Bowie County publishes no mail rules, no photo rules and no inmate address format for its jail, and it runs two buildings a few blocks apart in downtown Texarkana. Letters and photos can go out from your phone in minutes.
Send letters and photos in minutes
This is the thinnest part of the record for the Bowie County Jail, and the part where guessing does the most damage.
Bowie County publishes no inmate mailing address format, no list of what mail is accepted or rejected, no photo specifications, no policy on books or magazines, no processing time, and no statement about how legal mail is handled. The sheriff’s office page carries an address, a phone number and a contact form. There is no jail website behind it.
We also found no inmate handbook and no family guide for this jail, which at most facilities is where these rules live.
What that leaves is a real question about how mail is handled here at all. Many Texas county jails now route personal mail to an outside scanning vendor in another city, and deliver it as a digital copy. Others still take paper at the door. Bowie County publishes nothing either way, so an envelope addressed to the building may be exactly right or may be going to a place that no longer takes it.
Three Bowie County addresses are in circulation for this jail, and they are not interchangeable.
Bowie County Detention Center
105 West Front Street
Texarkana, TX 75501
Bi-State Justice Center
100 North State Line
Texarkana, TX 75501
Bowie County Sheriff’s Office
100 North Stateline Avenue
Texarkana, TX
The first two are the buildings that hold people. They are one jail under one Texas Commission on Jail Standards license, and one county roster covers both, but they are separate buildings at separate street addresses. On September 1, 2026 the Detention Center held 433 people and the Bi-State building held 79.
The third is the sheriff’s administrative address, and the similarity of “100 North State Line” and “100 North Stateline Ave” is exactly the kind of thing that sends a letter to the wrong desk in the same downtown block.
These are confirmed as the buildings’ street addresses. What is not confirmed is whether personal mail for someone in custody goes to either of them, in what format, or with what on the envelope. That is the missing piece, and it is a phone call rather than a search.
One related fact is confirmed, and it is worth not over-reading. The county’s Inmate Visitation Request Form is mailed or hand delivered to the Bowie County Detention Center, C/O Control, 105 W. Front St., Texarkana, TX 75501. So the jail does take mail at that address behind an attention line. That address is published for the visitation form, though, and for nothing else. It is not stated to be where a letter or a photo to someone in custody goes.
Five questions cover the whole gap. The sheriff’s office answers on (903) 798-3149.
Write down the date of the call. At a jail that publishes nothing, the date you asked is the only thing that dates the answer.
One thing worth knowing before you dial: get the name exactly as the county spells it on the roster, and have both the inmate number and the booking number. Mail with a name that does not match the county’s own record is the most common reason a letter comes back from a county jail, and it costs you weeks.
The practical problem for most families is not the rules. It is that photos live on a phone, and a phone does not print.
Pigeonly is one way around that. You upload a letter or photos from your phone, and we print and post them for you, so there is no printer, no photo shop and no trip to the post office. It sits alongside sending mail yourself and does not replace it.
Be aware of the limit here, because this jail is unusual. Where a facility publishes its mail rules, mail can be prepared to match them. Bowie County publishes none, so it is worth asking the jail the five questions above regardless of how the mail is sent, and giving the answers to whoever is preparing it.
8 of 8 questions
Bowie County does not publish one. The Detention Center building is at 105 West Front Street, Texarkana, TX 75501 and the Bi-State Justice Center is at 100 North State Line, but no county source confirms that personal mail goes to either, or what the envelope needs. Call (903) 798-3149 for the current address.
Mail & PhotosNo county source says. The roster gives both an inmate number and a booking number, and county jails usually want at least one of them alongside the full legal name. Since Bowie County publishes no format, ask which number the mailroom expects rather than guessing between the two.
Mail & PhotosProbably, but no rule is published for this jail: no size limit, no count limit and no list of banned content. Most Texas county jails allow standard photo prints and reject anything with nudity, gang references or an instant film backing. Confirm before sending a batch, and use Pigeonly if the obstacle is printing them.
Mail & PhotosWe could not confirm it either way. Several Texas county jails now route personal mail to a scanning vendor in another city and deliver a digital copy, and others still take paper at the door. Bowie County publishes nothing about which it does, so ask before posting anything you would not want redirected.
Mail & PhotosAssume it does until the jail tells you otherwise. The Detention Center and the Bi-State Justice Center are separate buildings at separate addresses under one jail license. Check the housing location on the county roster before you address anything.
Mail & PhotosNo policy is published for this jail. Many Texas county jails accept books only when they come direct from a publisher or an online bookseller, and reject anything hardback or sent by a family member. Ask specifically about the publisher rule, because that is the one that catches most people out.
Mail & PhotosPigeonly lets you write a letter or upload photos from your phone, and we print and mail them for you. It is an alternative to posting it yourself rather than a replacement for the official address, and it is worth having the jail's answers on format and photo rules before you send.
Mail & PhotosBowie County publishes no answer. It matters here because the August 2026 population included 34 people already sentenced to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and waiting on a transfer. Check the roster before sending if a move is expected, since county jails rarely forward mail.
Mail & PhotosGet the spelling, both numbers and the building before you address anything.
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All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified September 2, 2026.