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Texas · County seat: Kaufman · Checked 2026-08-22

Kaufman County

The jail, the sheriff who runs it, and the judges who decide who sits inside. Every fact below comes from a named public record. Anything not yet sourced is marked still needed rather than guessed.

The Detention Center

Kaufman County Detention Center

Source: Kaufman County Sheriff's Office — Jail Info · checked 2026-08-22

Transparency rating

4/10Partial

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Kaufman 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.

Since then

  • Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Bryan W. Beavers

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

Source: Kaufman County Sheriff's Office — Contact Us · checked 2026-08-22

The Judges

Kaufman County created a third district court, the 489th Judicial District Court, effective 1 September 2023; its page (https://www.kaufmancounty.net/598/489th-District-Court) is still the announcement press release and names no judge, so no name is recorded for that bench. The JP pages state that JPs perform magistrate duties. JPs are the magistrates who set bond at first appearance in Texas.

County Judge

  • Jakie Allen

County Courts at Law

  • Joseph Russell (County Court at Law)
  • Bobby Rich (County Court at Law 2)

District Courts

  • Casey Blair (86th, local administrative judge)
  • Shelton T.W. Gibbs IV (422nd)

Justices of the Peace

  • Mary Bardin (Pct. 1)
  • Amy Tarno (Pct. 2)
  • Rhitt Jackson (Pct. 3)
  • Johnny Adams (Pct. 4)
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.

Notes on the record

The record

8 people have died in the Kaufman County jail since 2019.

1 by suicide
3 illness or medical
8 deaths in all, 2016 onward
Deaths where the person had not been convicted of the charge holding them7 of 8
Deaths within the first week of arriving4
Most recent death on the state's record2025-05-01
People held, 2026-08426 in 531 beds
Share not convicted of the charge holding them64.3%

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 Kaufman 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