If this happens, getting out of jail becomes even more difficult. You’re still on the hook for the amount of the first agreement, even though they got out of the contract. If you need a new bond agent to get back out of jail, things get difficult.

The best course of action is to avoid this problem in the first place. Call us at 800-880-8380, bond agents work with people in tough situations every day. We can secure bail so no one has to stay in jail and so you or your loved one can move on with life.

The post What Happens If You Can’t Pay Your Bail Bond first appeared on Bail Bonds Direct.

Where bail is required, a defendant will not be released from custody until the bail bond has been delivered to the court.

Bond may be posted in one of several ways:

Surety Bond

A common way to post bond is to obtain a “surety bond” through a bail bondsman. In this type of arrangement, the defendant or a family member or friend pays a fee to the bail bondsman. The bail bondsman then issues a guarantee to the court that if the defendant fails to show up, they have the funds to pay the full bail amount.

Posting A 10% Cash Bond

As an alternative to using a bondsman, you may have the option to pay the court a 10% cash bond. You can do this either by making a 10% cash payment directly to the court or by paying a bondsman to pay 25% of the full amount of the bond to the court. Paying the court directly works well for people who have a lot of cash on hand because they can avoid paying non-refundable fees to the bondsman.

Securing Bond With Real Property

Another option for posting bail involves using the defendant’s real property such as a home to secure a bond. The value of the real estate property needs to be close to the value of the bond. If the defendant fails to show up for court, then the state of California could recover the defendant’s property.

Posting A Full Cash Bond

Some defendants may be required by the court to post a full cash bond, such as where a defendant is considered a flight risk. In these situations, a defendant must pay the entire amount of a bond before they can get out of jail while awaiting trial. As an alternative to paying the full amount to the court, a defendant may be able to get a surety bond for the full amount from a bondsman for a fee.

The post Do I Need A Bail Bond? first appeared on Bail Bonds Direct.

Only in this way you will be be able to ensure that such mistreatment will not take place in the future. Furthermore, do not attempt to deal with the issue on your own, since any information that you will give without a lawyer, may and will be used against you. Any communication between you and your attorney cannot be screened by the authorities, so you can be sure that everything you will say is going to remain between you and your lawyer.

If you have any questions about your court sentencing, it is important to consult an experienced Los Angeles criminal lawyer prior to actually talking to the officials. Only an attorney will be able to guide you and will help you decide exactly how to proceed next.

Go ahead, feel free to demand the presence of your attorney and only then consider your actions. Do not let the system disregard your rights and make sure that you get proper treatment. Let the lawyer handle all the legal things on his own.

The post What To Do If Mistreatment Occurs In Any Jail Facility first appeared on Bail Bonds Direct.

There are numerous examples of people who have gone to jail for reasons that sound preposterous, like a person who held a pet spider hostage or a jaywalker without proper identification. Even though the list of unusual and silly arrests is long, the most common arrests share similarities you should be aware of.

It pays to know the rules you need to follow to avoid the slammer.

Arrests fall into two main offense categories: misdemeanors and felonies. Generally speaking, a misdemeanor is less severe and results in tickets or warnings, where felonies are of a more serious nature, resulting in arrest. Out of all crimes reported, year after year property crimes outweigh violent crimes by a huge margin. In California, violent crimes remain consistently less than 1/5 the number of property crimes.

While California’s reported crimes are low compared to other states, its violent crime rate is substantially higher than the rest of the country, and that’s without factoring in the large number of violent crimes that go unreported. Gang-related violence accounts for roughly 1/3 of violent-crime arrests.

Opioid abuse and recreational marijuana use are on the rise, so one would expect the largest number of arrests to come from DUI’s, possession and other related charges, but the correlation to their affect on other crimes is much more predominant. There is a strong link between substance abuse and the need for money to feed the habit, leading to a staggering majority of property crimes and theft.

