Cherokee County Must Redirect Inmate Phone Card Profits to County Budget, Not Sheriff's Commissary Fund

June 26, 2025
Staff Reporter

RUSK, TEXAS – The Texas Attorney General’s Office has ruled that Cherokee County must stop placing profits from jail inmate phone card sales into the sheriff's commissary fund and instead deposit the money into the county’s general fund — the main budget that pays for public services.

This decision comes after County Auditor Steven Daughety requested a legal opinion when the Sheriff’s Office changed how inmates pay for phone calls. Until early 2024, inmates paid for calls using a “PIN debit” system, and those funds rightfully went to the county’s general fund. But when the jail switched to selling prepaid phone cards, the Sheriff’s Office began placing the profits into the commissary account — a separate fund used for inmate welfare and controlled exclusively by the Sheriff.

Daughety raised concerns that this wasn’t appropriate, because the phone cards were not being sold through the commissary system, nor were they part of the commissary vendor contract.

After reviewing the setup, the Attorney General’s Office agreed with the Auditor in an opinion issued June 25, 2025.

“Phone card revenue must be deposited in the general fund,” the AG’s office said in its formal opinion, “because they are part of the county’s obligation to provide phone service — not sundry items like snacks or soap that are sold through the commissary.”

The opinion also makes it clear that only the Cherokee County Commissioners Court — not the Sheriff — has the legal authority to choose how phone service is provided to inmates. That means the Commissioners can decide to go back to the PIN debit system, or keep the current phone card setup, as long as it meets jail standards.

🧾 What This Means for Taxpayers:

Phone profits will now help fund general county expenses — things like roads, law enforcement, and emergency services — instead of being kept in a separate account.
The Sheriff must follow the same rules as other departments when it comes to public money.
County leaders, not the Sheriff, control jail phone contracts.

The ruling brings clarity to a financial gray area and reinforces the principle that money made from jail phone services belongs to the public — not to any individual office.