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

The Detention Center

Milam County Jail

Operated byMilam County Sheriff's Office
County publishes a jail nameYes — the Sheriff's Office runs a division page headed "Milam County Jail".
Jail phone254-697-7063
Jail AdministratorB. Shelton
Jail CaptainJ. Knaus
Jail LieutenantJ. Schneebeli
VisitationTuesday and Sunday, 8:30-10:45am and 11:45am-4:30pm
Inmate mailMilam County Jail, P.O. Box 247, Phoenix, MD 21131 (offsite processing)
Funds / care packageswww.jailatm.com only — no cash, money orders or cashier's cheques; no rates published
What was triedhttps://www.milamcountysherifftx.org/jail ; https://www.milamcountysherifftx.org/divisions ; https://www.milamcountysherifftx.org/roster-choose ; https://www.milamcountysherifftx.org/services-and-resources ; https://www.milamcounty.net/departments/county_budget.php
Beds and population, 2026-08114 people held in 160 rated beds

Source: Milam County Sheriff's Office — Milam 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 Milam 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 Mike Clore

Published as"Sheriff Mike Clore" on the Sheriff's Office message page
Sheriff's Office512 N. Jefferson, Ste. A, Cameron, Texas 76520
Phone254-697-7033 (24 hours)
Crime tips1-888-697-8477
County servedApproximately 1,020 square miles, just over 25,900 residents (as published)

Still needed

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

Source: Milam County Sheriff's Office — Sheriff's Message · checked 2026-08-22

The Judges

The county has no County Court at Law; the County Judge presides over the constitutional county court. The JP page links a "Magistration Video".

County Judge

Bill Whitmire

District Court

John Youngblood (20th District Court)

Justices of the Peace

Greg Hoelscher (Pct. 1)
Sam Berry (Pct. 2)
Andy Isaacs (Pct. 3)
David Yarbrough (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.

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 Sheriff's Office runs its own site (milamcountysherifftx.org) separate from the county site (milamcounty.net); the jail material is all on the Sheriff's site, the budget and courts on the county site.
The jail page names seven jail supervisors by initial and surname but publishes no bed count, no daily population, no phone or commissary rate and no guidance on posting bond.
The county's 1895 jail in Cameron is a museum (Milam County Museum and Jail of 1895) and is not the operating facility.
County Budget page carries approved budgets from 2018 onward through a document centre.
Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides. Precinct 1 Henry "Hub" Hubnik, Precinct 2 James Denman, Precinct 3 Art Neal, Precinct 4 Wesley Payne; County Judge Bill Whitmire.
County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats

The record

1 people have died in the Milam County jail since 2024.

0 by suicide

1 illness or medical

1 deaths in all, 2016 onward

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

Most recent death on the state's record2024-01-04

People held, 2026-08114 in 160 beds

Share not convicted of the charge holding them71.1%

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 Milam 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