schedule.

• Corrections Center, 100 N. Lamar Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196. Every new arrest is booked, photographed and iris-scanned here. It is a maximum-security jail where officers work right inside the housing pods. Women trustees also sew mattresses and uniforms in its Jail Industries shop.
• Lon Evans Correction Center, 600 W. Weatherford Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196. A five-story maximum-security jail, certified by the state in 2012. Its central kitchen cooks for all the jails.
• Green Bay Jail, 2500 Urban Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76106. A former warehouse turned into a maximum-security jail, with 1,596 beds since 2007.
• Cold Springs Jail and Labor Detail, 1813 Cold Springs Road, Fort Worth, TX 76196, 817-884-1638. Built for low-risk prisoners, it has 384 beds used when needed. Inmates on the Sheriff's work crews bunk there.
• Belknap Facility. Older records name a jail unit at 350 W. Belknap Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196. County offices now list that building for courts, probation and a constable, so call the main jail line if papers mention Belknap.

City jails hold some arrests first, usually for a short time:

• Arlington City Jail, 620 W. Division Street, Arlington, TX 76011, 817-459-5648. Enter on the west side, facing Cooper Street. The city posts an online jail inmate list.
• Keller Regional Detention Center, 330 Rufe Snow Drive, Keller, TX 76248, 817-743-4770. It holds Keller and Southlake arrests and answers inmate and bond questions by phone.
• Mansfield Jail, 1601 Heritage Parkway, Mansfield, TX 76063, 817-804-5724, staffed 24 hours. It holds city prisoners and federal prisoners.
• White Settlement Holding Facility, 8900 Clifford Street, White Settlement, TX 76108, 817-246-7070. It books people arrested on charges or warrants. A judge sets bond at a morning arraignment most days.
• North Richland Hills Police City Jail. For whether a North Richland Hills arrest is still held there, ask the main jail line above.
• Grand Prairie Detention Center, 1525 Arkansas Lane, Grand Prairie, TX 75052, 972-237-8951. It takes Grand Prairie arrests from every county the city reaches into.

Children go to the Lynn W. Ross Juvenile Detention Center, 2701 Kimbo Road, Fort Worth, TX 76111, 817-838-4610.

Besides the name search, the Sheriff posts two daily lists. The booked-in reports cover recent bookings. The bond reports cover bonds posted. A third list on the lookup site, the magistration docket, shows who is due before a magistrate.

These lists help when a name is new or spelled oddly. For anything you can't find, call 817-884-3000.

Every person booked here is photographed at the Corrections Center. The Sheriff's website files its search under an "Inmate Records / Mugshots" heading, but the search page itself says only that it shows inmate information. To request the photo itself, send a written Public Information Act request to the Sheriff's Office, 200 Taylor Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196, 817-884-3099. Texas law makes basic facts about an arrest public (Gov't Code 552.108).

• Some websites post mugshots and charge $150 or more to pull them down. Texas makes those sites correct or delete an entry that is wrong or incomplete at no cost. A record a court has expunged or covered by a nondisclosure order can't go up at all (Business and Commerce Code chapter 109).
• ICE booking photos are requested through its FOIA records page.
• The federal government does not hand out its booking photos, though the U.S. Marshals Service may release one of a fugitive it is hunting.

Yes, through Texas IVSS-Counties, which took over from the old VINE system. Look the person up with all or part of the name. Then choose to be notified about a booking, a release, a transfer or a changed court event. An account is optional. Signing up costs nothing, stays confidential, and the inmate never learns of it. Call 866-268-8959 at any hour for help in English or Spanish.

For a same-day answer, nothing beats the Inmate Information Line at 817-884-3000. Victims in family violence cases are also told before the person is released (CCP art. 17.29).

A magistrate must see the person within 48 hours. Here that is Central Magistration, at the Magistrate Courts, Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center, 401 W. Belknap Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196, 817-884-2812. The person hears their rights, may ask for appointed counsel and learns the bond amount there.

