Receiving Jail Release Paths
A receiving county jail is not one fixed building in Real County. It is the Texas county jail that held a named Real County detainee on the relevant date. The actual jail must be established through the Real County Sheriff, VINELink, magistrate papers, a transport record, or the receiving-agency field in a disposition. Naming the closest jail is not enough. Custody Placement arrangements and open beds change, and a person can move more than once.
The receiving jail controls its intake, custody placement, gate, and transfer entries. Its release record may show bond, time served, court-ordered release, transfer to another jail, admission to TDCJ, pickup by the United States Marshals Service, or transfer to ICE. Real County remains the source for its arrest record, local booking link, transport history, and court cause. A complete answer therefore needs both sides of the custody chain.
| Recorded outcome | Meaning | Next proof |
|---|---|---|
| Bond or recognizance | Possible community return | Gate time, bond event, court docket |
| Time served | Sentence may be complete | Judgment, credit ledger, release entry |
| Another county | Custody continues | New jail intake and later disposition |
| TDCJ | State custody begins | TDCJ offender information |
| ICE or USMS | Federal custody may begin | Receiving system and court record |
Confirm a Receiving Jail Release
Start with the Real County Sheriff because its file should identify where the person was sent. Ask for the booking number, custody-location history, transport dates, local disposition, and destination. Then contact the named jail and request its intake and physical release or transfer entry. The two agencies may use different booking numbers, so match full name, date of birth or age, cause number, and date range.
- Confirm that Real County booked or held authority over the named person.
- Ask which facility physically housed the person on each date.
- Search that facility's official current roster only to locate an active record, not to prove a past release.
- Request the receiving jail's gate or transfer timestamp and disposition code legend.
- Compare the destination with the next agency's intake or the clerk's signed order.
Texas VINE can add a current status signal. The official Real County Sheriff page links to VINELink, but VINE is an event and notification layer, not a certified historic log. A no-result may reflect spelling, feed delay, transfer, removal of an older record, or a source that does not participate. It cannot prove that a person returned home.
Receiving Jail Records Contact
No single address or telephone number applies to every receiving jail. Get the official facility name from the Sheriff before sending a request. Then use that county's official sheriff or detention page, not a commercial directory, to locate the records custodian. Ask for an existing release or transfer record rather than asking staff to reconstruct events.
P.O. Box 445
Leakey, TX 78873-0445
Non-emergency: 830-232-5201
Fax: 830-232-5102
Hours: not published
A focused request identifies the person, approximate date, Real County cause number, and any known booking number. Request intake date and time, custody placement agency, physical release date and time, disposition and code legend, releasing authority, destination or receiving agency, transport history, bond information, and charges. If part is withheld, ask for segregable public portions and the legal basis.
Real County's central Public Information Act route accepts mail at P.O. Box 446, Leakey, Texas 78873, fax at 830-232-6040, and hand delivery to the County Judge's office at 146 Highway 83 South. That channel can help route local records, but it does not control another county's jail ledger. Each custodian answers for the records it holds.
Real County Outside Custody Placement
Texas Commission on Jail Standards material explains why an outside-jail search matters here. A 2009–2013 strategic plan described Real County's jail as the smallest in Texas, with a historical capacity of three. A March 1, 2022 abbreviated population report attributed nine pretrial felons and one pretrial state-jail-felony to Real County while showing zero people physically housed in the Real facility. Those figures are dated context, not a statement of current capacity or population.
The records separate legal responsibility from physical custody. Real County can remain tied to the arrest and court case while another sheriff provides the bed, staff, and gate record. A roster for the receiving jail may display the person while confined, yet released people often disappear from current-custody views. That is why the historical release entry, not a present roster, answers the release question.
- Booking link
- Real County's record connecting the arrest to the local case.
- Custody Placement entry
- The receiving jail's record of physical confinement.
- Gate entry
- The time and disposition when physical custody ended.
- Receiving agency
- The next custodian when the event was a transfer.
Which Receiving Jail Held Them?
Real County fiscal records show several historical custody placement relationships. The FY2016–17 check register includes payments to Uvalde County for named custody placement stays. Later registers document payments to the Kerr County Sheriff's Office in 2021, January 2022, and February 2023. The FY2022–23 register includes a Frio County payment for July 2023 inmate custody placement.
These dates are leads, not a standing contract list. They do not prove that every detainee went to one of those counties, that an arrangement remains active, or that a named person was there. An Edwards County Sheriff release about one Camp Wood and Real County area investigation also reported defendants in Bandera County Jail. That single case illustrates the wider regional pattern but establishes no general custody placement rule.
The reliable method is person-specific. Ask Real County where the detainee was physically held on the date in question. If Uvalde, Kerr, Frio, Bandera, or another jail is named, request that jail's own entry. If it records another transfer, continue the chain until an actual community release or current custodian is documented.
Note: County invoices support historical context, but only a named custody record proves where one person was held.
Receiving Jail Release to ICE
A receiving-jail disposition marked “released to ICE” closes county custody and begins immigration custody. It is not a return to the community. Record the county gate time and the ICE receiving information, then search the Online Detainee Locator System using the person's exact identifying fields. ODLS offers an exact nine-digit A-number plus country of birth route, or a name, country of birth, and date of birth route.
If ODLS gives no match, confirm spelling, birth information, A-number, transfer date, and destination with the jail. Contact the relevant Enforcement and Removal Operations field office when the locator does not resolve the record. A delayed feed or incomplete search is not proof that ICE released the person. Only an ICE release record or immigration case document establishes exit from that system.
No ICE detention center was verified inside Real County. The same destination rule applies to TDCJ and USMS transfers. Once another agency receives the person, switch to that system's record while retaining the receiving jail's transfer entry as the link between them.
Receiving Jail Code Review
Keep each original disposition code and request its legend. An order date can precede physical processing, while a detainer may redirect the person after a judge authorizes release. Record who entered the code and when. Both the legal authorization and actual gate time matter.