What is the difference between a Texas County jail and a Texas State jail?
My brother is currently in a Harris County jail (houston city jail) and he is going to be transferred to a State jail. What is the difference? Is state jail another name for prison? And does anybody know where a Texas State Jail is located?
The county jail is run by the local sheriff’s department and is for people sentenced to less than one year.
If they are sentenced to more than one year, they go to a state facility supervised by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
There are several state jails and prisons in Texas. Here is a directory:
http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/unitdirectory/all.htm
What facility they go to depends on the length of the sentence and the severity of the crime.
The county jail is run by the local sheriff’s department and is for people sentenced to less than one year.
If they are sentenced to more than one year, they go to a state facility supervised by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
There are several state jails and prisons in Texas. Here is a directory:
http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/unitdirectory/all.htm
What facility they go to depends on the length of the sentence and the severity of the crime.
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Serving since 1991
Correct
State is prison.
Call Harris County Jail (Houston County Jail) and ask where is he going to be at in the future.
If they will not tell you, contact the State Department of Corrections or prisons and ask them.
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Well the difference is that the county jails are run by the county and the state jails are run by the state. Usually more serious offenders or those sentenced to lengthy sentences do their time in the state prisons.
And as for where it is… Texas has about 100 state prisons. You will need to know the name.
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State jails normally are for lighter sentences 1-2 years, yes it is part of the prison system but most state jails are more lenient than a state prison that houses repeat offenders and are more violent. Hope this helps!
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My occupation
A state jail facility is run by, or under contract to, the Texas Dept of Criminal Justice. A state jail facility is really not a jail. It is actually a minimum security prison facility, although it is not officially called that.
There is no one in a state jail facility who is awaiting trial, like in a county jail. Everyone in TDCJ custody is convicted, and serving a sentence.
A state jail felony is a non-violent fourth degree felony, with a sentence of 180 days to two years.
The TDCJ unit directory page lists all correctional facilities operated by, or under contract to, the state.
http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/unitdirectory/all.htm
I worked at a private state jail facility, as well as two different state prisons, during my 4 1/2 years as a correctional officer.
Edit: Although state jail facilities are for,"non-violent fourth degree felons", they are NOT necessarily less violent than any other prison in the state of Texas.
I had plenty of use of force incidents at the state jail facility I was at, as well as the prisons I worked at.
We had a case of arson at the state jail facility, when a group of inmates tried to burn down the building they were in.
There were assaults there too. We had about half state jail offenders and half transfer offenders who were awaiting transfer to TDCJ Institutional Division.
We had one inmate who was only in for a state jail felony, but was later suspected of, and convicted of, beating an old man to death with a baseball bat.
You can’t say it’s safer at a state jail facility, just because the sentences are shorter. You never know what is going to happen at ANY correctional facility.
I know this from personal experience.
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you can stay more time in the state jail
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