Potter County

The Detention Center

Potter County Detention Center

• Operated byPotter County Sheriff's Office
• County publishes a jail nameYes — "POTTER COUNTY DETENTION CENTER" is the heading of the Sheriff's Office detention page
• Size and beds"a 125,000 sq ft facility that consists of 576 beds in the General Population portion, a 27-bed Infirmary and two Violent Cells"
• CompletedNovember 1995
• Who it holds"inmates awaiting trial, inmates sentenced to County Corrections and those sentenced and waiting for entrance into State and Federal Institutions"
• Jail rosterhttps://public.pottercountysheriff.org/pottersheriff/PrisonerAndTheirOffensesReport.pdf ; book-ins at ArrestSummaryReport.pdf
• VendorsCommissary deposits through Access Corrections; inmate mail digitised by Viapath Technologies / TextBehind (PO Box 247, Phoenix, MD 21131) from 1 December 2023; GUARDIAN RFID used for in-custody tracking
• Beds and population, 2026-08586 people held in 598 rated beds

Source: Potter County Sheriff's Office — Detention Center · checked 2026-08-22

• ✓The jail is named
• ✓Who is in custody
• ✓Beds and daily population
• ✓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 Potter 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 builtCompleted November 1995
• Original costNot found
• Paid for byNot found
• Beds576 beds in general population plus a 27-bed infirmary and two violent cells, as published by the Sheriff's Office; 598 rated capacity in the Texas Commission on Jail Standards Inmate Population Report, 1 August 2026

The Sheriff

Sheriff Brian Thomas

• Published as"Brian Thomas (R)" against Sheriff in the county's Elected Officials Contact Information table, term ending 2028
• Phone(806) 379-2900
• Detention Center address13100 NE 29th, Amarillo, TX 79111
• Sheriff's Office / Records address13103 NE 29th Avenue, Amarillo
• NoteThe county site's Sheriff link leaves co.potter.tx.us for pottercountysheriff.org

Source: Potter County — Elected Officials Contact Information · checked 2026-08-22

The Judges

The county's Elected Officials table is dated "current as of January 2, 2025" and spells the 47th District judge "Dee Jonson"; the county publishes party labels and term-end years alongside each name, which are reproduced here only as published. Potter also lists specialty courts — a Panhandle Regional Veterans Treatment Court, a Panhandle Regional Problem Solving Court, a Potter/Randall/Armstrong Drug Court and a IV-D Child Support Court — without naming presiding judges.

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 →