The Detention Center
Deaf Smith County Jail
- Operated byDeaf Smith County Sheriff's Office
- County publishes a jail nameNo — neither co.deaf-smith.tx.us nor dscso.org names the facility; the name comes from the state construction registration
- Address3782 N. Progressive Rd. and 3780 N. Progressive Rd., Hereford, TX 79045
- SizeApproximately 83,173 square feet of combined sheriff's office and detention space
- RosterA static 'JAIL ROSTER' PDF is posted on the Sheriff's Office site
- NoteThe Sheriff's Office site offers commissary and telephone funding links (jailfunds.com, encartele.net) but publishes no rates
- Beds and population, 2026-0892 people held in 196 rated beds
Source: TDLR TABS project registration TABS2020019210 — Deaf Smith County Jail and Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-08-22
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✗The jail is named — not published
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗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
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNew jail and sheriff's office built August 1, 2020 to February 28, 2022, replacing a roughly 60-year-old jail behind the courthouse
- Original cost$32,000,000 construction cost registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation; the bond measure put to voters was reported at $36.2 million
- Paid for byVoter-approved county bond. The FY2025-26 adopted budget carries a 'Series 2020 Jail Bond Debt Rate' line, so the debt is being repaid through the county's debt service property tax rate.
- Beds197 in the new facility, against 96 in the jail it replaced (as reported before construction)
Since then
- Site in east Hereford was chosen to allow room for future expansion
The Sheriff
Sheriff J. Dale Butler
- TitleDeaf Smith County Sheriff
- Phone806-364-2311
- Address on agency site235 E. 3rd St, Room 102, Hereford, TX 79045 (old courthouse address; the agency site has not been updated for the new complex)
- Fax(806) 363-6656
- Separate agency sitedscso.org
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Deaf Smith County, Texas - County Sheriff · checked 2026-08-22
The Judges
The Justice of the Peace page streams magistrations live on YouTube — unusual for a county this size — yet does not identify the magistrate by name. The JP office phone is (806) 364-0999.
County Judge
- D.J. Wagner
District Court
- Roland Saul
Justice of the Peace
- Not found — the county's Justice of the Peace page publishes forms, a warrant list, a court docket and a link to live YouTube magistrations, but does not name the judge
- 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
- The roster is real but stale: the posted PDF is headed 'Inmate Roster / Date: 03/20/2023'. It lists names, booking dates, charges, bond amounts and custody status. Marked yes because the county's sheriff does publish a roster, with the currency problem recorded here.
- The FY2025-26 adopted budget was text-verified and contains 'Series 2020 Jail Bond Debt Rate', 'JAIL PHONES' and 'JAIL FEES-CITY OF HFD' revenue lines. The City of Hereford line implies the county holds city prisoners for a fee, but no interlocal agreement or per-prisoner rate is published — hence contracts is marked no.
- Before the new jail opened the county routinely shipped prisoners to Parmer, Bailey, Randall, Potter, Lubbock, Hale and Dallam counties (Sheriff Butler, KFDA NewsChannel 10, November 13, 2019: https://www.newschannel10.com/2019/11/13/new-law-enforcement-complex-coming-deaf-smith-county/).
- County budgets page: https://www.co.deaf-smith.tx.us/page/deafsmith.Budgets
- The Sheriff's Office website dscso.org still lists the old courthouse address, Room 102, rather than the N. Progressive Road complex.
- Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides. Members: Chris Matthews (Pct 1), Jerry O'Connor (Pct 2), Kevin Brown (Pct 3), Roddy Allred (Pct 4).
- County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats
The record
1 people have died in the Deaf Smith County jail since 2023.
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 Deaf Smith 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