Although nobody plans on going to jail, with more than 10 million arrests taking place in the United States each year, it’s reasonably likely that you could go to jail unexpectedly. Either way, whether you or someone who is close to you gets incarcerated and is eligible to be bonded out, you should know how bail bonds work. Here are a few basic concepts regarding bail bonds.

Bonds Are Set Before You’re Formally Booked in Jail

If you are cited for an arrestable offense and taken to jail, you will first be taken to a holding cell, which may or may not be located at the jail you’ll end up getting incarcerated at. Once the presiding judge has had time to set your bond amount, you’ll be taken to jail.

Bond Amounts Are Given Back

Assume a judge sets your bond at $500. If you hand over $500 to the court and show up at all of your scheduled court dates as you’ve been asked to by the presiding court, you will ultimately be given the $500 back in full at the end of your proceedings.

If You Use a Bail Bondsman, You Don’t Get Money Back

One major benefit of using bail bondsmen to get out of jail is not having to put forth the entire bond amount your release has been set at. Rather, you will typically pay 10 percent of the dollar value of the bond amount to the bondsman for getting you out. In exchange for the risk taken by the bondsman, the 10-odd percent of the bond amount you were required to pay is kept by the bondsman.

You Might Not Be Given a Bond

For serious cases or untrustworthy alleged criminals with poor histories of returning to court, they likely will not be awarded the potential of putting forth a bond to get out until trial. If you find yourself in jail or asked to help bail a friend or family member out of jail, come to us for bail bonds near me westmoreland county pa.