The Detention Center
The county publishes no formal name for this facility.
- Operated byOldham County Sheriff's Office
- County publishes a jail nameNo - the Sheriff page carries contact details and a VINELink link only, with no facility name, roster, visitation, bond, commissary or fee content.
- What was triedhttps://www.co.oldham.tx.us/page/Sheriff ; https://www.co.oldham.tx.us/page/oldham.Sheriff ; https://www.co.oldham.tx.us/page/sitemap ; https://www.co.oldham.tx.us/page/Commissioners.Court ; https://www.co.oldham.tx.us/page/Public.Notices ; https://www.co.oldham.tx.us/page/County.Clerk ; https://www.co.oldham.tx.us/page/Budgets ; https://www.co.oldham.tx.us/page/Audit
- Beds and population, 2026-085 people held in 10 rated beds
Source: Oldham 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
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 Oldham County jail at 10 beds (Aug 1, 2026 population report) - the smallest in this group.
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Shannon Tanck
- Published as"Sheriff Shannon Tanck"
- Mailing addressP.O. Box 452, Vega, TX 79092
- Courthouse105 S Main, Vega, TX 79092
- Phone806-639-2174
- HoursMonday-Friday 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 1:00-5:00 p.m.
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Oldham County - Sheriff · checked 2026-08-22
The Judges
One Justice of the Peace; the county page gives no precinct number. The 222nd District Court sits at the Oldham County Courthouse in Vega.
County Judge
- Shawn Ballew
Justice of the Peace
- Kristy Homfeld O'Malley
District Court
- Roland Saul (222nd Judicial District)
- 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
- No Commissioners Court agendas or minutes are published; the Commissioners Court page offers only a Public Notices calendar with a "CC meetings" category.
- Adopted and proposed budgets from FY2011-12 through FY2026-27, plus budget amendments, are published at https://www.co.oldham.tx.us/page/Budgets
- Annual financial audits 2019 through FY2024-25 are published at https://www.co.oldham.tx.us/page/Audit - these are county-wide financial audits, not jail inspections.
- TCJS Aug 1, 2026 population report: 5 held against 10 rated beds.
- Oldham County is not on the TCJS non-compliant list as of Aug 2026.
- Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides. Pct. 1 Quincy Taylor (Vega), Pct. 2 Jim Watkins (Wildorado), Pct. 3 Roger Morris (Vega), Pct. 4 Daniel Gruhlkey (Adrian); Judge Shawn Ballew presides.
- County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats
The record
No death in the Oldham County jail appears on the state's record since 2016.
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 Oldham 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