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

The Detention Center

The county publishes no formal name for this facility.

Operated byWillacy County Sheriff's Office
County publishes a jail nameNo - the Sheriff page gives an address and a 'Jail Roster' link but never names the facility
Address on the Sheriff page1371 Industrial Drive Dr., Raymondville, Texas 78580
Jail rosterA 'Jail Roster' link is posted but the page itself states it was 'updated 08/28/2018' and the file behind it is a July 2019 PDF - not a current list
Visitation'For Jail Visitation information' PDF: VISITATION CHANGES.pdf
Inmate deposits'Deposit Info' PDF plus a link to JailATM at https://deposits.jailatm.com/WebDeposits/Default.aspx - no rates published
Custody lookupVINELink, a state/third-party service, is offered instead of a county roster
What was triedhttps://www.co.willacy.tx.us/page/willacy.sheriff ; https://www.co.willacy.tx.us/page/willacy.BailBondBoard ; https://www.co.willacy.tx.us/page/willacy.Budgets ; https://www.co.willacy.tx.us/page/willacy.Public.Notices - the site has no jail page
Beds and population, 2026-0896 people held in 96 rated beds (Willacy)

Source: Willacy County - County Sheriff · checked 2026-08-22

Transparency rating

2/10Closed

✗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
✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Willacy 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
BedsNot found

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Hon. Joe Salazar

OfficeWillacy County Sheriff's Office
Address1371 Industrial Drive Dr., Raymondville, Texas 78580
Phone(956) 689-5576
Fax(956) 689-3867

Still needed

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

Source: Willacy County - County Sheriff · checked 2026-08-22

The Judges

The county site lists no County Court at Law. The Justice of the Peace page refers in passing to Precincts 2 and 3 but names no judge for either, so only three JPs could be recorded from the county's own site.

County Judge

Hon. Aurelio "Keter" Guerra

197th District Court

Hon. Judge Adolfo Cordova

Justices of the Peace

Hon. Jessica Rosas - Precinct 1
Hon. Juan Salinas - Precinct 4
Hon. Rudy Cantu - Precinct 5

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 jail roster the county publishes is stale - the Sheriff page itself dates it 08/28/2018 and the linked file is a July 2019 PDF - so the roster check is recorded as 'no'.
The Bail Bond Board page publishes Bail Bond Rules and a list of the four bail bond companies authorised in the county with agents and phone numbers, which is the county's clearest guidance on posting bond.
Proposed and adopted budgets from FY 17-18 through FY 26-27 are posted on the Budget page.
The county publishes Commissioners Court agendas and minutes on separate pages.
No death-in-custody report, PREA audit, independent inspection result or prisoner-housing contract is published on the county site.
No county-specific Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspection report URL could be located.
Four commissioners plus the County Judge, who presides. Precinct 1 Hon. Micaela "Kelly" Zamorano-Alaniz, Precinct 2 Hon. Mario Tijerina, Precinct 3 Hon. Henry De La Paz, Precinct 4 Hon. Ernie Garcia.
County seat: Texas State Library and Archives Commission — Counties and County Seats

The record

1 people have died in the Willacy County jail since 2023.

0 by suicide

1 illness or medical

1 deaths in all, 2016 onward

Deaths where the person had not been convicted of the charge holding them1 of 1

Most recent death on the state's record2023-10-02

People held, 2026-08277 in 332 beds

Share not convicted of the charge holding them85.6%

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 Willacy 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