• Bonds are posted at the Corrections Center Bond Desk, open 24 hours. A person paying on their own must pay the full amount.
• Bonding companies licensed by the county charge a fee to post a surety bond.
• Some people get a personal bond with no money down. The court date is on the release papers. Lost them? Call 817-884-2674.
• Family violence cases can carry a four-hour hold after bond (CCP art. 17.291).

Our bail page explains bond types, payment and holds in full.

Search the person on the jail lookup, or ask the Inmate Information Line. Write down each charge and its bond. After the prosecutor files the case, court records spell out each count:

• Felony and Class A or B settings: criminal dockets
• Class A and B files: county court records portal
• Felony filings: the District Clerk, 817-884-1574

Final charging choices belong to the Criminal District Attorney's Office, 401 W. Belknap Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196, 817-884-1400. Texas charges run from fine-only Class C up through capital felonies (Penal Code chapter 12).

At magistration the person is asked if they want a free lawyer, and the magistrate helps with the form. The county then assigns an approved private lawyer through the Office of Attorney Appointments, 401 W. Belknap Street, Room 5043, Fort Worth, TX 76196, 817-884-2370. State law gives a county this big one working day to make the appointment (CCP art. 1.051).

The money form is the Affidavit of Indigence. A family can also retain its own attorney instead. Attorneys may visit whenever needed, and Wednesdays and Thursdays are set aside for lawyers and police.

Every Sheriff's jail uses the same schedule, based on the inmate's last name:

• Last names A to L: Saturday and Monday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Last names M to Z: Sunday and Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Wednesday and Thursday: lawyers and law enforcement only.

Sign-in opens 30 minutes before visiting starts. No one is let in after 8:30 p.m., or after 2:30 p.m. on the early Friday block. More rules:

• One 30-minute visit a day, and up to three a week. Visitors who live more than 150 miles from Fort Worth get 40 minutes.
• At most two grown-ups and two kids 17 or under per visit. Kids must come with an adult.
• Anyone who was in a county jail here in the past six months may not visit.
• Bring a photo ID, such as a license, passport, military ID or Mexican Consulate card. Children may use a school ID.
• No phones, cameras, bags, purses, tobacco or food. A parent with a baby may bring one diaper bag.
• Dress modestly. Revealing shorts, tight or see-through clothes, hats, sleeveless tops and khaki or military-style clothes are turned away.
• Hospital visits run daily from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

See our visiting guide for general tips.

The Sheriff offers five ways to add money:

• Lobby kiosk. Kiosks in the jail lobbies take cash. This is the only way to hand over cash at the jail.
• App or website. Pay with Visa or MasterCard. The Sheriff says this has the lowest handling fee.
• Phone. Call 866-345-1884 any hour, in English or Spanish, with a Visa or MasterCard.
• Mail. Only U.S. Postal or Western Union money orders, sent to Sheriff's Office Detention Bureau, 100 N. Lamar Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196. Mailed cash is sent back.
• Cash at a store. The Sheriff points to Cash Pay Today. Sign up online or call 844-340-2274. Dollar General and Family Dollar need a barcode, and Family Dollar takes only a printed one.

Have the CID number ready. Read about deposits in our money guide; what the funds can buy is in our commissary guide.

Every holding cell in booking has a phone, and calls during booking are free. After that:

• Calls to local numbers cost nothing.
• Calls outside the local area are collect, so the person who accepts pays.
• For rates, the Sheriff sends families to the jail's phone provider at 727-349-1561.
• Inmates use tablets to read their scanned mail.

Case talk is best kept for the defense attorney. Our jail phone guide explains calling plans. Texting and e-messages get their own inmate messaging guide.

Personal letters, cards and postcards skip the jail. They go to an outside mail center, which scans them so the person can read them on a tablet. The exact address is shown on the Sheriff's inmate mail page. Personal mail sent straight to the jail comes back stamped Return to Sender.

