Non-Recorded Phone Line 
Hays County provides a free call option to attorneys for the benefit of their incarcerated clients. Only one business telephone number is authorized for the call list. Calls are limited to twenty minutes each, are free of charge and are not recorded.
Please attach a written request on company letterhead, with the phone number to be called, along with a color copy/scan of the attorney’s valid driver’s license and BAR card to the email. This information must be submitted by email to the following:
Sgt. Heather Molandes – heather.molandes@co.hays.tx.us
Cpl. Shawne Wahlert – shawne.wahlert@co.hays.tx.us
Once approved, the attorney will receive an email with further instructions.
In-Person Non-Contact
In-person access is allowed for attorneys. These visits will be Non-Contact/Non-Recorded. The visitation area will be sanitized upon the completion of each visit.
Attorney’s requesting to see clients in person are required to have a BAR card and valid photo ID when checking in at the front window.
Attorneys will be allotted 30 minutes to meet with clients. If an attorney has multiple clients and no other attorney is waiting, they may go beyond the allotted 30 minutes until someone else checks in. If we begin to have a waiting list, we will enforce the 30-minute time frame so that each attorney has an equal opportunity to visit their clients. Any attorney limited to a 30-minute time slot may re-register on the waiting list for the next available time.
Attorney’s visiting clients in-person (non-contact) may experience delays due to sanitation procedures and occasions when the jail is placed on “lock-down” status. Lock-down status is caused by ceasing facility movement for isolated movement of either a COVID positive or quarantine status inmate. We apologize for any inconvenience these potential delays may cause. We appreciate your patience during this time as we work to maintain the same level of service while following precautionary measures to protect the health and safety of all essential visitors, inmates, and staff.
Representatives of Attorneys
Legal assistants, investigators, interpreters, polygraphists, and others who visit inmates on behalf of the inmate’s attorney must have written authorization from a court or the inmate’s current attorney of record. Authorizations from the attorney must be on the attorney or law firm’s letterhead. The authorization must be on file for each visit. If a representative does not provide the required authorization or the authorization is not on file, the rules for social visiting will apply.
Unless accompanied by an attorney who remains present with the inmate and the defense expert during the entire interview, defense experts MAY be restricted to non-contact interviews. Exceptions shall only be made with the prior approval of the Bureau Captain and only in those cases when physical contact is necessary for the defense expert to complete their duties (e.g., polygraph experts or medical personnel for the purposes of taking blood samples).
Online Zoom Meeting
The Hays County Sheriff’s office is providing attorney’s the ability to meet with their clients virtually via Zoom. Under the Open Courts Provision of the Texas Constitution, it requires that all courts maintain public access. Attorney’s requesting to visit a client via a Zoom meeting can request to do so via the jail-schedule email (jail-schedule@co.hays.tx.us).
The scheduling of the Zoom meeting will be coordinated by a Hays County Sheriff’s office designee. The attorney will be responsible for emailing all pertinent information to the jail-schedule email including the name of the inmate along with the time and date of the requested meeting. Once the county designee receives all information needed, the meeting will be scheduled.
If the attorney needs any paperwork signed, in advance of the hearing, attorneys may email documents to
jail-schedule@co.hays.tx.us.