Dallas County Moves Forward with Plans for New $5 Billion Jail

• Officials in Dallas County, Texas, seek to purchase land to build a new $5 billion jail and courthouse complex in 2026.
• The facility would replace the 50-year-old Lew Sterrett Justice Center near downtown Dallas.
• County Judge Clay Jenkins says the project could take up to 10 years for ultimate completion.

DALLAS, Texas — A new jail and courthouse complex in Dallas County, Texas, with a potential price tag of up to $5 billion could move closer to fruition this year, as county leaders seek to purchase land for the new facility.

The complex would replace the county’s current jail, the Lew Sterrett Justice Center, which is over 50 years old and reportedly plagued by overcrowding and failing infrastructure, including an “inefficient” software system that has delayed the release of some incarcerated individuals. As of late 2025, there were more than 7,000 inmates housed in the facility.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins told Inside Texas Politics that consultants are discussing plans for a new facility, and that mental health and other rehabilitative services would be a priority within the new jail.

“You’ve got to build a jail that can get you good outcomes because that’s the best thing for public safety,” said Jenkins. “If all we do is cycle criminals through the jail over and over and over again and they go back out and commit crimes again, that’s not the way to handle public safety.”

The precise location of the new facility is still being considered, but officials say it will not be located near the site of the current jail, which occupies 15 acres of prime property along the Trinity River, between the Margaret McDermott Bridge and the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge — two cable-stayed bridges designed by renowned architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava.

In fact, according to The Real Deal, the downtown-adjacent site of the current jail could be primed for redevelopment should the facility be vacated and demolished.

County officials began considering the idea of a new jail as early as 2024, when County Commissioner John Wiley Price introduced the topic of a new $5 billion jail and courthouse to the Dallas City Council. While funding sources for the potential new complex were not stipulated in those initial discussions, Price said the county was already stretched thin by the challenge of keeping the current jail in compliance with state standards.

While the county hopes to purchase the land for the new jail this year, Jenkins said the design and construction process will take some time to complete.

“It’s a multi-year, closer to a decade project to get it all done and approved and built,” said Jenkins.