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JAILS
The Texas County Jail
"The Big House" may be in Huntsville,
but "The Small House" is everywhere. | |
Jails were
some of the first public buildings erected in Texas - occasionally built with
the same bond issue money as county courthouses. After construction however, they
received minimal funds for modernization . Stories have been told of sympathetic
sheriffs who would release prisoners because of leaking roofs.
Texas'
landscape is dotted with these brick fortresses and grim crenellated castles -
many of them still in use after more than 100 years. Medieval and primitive they
may appear, but many housed the sheriff and his family as well as local miscreants
and villains.
Here
are some of Texas' more picturesque 19th and 20th century county jails.
|
| | Features
Frontier
Jails by Bob Bowman
4-26-09
People just naturally have an affinity
for their jails, so in places like Hemphill, Coldspring, Carthage, Center, Fairfield,
Jasper and Lufkin, they've raised money through bake sales and county fairs to
bring their own jails back to life as museums and historical archives. |
Texas
County Jail List (Images)Albany,
former Shackelford County Jail
FeatureAlpine,
former Brewster County JailAndrews
- former Andrews County JailArcher
City, former Archer County Jail 2-10-08Athens,
former Henderson County Jail
11-27-07Baird,
Callahan County, old and new jailsBallinger,
former Runnels County jailBandera,
Bandera County former jailBaytown,
Chambers/Harris Counties, former Goose Creek Jail Bellville,
Austin County, former Bellville jailBelton
- Former Bell County Jail
6-19-08Benjamin,
Knox County, former jail Boerne,
Kendall County JailBrackettville,
Kinney County Jail
5-13-09Brady,
McCulloch County Jail
FeatureBrownfield
- Terry County's First Jail
Feature 1-31-09Brownsville
- Cameron County Jails 6-17-07Brownwood
- Brown County Jail MuseumBurnet
- Former Burnet County Jail Feature
9-15-09Cameron,
Milam County Jailhouse and the Jailhouse Ghost Canadian,
Hemphill County old jailCarbon
Old Jail 12-13-07Carthage,
Former Panola County jail
5-16-07Center,
Shelby County, former jailChillicothe,
Former City JailClairemont,
Kent County old jail Clairemont
JailClarksville,
Red River County Jail
8-12-07Claude,
Armstrong County JailColdspring,
The Old San Jacinto County Jail 11-27-07Coleman,
Coleman County Jail
FeatureComanche,
Comanche County jail Corpus
Christi, Nueces County old jailCorsicana
City Jail 10-7-08Dallas
County Jail
Feature 1-17-09
Decatur,
Wise County Jail - Old Stone Prison Feature
8-13-09 Del
Rio, Val Verde County Jail
Feature
2-6-09 Dell
City, Hudspeth county Desdemona,
Eastland County old jailDickens,
Dickens County Jail Eagle
Pass, Maverick County Jail 10-1-09Eastland,
former Eastland County Jail
Edna, Jackson County Jail
11-25-08Eldorado,
former Schleicher County Jail
4-15-08Fairfield,
Freestone County former jail 2-18-08Farwell,
Parmer County Jail
2-18-08Floydada
- Floyd County Jail 2-18-08Fort
Davis - Jeff Davis County Jail
Fort
Griffin 3-3-08
Fort
Stockton, Pecos County, Pecos County JailFranklin
- Robertson County Jail 10-7-08Fredericksburg,
Gillespie County jailGail,
Former Borden County Jail
1-7-07Gainesville
- Cooke County Jail
6-27-09 Garden
City, former Glasscock County jailGeorgetown,
Williamson County old jailGlen
Rose - Somervell County Jail
9-23-09Goldsmith,
former city jailGoldthwaite,
Mills County jail Gonzales
- Gonzales County jail
Feature 4-25-09Graham
- Young County old jail
8-13-09Granbury,
Hood County old jailGroveton,
Trinity County jail
6-30-08Guthrie
- King County jail
12-15-07Hamilton,
Hamilton County jail Feature 9-4-09Hemphill
former jail, now a museum Henderson,
Rusk County jailHenrietta,
former Clay county jail 10-12-07Hidalgo
