Dawson County, Texas — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

The county publishes no formal name for this facility.

Operated byDawson County Sheriff's Office
County publishes a jail nameNo — the Sheriff page names no facility and there is no jail page
Jail exists in the budgetThe FY2026 approved budget contains a 'Jail' department, 'Sheriff and Jail Pay Scales' and a 'Fund 056 - Jail Commissary'
What was triedhttps://www.co.dawson.tx.us/ ; https://www.co.dawson.tx.us/page/dawsonSheriff ; https://www.co.dawson.tx.us/page/dawson.Public.Notices
Beds and population, 2026-0841 people held in 54 rated beds

Source: Dawson County, Texas - Sheriff Matt Hogg · checked 2026-08-22

Transparency rating

1/10Closed

✗The jail is named — not published
✗Who is in custody — not published
✗Beds and daily population — not published
✓What it costs taxpayers
✗Deaths in custody — not published
✗PREA audits — not published
✗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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Dawson County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-08-22. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

Year builtNot found
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
BedsNot found

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Matt Hogg

TitleDawson County Sheriff
MailingP.O. Box 1268, Lamesa, TX 79331-1268
Courthouse400 S 1st Street, Lamesa, TX 79331
Phone806-872-7560
Fax806-872-9396

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: Dawson County, Texas - Sheriff Matt Hogg · checked 2026-08-22

The Judges

The county site lists a County Court at Law page (https://www.co.dawson.tx.us/page/dawson.County.Court) but it is empty and names no judge.

County Judge

Foy O'Brien

Justice of the Peace

Larry Duyck

District Court

Reed Filley

Still needed

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

Dawson has the deepest financial-transparency section in this group after Dallas: budgets back to 2009, check registers, statements of financial condition, bank reconciliations, debt criteria, an annual financial report and budget infographics. The FY2026 approved budget was text-verified to contain a Jail department, Sheriff and Jail pay scales and a Jail Commissary fund — so 'budget' is a verified yes, not an inference.
Budgets page: https://www.co.dawson.tx.us/page/dawson.Budgets
A 2026-2027 Commissioners Court meeting schedule PDF is posted, but no agendas or minutes archive.
The Sheriff's page directs the public to VINELink rather than publishing a custody roster.
Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides. Members: Mark Shofner (Pct 1), Ryan Webb (Pct 2), Al Crisp (Pct 3), Russell Cox (Pct 4).
County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats

The record

1 people have died in the Dawson County jail since 2022.

0 by suicide

0 illness or medical

1 deaths in all, 2016 onward

Deaths where the person had not been convicted of the charge holding them1 of 1

Deaths within the first week of arriving1

Most recent death on the state's record2022-11-05

People held, 2026-0841 in 54 beds

Share not convicted of the charge holding them92.7%

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 Dawson 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