For the average person, the best way to stay out of trouble is to follow the rules we’ve all been taught. Make sure you have your ID with you wherever you go. If you do plan on drinking alcohol, make sure you have a designated driver or call an Uber to ensure your safety on the road. If you’re in the driver’s seat, replace your car’s lights and blinkers when they go out.

It may sound obvious, but it’s important to learn to know your limits. Some people can get a little out of control if they’ve had too much to drink, and it doesn’t take much to cross the line and get charged with for drunk and disorderly behavior. When people lose control, they tend to overestimate their judgment, which makes it easier to get into fights or cause others to become uncomfortable. Learning to have fun while staying in control will save you a lot of hassles.

Most of us will be fine if we remember to be responsible when we’re out having fun, but if you do happen to get arrested or need to help someone out, be sure to contact us at Bail Bonds DIRECT: 800-880-8380.

The post “Most Likely to Go to Jail” – How to Avoid the Most Common Arrests first appeared on Bail Bonds Direct.

Dave’ story: 

Dave wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. He worked hard but because he was always helping his kids, never seemed to have two dimes to rub together. He was arrested on a failure to appear charge that he forgot about. The bail was $5,000. There was no way Dave or anyone he knew had that kind of money. For $500 however, Bail Bonds Direct guaranteed his bail. (He was later acquitted) Without Bail Bonds Direct, Dave would have lost everything while awaiting trial.

So, what is the main complaint against the above system?

First, despite Dave’s attorney, the judge who is paid a big salary, plus all the other full and part-time employees of the court, the opponents of bail bonds are upset that a private non-government entity made money helping a less-fortunate soul. This ridiculous attack is levied despite the private status of attorneys and the money made by the courts.

Likewise, the attack on the bail bond industry smacks of hypocrisy seeing that courts ignore with impunity the Constitution that prohibits excessive bail. Current bail amounts without a bond system would destroy the lives of the common man who lives below the poverty line. Innocent people would lose jobs, homes, and families while awaiting trial. Even though Dave, above, wasn’t guilty, the system is set up to punish him any way.

Without the bond system, your accuser would hold all the keys to your freedom before your trial. The overcrowded condition of the states that allow no private bonding for bail should indicate how ineffective government control is. In the frenzy to discredit private industry in general and specifically the bail bond industry as mere profiteers of the unfortunate, we may be allowing ourselves to take justice out of the hands of the people and place it permanently in the hands of the state.

If we continue to allow states to close this particular access the common man has to his or her freedom before trial, then we might as well admit that the concept of presumed innocence may be dead.

The post Don’t Let the Government Take Away Your Right to a Bail Bond first appeared on Bail Bonds Direct.

Now that you have laid it all on the line, how can you be sure they won’t break your heart and jump bail? Well, you know them better than we do. What have they done in the past? Have they broken your trust before? Without the proper understanding of what’s before them they might think that jumping bail is an option. Here is how you help them—and yourself.

1. Get them a good lawyer.

A good defense attorney will help them understand their charge and what can be done to have the charge dismissed or at least reduced in severity. Their attorney will be able to give them hope. They can also discuss with them how jumping bail would ruin their life and hurt the ones who love them—you. When your loved one has a good defense attorney, they feel more involved with their future.

2. Keep them busy.

An idle mind and body begins to manufacture its own stress. Your loved one begins to fear the worst and may contemplate ridiculous ways to escape their predicament. Put them to work on anything that would help their attorney with the case—or have them paint your house. If they have a job, make sure they make it to work. Sit down with them and make sure that their spare money goes to you for repayment on your bond deposit.

3. Become their main source of transportation.

Assuming your loved one is part of your household; keep them on a short leash. Not that they are in grade school, but it keeps you close to them and doesn’t give them a means of heading out of town. They may complain that they feel like they are in jail. Remind them that they are in jail; it’s just a better one than you bailed them out of. And their jailer actually loves them—and has better food.

