Tarrant County recently hired its new jail administrator away from Dallas County. The hire comes amid scrutiny over in-custody deaths at the Tarrant County Jail.
TARRANT COUNTY, Texas — The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office recently hired Dallas County’s former top jail official to run Tarrant County’s jail system amid scrutiny over a spike in jail deaths. And he’s getting a sizable pay raise to make the switch.
Shannon Herklotz officially became Tarrant County’s executive jail administrator in December. The job had been vacant since May, following former Tarrant County executive chief of confinement Charles Eckert.
Tarrant County officials confirmed in an Open Records request that Herklotz’s annual salary is $193,602.76 as of Jan. 6. His salary in Dallas County on his last day there was $156,630.04, Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins’ chief of staff confirmed.
Herklotz had served as Dallas County’s top jail official since February 2023. Before joining the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, Herklotz had worked as the Chief of Detentions of the Harris County Jail in Houston and was a long-serving Deputy Director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) in Austin. Herklotz graduated from Sam Houston State University’s National Jail Leadership Command Academy.
In Tarrant County, officials said Herklotz will be tasked with increasing collaboration with John Peter Smith Hospital and mental health providers with My Health My Resources of Tarrant County.
Herklotz’s hire came as Tarrant County faced increased scrutiny over rising in-custody deaths.
In 2024, eight inmates died in custody at the jail. Since 2017, more than 65 inmates have died in custody there.
Inmate deaths in Tarrant County have exceeded the national average for the last four years, according to National Institutes of Health data. Tarrant County spent more than $2 million to settle lawsuits related to the jail in the last year. Tarrant County Commissioners approved a record-breaking settlement in May.
