Irving to restore arrestees’ ability to see judge for bail in city detention without transfer to Dallas County jail

For the first time in more than two years, Irving officials will allow judges to set bail for all detainees in the city’s detention facility instead of making most wait to be transferred to the Dallas County jail for their chance at freedom.

Municipal judges held magistration hearings for all arrestees in the Irving jail for decades but stopped in May 2024 for all felony and most misdemeanor cases.

Unlike in other cities, Irving police have since required people charged with anything more serious than the lowest-level misdemeanor to be shuttled to the Lew Sterrett Justice Center and booked a second time before seeing a judge – leading to two federal lawsuits accusing the city of unnecessary delays that violate detainees’ constitutional rights to due process.

The City Council on Thursday directed staff to restart magistration hearings in the Irving jail for all charges, attributing the change solely to a stricter booking rule at Lew Sterrett beginning Oct. 1, when the county will stop accepting defendants who have not been given first appearance hearings by municipal judges unless the arresting agency has a contract with the county.

“We have a deadline – I believe an artificial deadline – from the sheriff’s office, so that is forcing us into this situation,” City Manager Chris Hillman said. 

Sheriff Marian Brown began alerting all law enforcement agencies of the impending change in April. Though she has declined to confirm if her rule is targeting Irving, the city will be impacted more than other municipalities. 

The Dallas Police Department is the only agency with a contract for county jail services and pays nearly $9 million a year to take its arrestees directly to Lew Sterrett. Most other agencies take defendants to a municipal detention facility to see a magistrate before sending those who don’t post bond to the county jail.

In a previous statement to The Dallas Morning News, an Irving police spokesperson said the May 2024 change limiting magistration hearings was done to “address overcrowding, enhance operational efficiency and ensure the safety” of those held in the 172-person capacity city jail.

But it burdened the overcrowded Dallas County jail. Before the change the city in 2023 transported about 2,577 people from the Irving detention facility to Lew Sterrett, according to city data – in 2025, the first full year of Irving’s limited magistration hearings, the city booked 4,358 people in the county jail. 

Residents on Thursday told the City Council about the toll it has taken.

“One unnecessary day in jail can mean the difference between keeping a job or losing it, between climbing out of poverty and falling even deeper into it,” said Stephen Allen, executive director of The Table-Irving, which connects people to housing and financial assistance.

City officials cited steep costs they’d face for continuing to send so many arrestees to Lew Sterrett without a first appearance hearing. After Oct. 1, the sheriff’s office plans to charge Irving $567 per defendant booked who has not already seen a magistrate, according to assistant city manager Rachel Wood. 

The rule would cost the city about $2.27 million per year, Wood said. 

The price of conducting magistration hearings in Irving for all defendants will be about $796,000. Wood said that includes hiring one more full-time judge, another part-time judge and two more clerks to handle the additional work.

Hillman said the city began working with county officials earlier this year to launch a joint system for video magistration in the Irving jail, but talks have since stalled. He said video magistration would be the cheapest option at $573,000 per year but that it couldn’t be completed before Oct. 1. 

He said city officials repeatedly asked the sheriff’s office to provide a contract for magistration services, but county officials have not responded. Brown did not respond to a request for comment.

Irving Police Chief Derick Miller told the city council his staff would continue transporting those who don’t post bail after magistration to Lew Sterrett. 

Though defendants will be given the opportunity to bond out of the Irving jail after magistration, they will not be allowed to stay there indefinitely while completing the bond process. A police spokesperson could not estimate how much time defendants will be given after their magistration hearing to secure bond before they are transported to Lew Sterrett.

“The Irving detention facility is not a jail in accordance with state jail standards,” Miller said. “There are many things our detention facility lacks and we cannot have the long-term housing of prisoners.”

The city on Thursday defended its practice of limited magistration hearings, saying the sheriff has legal jurisdiction over people arrested on county charges. But in her April letter to law enforcement agencies, Brown cited state law in saying “the arresting person shall take an arrested person before a magistrate without unnecessary delay, but no later than 48 hours after the arrest.”

The pair of lawsuits filed in April on behalf of six plaintiffs by Spangler Law and the Forester Haynie law firm allege the city violated defendants’ rights to due process by unnecessarily delaying them from seeing a magistrate – in some cases keeping them for more than the 48 hours allowed by state law.

“These people are sitting there without knowing their charges … which is a constitutional violation,” said former Irving municipal judge Laura Anderson, who the City Council replaced after the May 2024 change.

Attorneys for the city filed motions to dismiss both lawsuits, which are still pending, arguing the right to have bail assessed within 48 hours after arrest is not guaranteed by the constitution.

The plaintiffs, according to the city’s motions, did not allege they were denied a timely probable cause determination following an arrest made without a warrant, which is a constitutional guarantee. 

In Texas, the probable cause review on warrantless arrests required by the U.S. constitution is typically done at the same hearing where the magistrate determines bail.