How Bail Works

• When police arrest a person on suspicion of a crime, they book the person into jail and can opt to charge. The person (now a defendant and suspect) has the right to a hearing before a judge, at which point the judge formally charges the defendant and sets bail, taking into consideration the severity of the crime and the defendant's criminal record. The defendant can stay in jail until his court date or post bail. If he posts bail, he leaves a specific amount of money or property with the court as a guarantee that he will come back for his court date. If he returns, the court refunds the money, if not, the court keeps the money.
  
  

How Bail Agents Work

• Only the United States and the Philippines allow commercial bail agents to operate; other countries either require defendants to front their own resources, keep defendants in jail or trust defendants to come back for their court dates. Bail agents use surety bonds (promising to pay the full bail amount if the defendant does not come back) to get defendants out of jail and make money by charging a non-refundable fee -- the industry standard is 10 percent of the total bail amount -- for their services.
  
  

Hiring an Agent

• A defendant can hire a bail agent directly from jail by calling a bail bond business. However, the defendant must prove -- from jail -- that he has the resources to pay the fee. Most people ask friends or family to hire a bail agent for them. Many agents have offices next to the court house or jail and the paperwork for the agent usually takes 15 to 30 minutes. Whoever signs the bail bond agreement pays the agent the non-refundable fee and agrees to pay the full amount of bail if the defendant does not show up for her court date. Agents prefer co-signers and may ask for collateral -- like a deed to a house, credit cards, jewelry or other valuables -- to hold until the charges are dropped or the trial finishes. The agent then goes to the jail with any friends or relatives and leaves a surety bond with the appropriate authority (sheriff, police station, local court), securing the defendant's release. Each jail has a check-out procedure that, depending on the jail's size and staff, can take anywhere from one to twelve hours.
  
  

Considerations

• Hiring a bail agent is often the fastest way to get a person out of jail, since the agent has a working relationship with local law enforcement and is familiar with the paperwork and bureaucracy. However, bail agents are not the only people that can post bail. A defendant can have an attorney present at the hearing who can argue that the bail should be reduced or that the defendant should be released on his own reconnaissance (sign a pledge to return instead of leaving money). Defendants, their friends and family can also post bail with their own money and sometimes property, such as the deed to a house or car.