The Detention Center
Robertson County Jail
- Operated byRobertson County Sheriff's Office
- County publishes a jail nameYes — "Robertson County Jail" on the Sheriff's Office site, robertsoncountysherifftx.org
- Jail address1006 W US Hwy 79, Franklin, TX 77856
- Phone(979) 828-3299
- Rosterhttps://www.robertsoncountysherifftx.org/jail-roster
- VisitationWed & Sun — women 9:00-11:00 a.m., men 12:30-3:30 p.m.; one 20-minute visit per visitation day
- What was triedhttps://www.co.robertson.tx.us/ ; https://www.co.robertson.tx.us/page/robertson.Sheriff ; https://www.co.robertson.tx.us/page/robertson.Budgets ; https://www.co.robertson.tx.us/page/robertson.Commissioners.Court ; https://www.co.robertson.tx.us/page/robertson.Justice ; https://www.co.robertson.tx.us/page/robertson.District.Court ; https://www.co.robertson.tx.us/page/robertson.Public.Notices.Calendar ; https://www.robertsoncountysherifftx.org/ ; https://www.robertsoncountysherifftx.org/jail-information ; https://www.robertsoncountysherifftx.org/forms-faqs
- Beds and population, 2026-0874 people held in 92 rated beds
Source: Robertson County Texas Sheriff's Office — Jail Information · 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
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds92 rated capacity (Texas Commission on Jail Standards Inmate Population Report, 1 August 2026); the county publishes no bed count
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Bill Ruland
- Published asSheriff Bill Ruland
- Address1006 W US Hwy 79, Franklin, TX 77856 (P.O. Box 1109)
- Phone979-828-3299
- Fax979-828-5845
- Crime tips800-299-0191
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Robertson County, Texas — Sheriff · checked 2026-08-22
The Judges
Robertson County publishes four Justice of the Peace precincts, one in each of Calvert, Hearne, Franklin and Bremond. The District Court page names Judge Bryan Russ Jr. and gives a Marlin address but does not print the judicial district number, so none is asserted here. There is no County Court at Law.
County Judge
- Joe David Scarpinato
District Court
- Bryan Russ Jr.
Justices of the Peace
- Carla Barker (Pct. 1, Calvert)
- Ramona Aguirre (Pct. 2, Hearne)
- Melanie Green (Pct. 3, Franklin)
- Fredrick B. Webber (Pct. 4, Bremond)
- 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 county runs two sites: co.robertson.tx.us (county government) and robertsoncountysherifftx.org (Sheriff's Office). The county site carries nothing at all about the jail; every jail check that passes does so on the Sheriff's Office site.
- The only price the Sheriff's Office publishes is $0.25-$0.35 per electronic message through NCIC. No phone rate, no video-visit rate and no commissary price list is published, so fees is marked no.
- The Forms/FAQs page covers open records, citations and complaints; it contains no bond-posting guidance, no capacity figure, no PREA material and no inspection results.
- The county publishes budgets for FY2018-19 through FY2025-26.
- Commissioners Court meetings appear on the county's Public Notices calendar as "CC Regular Meeting" and "CC Special Meeting" entries; no separate approved-minutes archive was found.
- Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides. Members: Joe David Scarpinato (County Judge), Ty Rampy (Pct. 1, Calvert), Donald Threadgill (Pct. 2, Hearne), Chuck Hairston (Pct. 3, Franklin), James Taylor (Pct. 4, Bremond).
- County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats
The record
No death in the Robertson 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 Robertson 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