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

The Detention Center

Taylor County Adult Detention Facility

Operated byTaylor County Sheriff's Office
County publishes a jail nameYes - the County Jail page is headed "Taylor County Adult Detention Facility"; the staff directory entry for the same building reads "Taylor County Adult Detention Center"
Jail address910 S. 27th St., Abilene, TX 79602
Jail phone(325) 691-7423; fax (325) 691-7459
Video visitationTwo free 30-minute in-jail video visits per week; out-of-town visitors (150+ miles) get two 1-hour visits
Online visitation rate$0.19 per minute, published on the Visitation page
CommissaryDeposits via correctpay.com, lobby kiosk or 1-855-836-3364; no item prices published
What was triedhttps://www.taylorcounty.texas.gov/152/County-Jail ; /276/Administration ; /156/Visitation ; /776/Commissary ; /775/Inmate-Mail ; /296/Law-Enforcement ; /103/Search-Court-Jail-Records
Beds and population, 2026-08628 people held in 874 rated beds

Source: Taylor County - County Jail · checked 2026-08-22

Transparency rating

3/10Closed

✓The jail is named
✗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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Taylor 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
Beds874 rated capacity (TCJS inmate population report, 1 August 2026)

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Ricky Bishop

Published as"Sheriff Ricky Bishop" on the county Sheriff's Office page
Office450 Pecan St., Abilene, TX 79602
Office phone(325) 674-1300
Email publishedricky.bishop@taylorcounty.texas.gov
Chief Jail AdministratorAngel Gonzalez, (325) 691-7423

Still needed

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

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

The Judges

The 326th District Court page also lists associate judges April Propst (CPS), Patty Wenetschlaeger and Ken Leggett (IV-D). Each JP has its own page under /158, /159, /160, /162 and /163.

County Judge

Phil Crowley

County Courts at Law

Robert Harper (County Court at Law No. 1)
Harriett L. Haag (County Court at Law No. 2)

District Courts

Arimy Beasley (42nd Judicial District)
Jeff Propst (104th Judicial District)
Paul R. Rotenberry (326th Judicial District)
Thomas M. Wheeler (350th Judicial District)

Justices of the Peace

Mike McAuliffe (Pct. 1, Place 1)
Shawna Joiner (Pct. 1, Place 2)
Robert (Bob) Jones (Pct. 2)
Earl Donnell (Pct. 3)
David Doherty (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 county's "Search Court & Jail Records" links (/103 and /427) redirect to publicaccess.taylorcounty.texas.gov, an Odyssey court-records portal. It could not be opened to confirm a live in-custody list, so roster is marked no.
Taylor County does publish PREA audit reports (2017, 2021, 2025) - but they cover the Taylor County Juvenile Justice Center, not the adult jail. The adult jail PREA check is therefore no.
The Bondsman Collateral Information & Forms page (/188) is a Bail Bond Board collateral form, not guidance for a family on how to post bond.
Capacity figure is state-published (TCJS); the county itself publishes no bed count or daily population.
Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides. Precinct 1 Randall D. Williams, Precinct 2 Kyle Kendrick, Precinct 3 Brad Birchum, Precinct 4 Chuck Statler.
County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats

The record

11 people have died in the Taylor County jail since 2018.

0 by suicide

8 illness or medical

11 deaths in all, 2016 onward

Deaths where the person had not been convicted of the charge holding them8 of 11

Deaths within the first week of arriving8

Most recent death on the state's record2025-06-06

People held, 2026-08628 in 874 beds

Share not convicted of the charge holding them64.8%

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 Taylor 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