Terrell County Jail Inmate Bail & Bonds

Bail here is set by a magistrate. Officers get two days at the outside, and less when they can, to arrange that meeting (CCP 15.17(a)). A video link is allowed. In a few minutes the magistrate states the accusation, gives the warnings and hands over the form for requesting an appointed lawyer.

The bail call belongs in that same two-day window. Texas wants each decision fitted to the person, with no harsher terms than needed for a Sanderson court return (CCP 17.028). If the accusation is Class B or worse, the magistrate must look over a public safety report before setting bail. It sums up past arrests and convictions, but it never rates risk or names an amount (CCP 17.022).

Locally, the County Judge holds magistrate power, as does the Justice of the Peace (CCP 2A.151). Both work from the county courthouse, 105 E Hackberry St, Sanderson, TX 79848. Reach the Justice Court at 432-345-2341. Which judge handles your person can turn on where they are housed. Deputies at 432-345-2525 know.

Texas law splits bail into two kinds (CCP 17.01). One is backed by cash or a surety. The other, the personal bond, rests on a promise. In daily use, a family in Sanderson is likely to hear about these:

• Personal bond. A signed pledge stands in for money. The person swears to appear, and no one hands over the bail figure.
• Cash bond. Money for the whole bail goes to the court up front. It comes back later, minus fees the law permits.
• Surety bond. Here a bail company or other qualified backer signs on for the entire amount. The fee you pay them is not returned.
• Strings attached. Release of any type can come with orders, like no contact with a named person, testing for drugs or GPS tracking.

Some charges rule out a personal bond. Examples include a long list of violent crimes, gun charges against people with felony records, and certain protective order charges (CCP 17.03). Some drug felonies, plus burglary and organized crime, leave that choice to the trial court alone. Bond for repeat DWI, or for DWI with a child in the car, must include a breath-test device wired to the car's ignition. The same goes for intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter (CCP 17.441(a)). For the full state picture, visit our Texas bail laws page.

No single Texas chart prices out each crime. Local bail schedules, where they exist, have to obey the magistrate rules too (CCP 17.028(d)). So your number comes from the magistrate who heard the case. Deputies can give it to you by phone at 432-345-2525, one charge at a time.

Under CCP 17.15(a), a magistrate balances:

• an amount that makes showing up for each hearing likely
• a ban on bail meant to oppress
• the accusation and its circumstances
• what the defendant can actually afford
• danger to a victim, officers or neighbors
• the record, plus the public safety report
• the person's citizenship status

One rule puts a ceiling on bail. Say police arrested someone with no warrant and no probable cause ruling arrives on time. In that spot, a misdemeanor arrest must end in freedom by hour 24, and bond can't exceed $5,000. Felony suspects get the same treatment at 48 hours, with a $10,000 ceiling. Someone too poor for that is released on a personal bond. The state's lawyers can request a 72-hour delay (CCP 17.033). Statewide, signed bail forms can be browsed on the TOPICs bail portal.

Bookings and releases run through the Sheriff's Office at the county courthouse, 105 E Hackberry St, Sanderson, TX 79848. Since the local lockup has only a handful of beds, your person could be sleeping in a neighbor county. In that case, bail may have to be posted there. Work down this list:

1. Dial 432-345-2525 and ask for Booking. Have ready the legal name, exactly as on an ID, and the date of birth.
2. Find out where they are housed tonight and whether a magistrate has ruled.
3. List each charge beside its bail figure. Separate cases mean separate bonds.
4. Learn which payment forms deputies take, the exact payee for a money order and the drop-off spot.
5. Before any money changes hands, ask about holds from probation, parole, ICE or another county.
6. Carry photo ID. Hang on to every receipt.

Any sheriff or jailer accepting bail must pull the person's criminal record first (CCP 17.20). If the charge is violent, the dollar figure must come from a magistrate, never from jail staff.

Phone ahead, since one courthouse holds every local court office: 105 E Hackberry St, Sanderson, TX 79848.

• District Clerk (felonies for the 63rd and 83rd District Courts): 432-345-2391. Letters go to P.O. Box 410, Sanderson, TX 79848.
• County Court (Class A and B misdemeanors): dial the courthouse switchboard, 432-345-2421, and request the clerk for county court files.
• Justice of the Peace (Class C tickets, fines only): 432-345-2341. Letters go to PO Box 833, Sanderson, TX 79848.

Put the same questions to each office. Does it accept cash bail on this case? What forms of payment work at its counter? Will deputies release the person the moment you pay? With no incorporated town anywhere in the county, there's no city court or police desk to try instead.

Accepted payments can change, so confirm with deputies at 432-345-2525 before the drive. Ask which of cash, money orders and cashier's checks the Terrell desk takes, and who to name as payee. Bring ID. Never drop cash in the mail.

Tickets and fines in the Justice Court can be paid on an online payment page linked from that court's own page. The judge's instruction sheet, given out with a citation, carries a QR code to the same spot. Use it for citations and fines. A jail bond goes through the Sheriff's Office or a court clerk instead.

