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

The Detention Center

Erath County Jail

Operated byErath County Sheriff's Office
County publishes a jail nameYes - 'Erath County Jail', its own page under the Sheriff's Office
Jail address1043 Glen Rose Road, Stephenville, TX 76401
Jail phone254-965-3221
Jail CaptainDanny Clayton
What the page containsVisitation rules only - no bed count, population, or fee schedule
Beds and population, 2026-08102 people held in 145 rated beds

Source: Erath County - Jail · checked 2026-08-22

Transparency rating

3/10Closed

✓The jail is named
✓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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Erath 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 Coates

TitleCounty Sheriff
OfficeErath County Sheriff's Office
Courthouse phone254-965-1452

Still needed

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

Source: Erath County - Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-08-22

The Judges

One justice of the peace covers precincts 1, 3 and 4; a second covers precinct 2 (Dublin).

County Judge

Brandon J. Huckabee

County Court at Law

Blake Thompson

266th Judicial District Court

Jason Cashon

Justices of the Peace

Chili Alexander (Pct. 1, 3, 4)
David Martin (Pct. 2)

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

The roster link is labelled 'Inmate Listing' on the county's own jail page and points to the county's Tyler public access portal.
The 2025-2026 Adopted Budget PDF contains 'Department: 561 - Jail' with a departmental total (verified in the PDF text).
The jail page's visitation text still cites Governor's order GA-34 of March 2, 2021 and requires masks - it appears not to have been updated since 2021.
Checked for bond guidance and phone/commissary rates on the jail page and the county site index; none published.
Audit rules applied uniformly across this group: capacity=yes only if a bed count is published on a county site; fees=yes only if an actual dollar rate for phone, video visit or commissary is published; bond_info=yes only if the county publishes practical guidance for posting bond or an official approved bail-bond company list.
TCJS publishes no county-specific inspection page or report on its public website; only statewide reports and a non-compliant-jails list. This county was not on the non-compliant list checked 2026-08-22.
Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides.
County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats

The record

3 people have died in the Erath County jail since 2017.

0 by suicide

1 illness or medical

3 deaths in all, 2016 onward

Deaths where the person had not been convicted of the charge holding them3 of 3

Deaths within the first week of arriving1

Most recent death on the state's record2025-12-12

People held, 2026-08102 in 145 beds

Share not convicted of the charge holding them79.4%

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 Erath 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