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

The Detention Center

Hockley County Jail

Operated byHockley County Sheriff's Office
County publishes a jail nameYes — the Sheriff page links "Hockley County Jail Roster"
Rosterhttp://interopweb.com/hockleysotx/ — a live list of currently booked inmates; it showed 56 people in custody when checked on 22 August 2026
Jail phone806-894-9334
Victim notificationThe Sheriff page directs the public to VINELink for custody status
What was triedhttps://www.co.hockley.tx.us/page/Sheriff ; https://www.co.hockley.tx.us/page/sitemap ; https://www.co.hockley.tx.us/page/Budgets ; https://www.co.hockley.tx.us/page/CommissionersCourtMinutes
Beds and population, 2026-0854 people held in 64 rated beds

Source: Hockley County — County Sheriff · 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 Hockley 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
Beds64 rated capacity — TCJS population report, 1 August 2026; the county publishes no bed count

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Chris Wischkaemper

Published as"Sheriff Chris Wischkaemper"
Address1310 Avenue H, Levelland, TX
Main phone806-894-3126; fax 806-897-0750
Jail phone806-894-9334; jail fax 806-894-3161
Fee schedule published"Hockley County 2026 Sheriff and Constable Fees" (civil process fees)

Still needed

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

Source: Hockley County — County Sheriff · checked 2026-08-22

The Judges

Hockley County has no County Court at Law; the County Judge hears probate and criminal matters and publishes Zoom hearing instructions for both. The county's Justice of the Peace page lists Precincts 1, 2, 4 and 5 — no Precinct 3 court is published.

County Judge

Sharla Baldridge

District Court

Anna D. Hord (286th Judicial District — Hockley and Cochran Counties)

Justices of the Peace

Wendi McNabb (Pct. 1, Ropesville)
Mike Richardson (Pct. 2, Sundown)
Larry Wood (Pct. 4, Anton)
Derek Lawless (Pct. 5, Levelland)

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

Budget check verified by OCR of the scanned 2026 Final Budget: it contains the line "2026 010-510-459 JAIL REPAIRS/APPLIANCES 14,000.00 8,182.73 20,000.00 20,000.00" (https://www.co.hockley.tx.us/upload/page/0076/hockley_county_2026_final_budget.pdf). Budgets from 2021 to a 2027 proposed budget are published.
The live roster showed 56 people in custody against a TCJS rated capacity of 64, and TCJS records 17 contract inmates held for other agencies as of 1 August 2026 — but the county publishes neither the capacity nor any contract or per-diem rate.
The Sheriff's published fee schedule covers civil process service, not jail phone, visitation or commissary charges, so 'fees' is no.
Hockley County is not on the TCJS non-compliant jails list as of August 2026.
Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides. Precinct 1 Alan Wisdom, Precinct 2 Larry Carter, Precinct 3 Seth Graf, Precinct 4 Tommy Clevenger; County Judge Sharla Baldridge.
County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats

The record

2 people have died in the Hockley County jail since 2017.

0 by suicide

2 illness or medical

2 deaths in all, 2016 onward

Deaths where the person had not been convicted of the charge holding them1 of 2

Most recent death on the state's record2023-09-30

People held, 2026-0854 in 64 beds

Share not convicted of the charge holding them79.6%

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 Hockley 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