Planning to appeal a Justice Court judgment? Its appeal bond equals two times the total fine.

Once a county passes 110,000 people, it must run a bail bond board. Smaller places like this one may set one up by choice (OC 1704.052). Boardless counties let the sheriff display the names of sureties whose security checked out. They each renew a sworn statement of their finances yearly (CCP 17.141). Deputies at 432-345-2525 can say whose bonds they take.

• Insist on written fee and collateral terms. Know that the bondsman keeps the fee, dismissal or not.
• Keep a receipt for each payment and any property you give the bondsman.
• A surety may want to quit the bond and surrender the person. It must warn the defense lawyer before anything else, and the prosecutor as well on a felony. Then it files an affidavit (CCP 17.19).
• After a no-show, the surety may still get off the hook. That can happen when the no-show lands back in jail soon. Sanderson families should know the windows: 180 days when the missed case was a misdemeanor and 270 days for felonies (CCP 22.13).

Each bond covers a single case. So before paying, have deputies at 432-345-2525 read out every hold. Common ones:

• Another county's warrant. A Terrell magistrate can set bail on that outside warrant. The bond paperwork then goes back to the issuing county by mail (CCP 15.18). If no bail is set here, deputies from that county come to collect them.
• Parole violation warrant. A parolee picked up this way generally stays behind bars until the violation is heard (GC 508.254(c)).
• Mental health. Within 12 hours of noticing possible mental illness, the jail has to notify a magistrate. An evaluation may follow (CCP 16.22).
• ICE detainer. Covered step by step in the immigration answer on this page.
• Family violence. A magistrate who expects the violence to continue must keep the person 4 hours longer after bond is posted. A signed order can extend the hold to 48 (CCP 17.291(b)). The victim is told before the person leaves.
• Two or more cases. A Justice Court ticket and a District Court felony each need their own bond.

Texas's constitution lets almost anyone charged with a crime get bail. The classic exception, found in article I, §11 of the Texas Constitution, covers capital cases with evident proof. A district judge, after a hearing, can also withhold bail in some repeat or on-bail felonies (§11a), after a safety term is violated (§11b) and for some protective order breaches (§11c).

A 2025 amendment, Proposition 3, added §11d after Texas voters approved it that November. It reaches these charges:

• murder and capital murder
• aggravated robbery, kidnapping and sexual assault
• a charge of indecency with a child
• human trafficking
• aggravated assault with a weapon or causing serious harm

For these, a Terrell judge has to refuse bail in one situation. The prosecutor must win a hearing showing the person will likely flee, or that the person threatens others. Flight needs only a preponderance of the evidence. Danger needs clear and convincing evidence. That request can come from the prosecutor and no one else. Allowing bail anyway requires the judge to write out findings and reasons.

The office pressing for no bail depends on the court:

• District Attorney the county lists for felonies: mail to P.O. Box 1405, Del Rio, TX 78841-1405, 830-775-0505. It also gives the county courthouse, 105 E Hackberry St, Sanderson, TX 79848.
• 83rd District Attorney, for cases in the 83rd District Court: 400 S. Nelson Street, Fort Stockton, TX 79735, 432-336-3322.
• County Attorney: 119 West Oak Street, Sanderson, TX 79848, 432-345-2914.

Most often, the defense lawyer asks for a lower figure in a written motion to the trial judge. A lease, pay stubs, letters from relatives and a frank budget all help. The law makes the defendant's means part of the decision (CCP 17.15(a)). Three other paths:

• Examining trial. Anyone facing a felony can request this probable cause hearing before a grand jury acts. There the magistrate can also take a fresh look at bail (CCP 16.01).
• Slow prosecution. When the state isn't trial-ready by a set day, a Terrell judge must grant a personal bond or reduce the bail. Felony: day 90. Misdemeanor that could bring over 180 days behind bars: day 30. Other jail-eligible misdemeanor: day 15. Fine-only case: day 5. Exceptions apply (CCP 17.151).
• The state pushes back. Since 2025, a prosecutor may have a district judge look over a felony bail (CCP 17.029). When the charge is one of certain violent crimes, the state can even take a too-small bail figure to the court of appeals. The defendant remains jailed until that ruling.

File felony motions through the District Clerk's office, 432-345-2391.

Two adult plans govern appointed lawyers here: the District Court plan and the County Court plan. Each says the public defender gets every case unless good cause calls for a private lawyer, and each makes the County Judge the appointing authority. The state's chart lists the Far West Texas Regional Public Defender's Office for this county, at 203 North 7th St., Alpine, TX 79830, 432-837-4120.

1. The magistrate explains the request and helps the person fill it in (CCP 15.17(a)).
2. Within a day, that request reaches whoever appoints lawyers.
3. A county this size has three working days from receipt to appoint a lawyer (CCP 1.051(c)).
4. After being named, the appointed lawyer needs to attempt contact by closing time on the next working day (CCP 26.04(j)(1)).

