The Detention Center
Caldwell County Jail
- Operated byCaldwell County Sheriff's Office
- County publishes a jail nameYes - 'Caldwell County Jail' named on the sheriff's page with its own option on the main line
- Jail phone512-398-6777 (select option 1)
- Sheriff's office address1204 Reed Drive, Lockhart, TX 78644
- What was triedhttps://www.co.caldwell.tx.us/page/Sheriff - the sheriff's page is the only jail-related page; there is no jail sub-page, roster, bond page or fee schedule
- Beds and population, 2026-08172 people held in 301 rated beds
Source: Caldwell County - Sheriff · checked 2026-08-22
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✓PREA audits
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✗How to post bond — not published
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds301 rated capacity (TCJS Inmate Population Report, 1 Aug 2026; 172 in custody)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Mike Lane
- TitleCaldwell County Sheriff
- Office1204 Reed Drive, Lockhart, TX 78644
- Phone512-398-6777
- ComplaintsCitizen Complaint Process Memo and complaint form posted
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Caldwell County - Sheriff · checked 2026-08-22
The Judges
County Judge
- Hoppy Haden
County Court at Law
- Trey Hicks
District Courts
- R. Bruce Boyer (22nd)
- Tracie Wright-Reneau (207th)
- Amanda Montgomery (421st)
Justices of the Peace
- Matt Kiely (Pct. 1)
- Shanna Conley (Pct. 2)
- Anita DeLeon (Pct. 3)
- Yvette Mireles (Pct. 4)
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-08-22
The County Commissioners
They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.
- What they controlThe detention budget, the building itself, and the agreements that let other agencies rent its beds.
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and answers to voters, not to the board.
- The boardBoard of County Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- PREA is the strongest disclosure here: the sheriff's page posts the 2024 PREA Facility Audit Report (final), a PREA policy, PREA flyers in English and Spanish, and CCSO PREA annual reports for 2024, 2023, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017.
- Roster marked no: the sheriff's page sends people to the TDCJ statewide IVSS-Counties tool rather than publishing a county custody list.
- Caldwell County publishes an unusually deep financial transparency section (budgets, financial statements, debt book, check registers) but nothing that breaks out the jail.
- Meetings are also streamed and archived on video at caldwellcountytx.new.swagit.com.
- Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides. Commissioners Court meets the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month.
- County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats
The record
1 people have died in the Caldwell County jail since 2021.
Deaths: Texas Justice Initiative, the cleaned copy of the Texas Attorney General’s custodial death reports — the state’s own public index carries no cause of death and has not been refreshed since August 2025. Population: Texas Commission on Jail Standards monthly report. Counted, not estimated.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Caldwell County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).
How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?
Your VOTE is POWERFUL.
The sheriff who runs this jail is elected. So are the commissioners who pay for it.
Names verified 2026-08-22 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered