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

The Detention Center

The county publishes no formal name for this facility.

Operated byNot found — the county publishes no jail page
County publishes a jail nameNo. The Sheriff page is a name, an address and two phone numbers; there is no jail page, no jail phone, no jail administrator and no jail address anywhere on the county site.
Custody lookupThe Sheriff page points offsite to VINELink.com to check an offender's custody status — a state/vendor service, not a county roster.
What was triedhttps://www.co.menard.tx.us/page/menard.Sheriff ; https://www.co.menard.tx.us/page/menard.Home ; https://www.co.menard.tx.us/page/menard.Justice ; https://www.co.menard.tx.us/page/menard.Commissioners.Court ; https://www.co.menard.tx.us/page/menard.Public.Notices
Beds and population, 2026-085 people held in 8 rated beds

Source: Menard County — County Sheriff · 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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Menard 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 Burl Hagler

Published as"Sheriff Burl Hagler"
Office208 Tipton, Menard, TX 76859
MailingP O Box 307, Menard, TX 76859
Phone325-396-4705
Fax325-396-2458

Still needed

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

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

The Judges

The county has no County Court at Law. The 452nd District Court is administered out of Mason (P.O. Box 1580, Mason, TX 76856) and covers several Hill Country counties. The JP page states the Justice handles magistration and is on call 24/7.

County Judge

Brandon Corbin

District Court

Rob Hofmann (452nd Judicial District)

Justice of the Peace

Stacy Lawler (Pct. 1)

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 →

Notes on the record

Menard County's website says nothing whatsoever about a jail. Ten of ten transparency checks fail except the budget page, which carries adopted budgets FY 2013-14 through FY 2024-25 (no FY 2025-26 or FY 2026-27 posted as of checking).
No agendas or minutes page exists on the county site.
Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides. Precinct 1 Frank Davis, Precinct 2 Jay Cunningham, Precinct 3 Ed Keith, Precinct 4 Tyler Wright; County Judge Brandon Corbin.
County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats

The record

1 people have died in the Menard County jail since 2020.

1 by suicide

0 illness or medical

1 deaths in all, 2016 onward

Deaths where the person had not been convicted of the charge holding them1 of 1

Deaths within the first week of arriving1

Most recent death on the state's record2020-05-16

People held, 2026-085 in 8 beds

Share not convicted of the charge holding them40.0%

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 Menard 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