Making bail, or being able to, can't be the only reason a court refuses a lawyer (CCP 26.04(m)).

One building, the county courthouse at 105 E Hackberry St, Sanderson, TX 79848, houses every local criminal court. Its switchboard is 432-345-2421.

• 63rd and 83rd District Courts (felonies). Each spans three counties. Kinney and Val Verde share the 63rd, while Pecos and Val Verde share the 83rd. District Clerk: 432-345-2391.
• County Court. Misdemeanors of Class A or B land before the County Judge here; use the switchboard.
• Justice of the Peace Court (Class C, fine only): 432-345-2341.
• Federal court: U.S. District Court, Del Rio Division, 111 East Broadway, Room L100, Del Rio, TX 78840, 830-703-2054.

Lacking any incorporated city, the county has no municipal court.

Cash bail comes back to whoever's name sits on the receipt, after any fee the law permits, once the person has met every term (CCP 17.02). The clerk keeps 5%, capped at $50, though only after a conviction, or after a judge orders deferred adjudication (LGC 117.055). A court can also put the deposit toward that defendant's own fines and costs. When the case is final, request the clerk's no-cost form for releasing cash bond money.

Miss a court date and the bond is in danger. The judge has the name called and signs a judgment nisi, which forfeits the bail (CCP 22.02). Knowingly failing to appear is a separate crime too: Class C on a fine-only case, Class A on other misdemeanors and a third-degree felony on felony charges (PC 38.10).

For a felony refund, ring the District Clerk at 432-345-2391. Misdemeanor refunds start with the switchboard at 432-345-2421.

Settle questions about cash and personal items before release. If another county housed them, that jail kept what they carried. Reach the Sheriff's Office, 105 E Hackberry St, Sanderson, TX 79848, at 432-345-2525. Ask how leftover jail account money is returned, when you may collect their things, and whether a signed release from them must name you.

Bring photo ID. Deposit and refund basics live on our inmate money page, and the jail store is covered on our commissary page.

Federal cases from Terrell go to Del Rio, home of the Western District's Del Rio Division. Clerk's office: 111 East Broadway, Room L100, Del Rio, TX 78840, 830-703-2054.

• A federal magistrate judge in Del Rio rules on release or detention after a hearing, typically on the day of the first appearance in Del Rio. A postponement is allowed too: five days at most when the accused asks, three when the government does (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Federal prisoners awaiting trial stay in U.S. Marshals Service custody. The agency runs a Del Rio office at 111 East Broadway, Room 159, Del Rio, TX 78840, 830-703-2075. Call it to learn which jail is holding them.
• Defense help: the Federal Public Defender keeps a Del Rio office at 2205 Veterans Boulevard, Suite A-2, Del Rio, TX 78840, 830-703-2040.
• When a federal judge imposes prison time, the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator shows where it is served.

The ICE hold stays. A state bond doesn't touch it. The usual order of events:

1. First, a detainer arrives at the Terrell jail from ICE, the federal immigration agency, on its Form I-247A. That paper asks deputies to keep the person.
2. That hold may last up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Texas jails must follow ICE detainers, except for someone holding proof of citizenship or legal status (CCP 2A.060). Local policies that hamper ICE have also been barred since 2017 under S.B. 4 (GC 752.053).
4. Under S.B. 8 (2025), each county that runs a jail has a December 1, 2026 cutoff for asking ICE about a 287(g) agreement. For where Terrell stands, ask the deputies.
5. ICE collects the person. Then try the ICE Online Detainee Locator. The A-number works best; without it, search by full name plus birth country.

Magistrates appointed under GC chapter 54 are barred from setting bail when ICE has lodged a detainer (CCP 17.027(a-2)).

A state jail felony means months in a state jail, not prison (PC 12.35). Any sentence for a first-, second- or third-degree felony means a TDCJ prison unit (PC 12.32-12.34). The person waits in a county jail after sentencing. TDCJ later picks them up for intake, where staff test and classify them, then assigns a long-term unit.

Relatives can search TDCJ's inmate lookup. It accepts a SID or TDCJ number, or a last name with first initial. Its data trails real life by at least a day, and updates skip weekends and holidays. For prison unit details, JailExchange keeps a Texas state prisons directory.

Juvenile court in Texas covers an act done after a child's 10th birthday but before the 17th. A teen who was 17 already goes through adult court in Sanderson (FC 51.02(2)). There is no bail for kids in the adult sense. A detention hearing comes fast. The deadline is two working days after the arrest. An arrest made on a Friday or Saturday moves that deadline up to one working day. A lawyer must be assigned to the child before that hearing (FC 54.01). Officers must notify a parent right away (FC 52.02).

TJJD's registry lists no youth detention center inside the county. Kids who must be held may go to a registered site such as the Val Verde County Juvenile Detention Center, 200 Griner, Del Rio, TX 78840, 830-774-7553. Kinney, Terrell and Val Verde share one juvenile board plan. Deputies at 432-345-2525 can tell you where the child went and who the juvenile probation contact is.