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

The Detention Center

Navarro County Detention Center

Operated byNavarro County Sheriff's Office
County publishes a jail nameYes - the Sheriff's Office site names the "Navarro County Detention Center (Old Corsicana Jail House)". The county's own Sheriff page does not.
Address312 W. 2nd Ave., Corsicana, TX 75110
Jail budget"County Jail" is department 512 in the FY2026 approved budget, total $8,775,459
Visitation7 days a week; population inmates 2 visits/week, holding-cell inmates 3 visits/week, 30 minutes each, scheduled through InTouch NCIC
CommissaryOrders Tuesdays at noon, delivered Thursdays, ordered through Tiger Commissary; no prices published
Inmate phone3 free local calls at booking; collect calls 8am-10pm; pre-paid accounts through NCIC. No rates published.
Published ratesNCIC electronic message $0.25, photo $0.35 - the only jail rates published
What was triedhttps://www.co.navarro.tx.us/page/Sheriff ; https://www.ncsotx.org/jail ; https://www.ncsotx.org/inmate-roster ; https://www.ncsotx.org/faqs-and-forms ; https://www.co.navarro.tx.us/page/Budgets
Beds and population, 2026-08216 people held in 290 rated beds

Source: Navarro County Sheriff's Office - Jail · checked 2026-08-22

Transparency rating

4/10Partial

✓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
✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Navarro 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 published by the county. TCJS rates the Navarro County jail at 290 beds (Aug 1, 2026 population report).

Since then

The FY2026 approved budget states: "New Jail Design - A total of $350,000 has been budgeted to advance the design phase of the new county jail."

The Sheriff

Sheriff Elmer L. Tanner

Published as"Sheriff Elmer L. Tanner"
Address312 W. 2nd Ave., Corsicana, TX 75110
Administrative phone903-654-3002
24-hour line903-654-3001
Fax903-654-3044
Sheriff's Office websitehttps://www.ncsotx.org/ (linked from the county site)

Still needed

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

Source: Navarro County - Sheriff · checked 2026-08-22

The Judges

All four JP offices sit at 312 W. 2nd Avenue, the same address as the Sheriff's Office and the Detention Center. The 13th District Court is the county's only general-jurisdiction court.

County Judge

Colby Karhan

County Court at Law

Amanda D. Putman

District Court

James E. Lagomarsino (13th Judicial District)

Justices of the Peace

Greta Jordan (Pct. 1)
Darrell Waller (Pct. 2)
Jackie "JJ" Freeland (Pct. 3)
John V. Cabano (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, ncsotx.org, linked from the county page; the jail name, roster and bond guidance are all there rather than on co.navarro.tx.us.
Bond guidance is thin: the FAQ lists the bond types available (personal recognizance, Pre-Trial Release Program, private bonding company, property bond, cash bond) but not the steps to post one.
Fees marked "no": only NCIC messaging rates are published; no phone, video-visit or commissary item prices.
FY2026 approved budget: County Jail department total $8,775,459; the budget also carries a line for jail inmate prescriptions.
TCJS Aug 1, 2026 population report: 216 held against 290 rated beds (74% of capacity).
Navarro County is not on the TCJS non-compliant list as of Aug 2026.
Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides. Pct. 1 Jason Grant, Pct. 2 Eddie Perry, Pct. 3 Eddie Moore, Pct. 4 David Brewer; County Judge Colby Karhan. Administrative Coordinator Kim Southard.
County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats

The record

1 people have died in the Navarro County jail since 2019.

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 record2019-01-21

People held, 2026-08216 in 290 beds

Share not convicted of the charge holding them88.0%

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 Navarro 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