The Detention Center
The county publishes no formal name for this facility.
- Operated byThis county has no jail
- County publishes a jail nameNo
- Where the roster goeshttps://www.co.irion.tx.us/1233/Inmate-Roster redirects to https://www.tomgreencountysheriff.org/inmate-roster/ — the Tom Green County Sheriff's Office roster in San Angelo
- Where the jail search goeshttps://www.co.irion.tx.us/1234/Court-and-Jail-Search redirects to the Tom Green County Tyler Odyssey portal (portal-txtomgreen.tylertech.cloud)
- What that impliesIrion County appears to hold its prisoners in Tom Green County, but the county publishes no contract, rate or explanation
- What was triedhttps://www.co.irion.tx.us/1198/Sheriff ; https://www.co.irion.tx.us/1233/Inmate-Roster ; https://www.co.irion.tx.us/1234/Court-and-Jail-Search ; https://www.co.irion.tx.us/sitemap ; https://www.co.irion.tx.us/directory.aspx ; https://www.co.irion.tx.us/1220/Budgets
- What the state reportsThe Texas Commission on Jail Standards lists no county jail here.
Source: Irion County — Inmate Roster (redirects to Tom Green County) · 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
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 W.A Estes
- Published as"W.A Estes — County Sheriff" (spacing as published) on the county Sheriff page
- Phone325-835-2551
- Sheriff page contentOne contact block and a link to the Texas DSHS missing children site — nothing else
- Confirmed bySheriffs' Association of Texas directory (H–K), which gives 114 W Sherwood, Mertzon, TX 76941
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Irion County — Sheriff · checked 2026-08-22
The Judges
Irion County has one Justice of the Peace and no County Court at Law. The Justice of the Peace page (https://www.co.irion.tx.us/1197/Justice-of-The-Peace) carries forms including a "Jail Credit Request" but does not name the judge; his name is in the staff directory.
County Judge
- Molly Criner
District Court
- Carmen Symes Dusek (51st Judicial District)
Justice of the Peace
- Chad Scow
- 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 most telling finding in this county is what its own menu does: the links labelled "Inmate Roster" and "Court and Jail Search" both leave Irion County and land in Tom Green County. Roster is marked no because the list is not of Irion County's own custody.
- Contracts is marked no for the same reason it matters most here — the county publishes no agreement or per-day rate for housing its prisoners elsewhere.
- Adopted budgets are published back to FY2013-14, which is the county's one passing check.
- Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides. Precinct 1 Tia Paxton, Precinct 2 Jeff Davidson, Precinct 3 Rusty Owens, Precinct 4 Bill (Beaver) McManus, III; County Judge Molly Criner. Court meets at 9 AM on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday in the Commissioners Courtroom, 209 N Park View St.
- County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Irion 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