DFW courts, jails & bonds — by county

All 13 DFW counties

Select a county to get jail address, inmate lookup, visitation, commissary, bond window, and court-date search — all on one page.

Which county am I in?

Some DFW cities straddle a county line — which side of the line your arrest happened on determines which jail and court system applies.

What's the same in every DFW county

Texas law sets the rules, so the core process looks alike whether the arrest was in Dallas or Decatur.

No matter which of the 13 counties you land on, a few things hold true because they are governed by state law rather than local policy:

• A magistrate within 48 hours. Every county must bring an arrested person before a magistrate to set bond and read the charges within 48 hours of arrest (Code of Criminal Procedure article 15.17).
• The same bond options. Cash, surety (a licensed bondsman, usually around 10%), and personal/PR bonds exist in every county — what differs is the bond-window hours and which bonds the jail will take after hours.
• An online inmate search. Each county sheriff publishes a roster you can search by name; results show the charges, bond amount, and custody status.
• The same court tiers. District courts hear felonies, county courts at law hear Class A and B misdemeanors, and justice or municipal courts handle Class C (fine-only) offenses.

What changes from county to county

The logistics — who runs the jail, which vendor takes commissary money, how visitation is booked — are set locally, which is why each county has its own page.

These are the details that send families in circles, because they are different in every county:

• The jail and its location. Dallas County books into the Lew Sterrett Justice Center; Tarrant into the Tarrant County Corrections Center; Ellis into the Wayne McCollum Detention Center. Smaller counties hold people in a single facility in the county seat.
• The commissary & phone vendor. Most jails outsource money-on-the-books and inmate calls to a provider such as Access Corrections or Securus — each with its own app, fees, and cutoff times.
• Visitation rules. Some counties run on-site video, some allow scheduled in-person visits, and some require booking days ahead. Walk-up visits are increasingly rare.
• Bond-window hours. Big counties post bonds around the clock; smaller ones may only process bonds during business hours, which can mean an overnight wait.

What's on each county page

Every county hub is built to answer the questions families actually call about — in the order they usually ask them.

Open any county above and you'll find the same practical sections, filled in with that county's specifics:

• Inmate search — a direct link to the sheriff's roster, with what you need to search (a full name or booking number).
• Bonding out — the bond window, accepted bond types, and where the county's bail bond board lists approved bondsmen.
• Money on the books & commissary — the deposit vendor, online and kiosk options, and typical fees.
• Visitation — how to register, whether it is video or in person, and the scheduling windows.
• Phone & mail — the call provider and the jail's mailing rules.
• Courts & court dates — the county's district and county courts, the clerk's case-search link, and the courthouse address.