County Jail, Edinburg Texas
5-1-07Hidalgo
- Former Hidalgo County Jail 5-1-07Hillsboro,
Former Hill County jail
Feature 7-7-08Holliday
5-11-09Hondo,
Medina County Jail
6-21-07Johnson
City, Blanco County Jail
Feature 6-29-09Jourdanton
- Atascosa County JailJunction
- Kimble County Jail
9-11-07Kemp
- Once held Bonnie Parker
5-15-09Kyle
City Jail - old jail and signLa
Grange - Former Fayetter County Jail
Feature
Centerville
- Leon County Jail
2-18-08Llano,
Llano County jailLockhart,
former Caldwell County jailLubbock,
Lubbock County JailMarathon,
former Brewster County jail 7-24-08 Marfa,
Presidio County, jail and water towerMason,
Mason County jailMatador
- Motley County Jail
6-4-09McKinney,
Collin County PrisonMenard
- Menard County Jail
Feature 6-15-09Mobeetie,
Wheeler County Jail
3-18-08Montague,
Montague County JailMount
Vernon, Franklin County jailNavasota,
Grime County, former jailNew
Boston, Bowie County old jail
12-9-07Oakville
- Former Live Oak County Jail 2-18-08Paducah
- Former Cottle County Jail
10-16-08Palestine,
Anderson County JailPalo
Pinto County Jail 8-11-07Pearsall,
Frio County Jail
1-27-07Port
Lavaca, Former Calhoun County jail, razed
8-4-08Quanah,
former Hardeman County jail 9-25-09Richmond,
former Fort Bend County jailRobert
Lee, Coke County, former jailRoby,
Fisher County Jail 11-27-07 Rocksprings
- Edwards County Jail 7-4-09San
Augustine County JailSan
Elizario - Former El Paso County Jail
7-1-07San
Jacinto County Jail San
Marcos - Former Hays County Jails
6-19-08San
Saba County Jail Schleicher
County JailSilverton,
Briscoe County Old JailSkellytown
jailSnyder,
Scurry County Jail of 1912
Feature 4-27-09Sonora,
Sutton County Jail
1-27-07Sour
Lake Iron Cage JailSpofford
- Strap-iron Jail 4-10-08Stanton
jail, Martin CountySterling
City, Sterling County JailStockdale
City Jail
6-18-09 Sweetwater,
Nolan County old jailThrockmorton,
former Throckmorton County jailTilden,
McMullen County Jail 9-22-07
Van Horn - Former Culberson County Jail
2-3-07Vernon
Texas - Former Wilbarger County Jail
11-14-09Waller
County JailWaxahachie,
Ellis County old jail
Feature 12-7-08Wheeler,
Wheeler County old jailWichita
Falls - 1890 Wichita County Jail
5-9-09Woodville
- Tyler County jail 12-17-07
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Texas Jail Stories The
Huntsville Humdinger and the Texas Prison Rodeo by Mike Cox 10-1-09
When
the Huntsville Humdinger hit the streets that Monday, the feisty four-column competitor
of the long-established Huntsville Item carried on page one a humdinger of a local
scoop: The prison system would be starting a rodeo that fall. On Sept. 4, 1931...Bertillion
Method early way to track criminals by Delbert Trew
I take great
pleasure in learning a new word, a little-known fact or hearing a story I have
not heard before. In the book "Texas Gulag" by Gary Brown, the history of Texas
prisons, jails and even the early-day chain gangs is presented from the years
1875 to 1925. The book outlined in detail how criminals were identified as they
processed through the old systems.Old-time
improvisation in branding and jailing by Delbert TrewPearl
by Mike Cox ("Texas Tales" column)
He has the singular distinction of being the first and last man legally hanged
in the county.The
Double Hanging at Bellville in 1896 by Norman ConquestSheriff
Fenton of Coleman County and His Larger Than Life Wife by John Troesser
The
Infamous East Texas Sewing Needle Jail Break by John Troesser
Opinion
Study
on Prisoner Re-entry in Texas (From Peary Perry's "Letters from North
America" Column)
Texas Jails ForumHaunted
Jails and Jail Museums in Texas
"It
was because of your website, Texas Escapes, that I first started going to jail
museums and I am an absolute FANATIC about it!"
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