Legal mail, books, magazines and money orders go to 100 North Lamar Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196. Rules to follow:

• Envelopes may be no bigger than 12 by 16 inches.
• Up to 10 photos, unframed, each 4 by 6 inches or smaller.
• Books must be new softcovers, shipped by the publisher through UPS or the Postal Service. Packages from other carriers, Amazon and store distributors are refused.
• Magazines and puzzle books come only through a publisher subscription.
• Anything not allowed is returned.

Our mail guide has more general advice.

Clothing and items taken at booking normally go home with the person on release day. For a leftover account balance, phone the jail at 817-884-3000.

A tighter rule covers people headed to state prison. Only someone being sent to a Texas Department of Criminal Justice unit, or a place that works for it, can hand off clothes and property. At transfer, they write down who will pick it up. That person gets 30 days from the transfer date. Real hardship cases can ask Jail Administration for more time, through a captain or the booking watch commander.

Each jail offers medical care, counseling and mental health services. If the person needs regular medication, lives with a chronic condition or has an injury, call 817-884-3000 and ask how to get health details to the medical staff. Tell staff which medicine, how much and how often, and who prescribed it.

Signs of mental illness must be reported to a magistrate, and staff have 12 hours to do it (CCP art. 16.22). In a true emergency, call 911. The jails also offer GED and English classes, a law library and re-entry services for people getting ready to leave.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspects county jails. The Sheriff says the county has passed that certification every year since 1995. Each jail must also give inmates a written way to file a grievance.

A family member with a concern can use the commission's complaint form, email info@tcjs.state.tx.us or call 512-463-5505. Name the jail and the inmate, and give your contact details.

Deputies in the Sheriff's Criminal Warrants Division serve most warrants, at 200 Taylor Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196, 817-884-1289. Constables and city officers serve others; Fort Worth's non-emergency line is 817-392-4222. The Warrants Division handles public questions through a lawyer or licensed bondsman. Wanted fugitives are pictured on the Sheriff's Most Wanted page and on Texas 10 Most Wanted. A Class C case can be checked in the JP case lookup. To settle a warrant, go with a lawyer to the Corrections Center, 100 N. Lamar Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196, or contact the court that issued it. Felony files: District Clerk, 401 W. Belknap Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196, 817-884-1574.

Several places show it:

• The criminal court dockets, for felony and Class A or B settings.
• The release papers, for anyone let out on a personal bond. Lost copies: 817-884-2674.
• Criminal Court Support, Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center, 401 W. Belknap Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196, 817-212-6957, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• The County Clerk's case status line, 817-884-1066, for Class A and B cases.

Our court page lists every courtroom and explains each stage of a case.

U.S. charges here are heard at the federal courthouse, 501 West 10th Street, Room 310, Fort Worth, TX 76102, 817-850-6600.

1. At a detention hearing, a federal magistrate judge rules on release before trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Anyone kept in custody is a U.S. Marshals Service prisoner, often housed in a nearby jail that accepts Marshals prisoners. The Mansfield Jail is one. Ask the Marshals at 501 West 10th Street, Room 211, Fort Worth, TX 76102, 682-703-4574.
3. People awaiting trial may not show on the Bureau of Prisons search, since they are not yet in its custody.
4. After sentencing, look them up on the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

Here is the order things usually happen in:

1. While the person is in the county's custody, immigration agents file Form I-247A asking that they be held.
2. When the local case would let them go, the Sheriff may hold them up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Texas jails are required to honor these requests (CCP art. 2A.060), and local rules may not get in the way of immigration enforcement (Gov't Code 752.053). Papers showing citizenship or lawful presence end the hold.
4. ICE then moves the person under its Dallas Field Office, 8101 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75247, 972-367-2200.
5. Use the ICE Online Detainee Locator. It needs a full name, an A-number or a birth date, along with the country of birth. No match? Phone the field office.

Under S.B. 8 from 2025, each Texas sheriff who operates a jail must apply to ICE's 287(g) program no later than December 1, 2026. The Sheriff's Office, 817-884-3099, can tell you whether this county has signed one.

