The Detention Center
Polk County Jail
- Operated byPolk County Sheriff's Office / Jail Division
- County publishes a jail nameYes — the Jail Information section names the "Polk County Jail" throughout
- Jail address1733 N Washington, Livingston, TX 77351
- Current inmate listThe Jail Information page publishes a "Current Inmate List" link described as "Read a list of the current inmates at the Polk County Jail"
- Video visit and message rates30 cents a minute for video visits, 25 cents a message, 35 cents per picture, through NCIC Inmate Communications
- Phone vendorInfinity Networks advance-pay accounts, 866-681-2948; collect calls otherwise
- Inmates held out of countyThe county states some inmates were moved out of the Polk County Jail to meet the one-officer-per-48-inmates staffing standard, to Angelina County and to a Louisiana facility (deposits addressed to "Polk County Pretrial" / "Phelps Correctional")
- Beds and population, 2026-08204 people held in 362 rated beds
Source: Polk County, TX — Jail Information · checked 2026-08-22
Transparency rating
5/10Partial- ✓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
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds362 rated capacity (Texas Commission on Jail Standards Inmate Population Report, 1 August 2026); the county's own site publishes no bed count
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Byron Lyons
- Published as"Byron Lyons — Sheriff" in the county Directory entry for the Sheriff's Office
- Sheriff Department address1733 N. Washington Ave, Livingston, TX 77351
- Non-emergency phone936-327-6810
- Emailbyron.lyons@polkcountyso.net
- Chief DeputyAnthony Lowrie
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Polk County, TX — Directory: Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-08-22
The Judges
Court for Polk County is held at the Polk County Judicial Center, 101 West Mill Street, Livingston. The County Judge's own page describes the office as Chief Budget Officer, presiding officer of Commissioners Court, judge of the County Court for probate, guardianship and mental health matters, and Emergency Management Director.
County Judge
- Sydney Murphy
County Court at Law
- Tom Brown
258th District Court
- Travis E. Kitchens, Jr.
411th District Court
- John Wells (III)
Justices of the Peace
- Terri L. Mayer (Pct. 1)
- Sarah Rasberry (Pct. 2)
- Robert Johnson (Pct. 3)
- Jamie Richardson (Pct. 4)
- 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
- Polk County publishes more about its jail than any other county in this group. The Bail Bonds page is genuine public guidance, not a bail bond board page: it explains cash and surety bonds, the ID required, that no personal checks or change are accepted, how out-of-county cash bonds work, and prints a list of approved local bondsmen with phone numbers.
- fees is marked yes on the strength of the Video Visitation page, which publishes actual prices (30 cents a minute for video visits, 25 cents a message, 35 cents per picture). Phone rates and commissary prices are still not published — the Inmate Phone Calls page explains collect and advance-pay mechanics without a rate, and the Inmate Commissary page covers account handling only.
- The Current Inmate List link on the Jail Information page points to a Sheriff's Office host on a non-standard port (inmates.polkcountyso.net:8443) that could not be opened from this environment; the check is recorded against the county page that publishes it.
- The Out-of-County Transfer page discloses that Polk sends inmates to Angelina County and to a Louisiana facility, but publishes no contract and no per-diem rate, and it concerns prisoners Polk sends away rather than prisoners it holds for others, so contracts remains no.
- Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides. Members: Sydney Murphy (County Judge), Guylene Robertson (Pct. 1), Mark DuBose (Pct. 2), Milt Purvis (Pct. 3), Jerry Cassity (Pct. 4). Meets 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m.; while the courthouse is under renovation the court sits at 410 E. Church Street, Suite A, Livingston. Meetings are live-streamed on the county's YouTube channel.
- County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats
The record
4 people have died in the Polk County jail 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 Polk 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