It’s midnight and the phone rings. Your loved one got arrested, and they’re calling you for help. A million thoughts are running through your head. What did they do? Do you have the money to help? Can you trust them to show back up in court if you front the money to get them out? One question rises above the others: Can you bail someone out of jail at night?
In this blog, we’ll consider how bail to bail someone out and specifically what happens when you need to bail someone out of jail at night.
What Is Bail?
Bail is the amount of money required as collateral for someone to be released from jail.
When someone gets arrested, the judge (or the courts) gets tasked with two things:
- Keeping the community and the defendant safe.
- Ensuring the defendant returns to court for their future court dates.
Bail is what allows them to handle these tasks.
You may be asking yourself if you can bail someone out of jail at night. The bail process is very much the same, day or night. Once the person has been arrested and booked at the jail, a decision must be made regarding their short-term freedom. If the alleged offense is minor and non-violent, the defendant may not need to appear before a judge. The court has a “bail schedule” that outlines a fixed bail amount for certain common crimes.
The defendant must go before a judge for more serious or violent crimes.
That judge will look at a variety of factors, including:
- What is the nature of the crime?
- Have they committed a crime in the past?
- If they did commit a crime, did they show up for the required court dates?
- Do they have dependents relying on care (children or elderly family members)?
- Do they have ties to the community, such as a job or volunteer responsibilities?
- Are they a danger to themselves or anyone else?
With the answers to these questions in mind, the judge will decide whether they’ll get released from jail, either on their own recognizance or by posting bail, or if they will have to stay in jail until their case gets heard.
Whether bail gets granted depends on the above factors; however, they also determine the amount of bail that gets set.
How Do You Bail Someone Out?
It is difficult to think clearly when you get that phone call late at night.
So, here are four steps you’ll need to follow to bail your loved one out of jail:
- Stay calm. It’s hard to do, but it’s essential. Getting loud, angry, and upset will only worsen the situation. Take a few deep breaths, try to put your emotions on hold, and get to work.
- Obtain vital information…and nothing else. Please do not ask them questions about their guilt or innocence. Remember that these phone calls get recorded. The last thing you need is for your loved one to incriminate themselves. Once you’ve identified that your loved one is in jail, find out:
- What were they charged with?
- If bail was set, how much is it?
- Where are they being held?
- Contact a bail bondsman. There’s a good chance you do not have the money to lay out to bail your loved one out of jail. On the low end, you’re looking at a few thousand dollars. On the high end, you’re looking at tens of thousands of dollars. Not many people have this money lying around. A bail bondsman will charge you about 10% of the bail amount up front ($50,000 bail costs you $5,000) and then take the rest as collateral. This can include deeds to real estate, vehicles, stock and bonds, personal property, etc. When the bail conditions are met, you will receive your collateral back. However, the 10% you paid up front is a non-refundable fee. This is the cost of doing business with a bail bondsman. If the bail conditions are not met, you will forfeit your collateral so the bail bondsman can recoup their losses.
- Pick up your loved one. Once the bail bondsman has posted bail on your loved one’s behalf and the paperwork has been processed, you can head to the jail or detention center and pick them up. Once they are home, you can discuss the next steps, like hiring an attorney to represent them.
But What If It’s the Middle of the Night? How Does Bail Work at Night?
But what happens if they get arrested in the middle of the night? Unfortunately, arrests don’t always occur during convenient work hours, and you want to get your loved one out of jail as quickly as possible. You may still be able to bail someone out at night, depending on the situation. Thankfully, bail bondsmen often work 24-7 and can get your loved one released quickly and relatively painlessly.
However, bailing someone out at night depends on a number of factors:
- Does your loved one have to wait to see a judge, or is their bail set per the bail schedule? If they must go before a judge, they will have to wait for normal hours.
- How busy is the jail? If many defendants are being processed, it may take some time.
- Does the jail have a full staff? The world is short-staffed right now, so as quickly as they may work, it could take some time to get to your loved one’s paperwork. They must also confirm that your loved one is not wanted for anything else (a separate arrest warrant) before they release them.
When it comes to bailing someone out of jail at night, Dan’s Bail Bonds is here to help. We are available 24/7 and offer our bail bond services around the clock. Our goal is to make this process as easy as possible for you, especially if it’s the middle of the night. Dan has been a licensed California bail bondsman for more than 20 years, and with our locations in Los Angeles, Van Nuys, Rancho Cucamonga, and Banning, we help people all over SoCal.
Call (888) 773-8037 now for help bailing someone out of jail at night.