Sentenced people stay in county custody until the state prison system has a spot. They go through intake first, then move to a unit that suits them.

• Use the TDCJ inmate search. Enter a last name spelled exactly, plus a first initial at minimum, or a TDCJ or SID number. It lists only people now in a state facility, and its records lag by 24 hours or more.
• Each unit's visiting and mail rules are on our Texas state prisons page.
• Remember the 30-day window to claim property after the move.

Anyone 10 through 16 is handled as a child under Texas law (Family Code 51.02). A detained youth goes to the Lynn W. Ross Juvenile Detention Center, 2701 Kimbo Road, Fort Worth, TX 76111, 817-838-4610, while they wait for court.

• Close family may visit for 30 minutes a day.
• Each child gets a five-minute phone call with a parent or guardian every day.
• Every child is checked for mental health needs and seen by the on-site clinic.
• Within two working days a juvenile judge holds a detention hearing. Counsel for the child is in place before it begins (Family Code 54.01).
• Juvenile Services, the county's juvenile probation office, is at the same address, 817-838-4600, weekdays 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Deputies cover areas outside city limits. The Sheriff's Office is at 200 Taylor Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196, 817-884-3099. Larger city departments with confirmed lines:

• Fort Worth Police Department, Bob Bolen Public Safety Complex, 505 W. Felix Street, Fort Worth, TX 76115, non-emergency 817-392-4222
• Arlington Police Department, Ott Cribbs Public Safety Center, 620 W. Division Street, Arlington, TX 76011, 817-459-5700, open 24 hours
• Mansfield Police Department, 1601 Heritage Parkway, Mansfield, TX 76063, non-emergency 817-473-0211
• Bedford Police Department, 2121 L. Don Dodson Drive, Bedford, TX 76021, non-emergency 817-952-2127
• Southlake Police Department, 600 State Street, Southlake, TX 76092, non-emergency 817-743-4522. This dispatch line also serves Keller, whose police office is at 817-743-4577.
• White Settlement Police Department, 8900 Clifford Street, White Settlement, TX 76108, 817-246-7070
• Grand Prairie police book at their Detention Center, 1525 Arkansas Lane, Grand Prairie, TX 75052, 972-237-8951

The county's other incorporated places are below, grouped by area. For the right non-emergency line in any of them, ask the Sheriff's Office at the number above.

• Northeast: Colleyville, Euless, Flower Mound, Grapevine, Haltom City, Hurst, North Richland Hills, Richland Hills, Trophy Club, Watauga and Westlake.
• Northwest: Azle, Blue Mound, Haslet, Lake Worth, Lakeside, Newark, Pelican Bay, Reno, River Oaks, Saginaw and Sansom Park.
• West and southwest: Benbrook, Burleson, Crowley, Edgecliff Village, Westover Hills and Westworth Village.
• South and east: Dalworthington Gardens, Everman, Forest Hill, Kennedale and Pantego.

Constables serve warrants and papers in eight precincts:

• Precinct 1: 100 W. Weatherford Street, Suite 460A, Fort Worth, TX 76196, 817-884-1385
• Precinct 2: 700 East Abram Street, Suite 202, Arlington, TX 76010, 817-548-3910
• Precinct 3: 645 Grapevine Highway, Suite 110, Hurst, TX 76054, 817-581-3610, plus a Southlake office at 1400 Main Street, Suite 240, Southlake, TX 76092
• Precinct 4: 6713 Telephone Road, Suite 102, Lake Worth, TX 76135, 817-238-4411
• Precinct 5: 350 W. Belknap Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196, 817-884-1892
• Precinct 6: 6551 Granbury Road, Fort Worth, TX 76133, 817-370-4510
• Precinct 7: 1100 East Broad Street, Suite 201, Mansfield, TX 76063, 817-473-5110
• Precinct 8: 3500 Miller Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76119, 817-531-5610

State troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety also make arrests on highways here, and those arrests are booked into the county jail, 817-884-3000.