4. Track their phone.

If you both have smart phones, tell them for your peace of mind that you want to install a locator app on their phone so you can see where they are at all times. Explain that this would help reduce your stress during this trying ordeal. If they push back hard on this one, you may want to start being concerned.

5. Call your bondsman.

If you see certain signs that your loved one may be preparing to bolt, such as a drastic change in mood, elevated agitation, and less involvement with the attorney regarding their case, you may want to call your bondsman and pull the trigger on your best protection against your loved one skipping bail. Your bondsman, acting in the interest of everyone involved, can revoke the bond and your loved one would be sent back to jail.

This is a difficult step. Your loved one may feel unloved and abandoned. You need to remind yourself that you didn’t do this to keep from losing money. You did it so your loved one wouldn’t lose their life by having to live forever on the run.

The post Five Ways to Keep Your Loved One from Jumping Bail first appeared on Bail Bonds Direct.

If you happen to be one of those who feel this way, let me give you a few reasons why you should always pay the bond and make bail before you even try this bad idea. For brevity’s sake, let’s skip over some of the details so we can highlight just the good stuff.

Let’s assume you get arrested on a minor charge. The arresting officer will place you in handcuffs and take you to the county facility. Don’t bother complaining about the handcuffs crushing your wrists, the officer will tell you they are supposed to be uncomfortable. Your hearing is in a week and you are offered an opportunity to make bail or wait for a week in jail; this is the vacation you were looking for.

While you wait to be booked into jail, you will wait in a holding cell. Depending on how busy the jail is, you can be in this cell for one to two hours or more. This will feel like days. You have surrendered all your belongings so it’s just you, four walls, and eternity. Many type-A personalities may start pounding on the door after a while demanding better service, which of course, either annoys the staff or makes them laugh.

Three days in solitary

After the holding cell, you lose the rest of your possessions, which means of course, that you are naked. They hand you one pair of underwear that appear to have been worn by a few dozen people, some odd colored pajamas, and some foot gear, like crocs or flip flops. You then get your new things; a 2” pencil, a chip of soap, a towel (just a big wash cloth), a 2” toothbrush, and toothpaste.

Most jails, at this point, will put you into an observation cell for three days, away from the general jail population. They want to see what happens to you when you have nothing but time on your hands. If, on the outside, you were a multi-tasking, clock-watching over achiever, these three days will seem like eternity. You might hear your own voice in your head saying, “Be careful what you wish for.”

To pass the time, you lay down on your mattress that feels like a slice of white bread placed on the floor. The reason they want to observe you for three days is that when your body has nothing to do, your brain becomes a Ferrari, racing between the past, present, and the future, visiting every moment of regret you may have had in your life. Some people lose it at this point. You probably won’t, but you will completely understand those who do.

Meet your cellmate, Charlie . . . Manson.

After the three days of observation, you get to “join the jail population.” Most larger jails have several cells that hold two or more cellmates surrounding a large gathering area. No matter how different your cellmate is from you, he will be a welcome change to spending unlimited time with yourself. You shouldn’t be surprised that your cell-mate has been in jail and prison before. He may or may not offer to help you learn the unwritten rules of the gathering area where you and 50 or more inmates will rub shoulders during the day.

No matter how inconsequential your offense may be or how heinous the crime committed by your cellmate, everyone in jail is equal. By equal, meaning, everyone wears the same designer suit and everything you own on the outside doesn’t matter. Who you are does matter though. If you are a nice person who respects others, that won’t go unnoticed in jail. If, however, you tend to get your own way without regard for other people, that will be obvious in jail as well. Your reputation will spread quickly.

Dime-Store Novels

One thing you will rediscover in your last few days in jail is the joy of reading for the sake of reading. There are only a precious few books to choose from so you might end up with a book you would never pick up normally. You escape into the pages; no matter how flimsy the story line, you are no longer in jail. After you read the only book available to you, twice, you are back in reality.

By now, you may have acclimated a little but you no longer see jail as a vacation. You are on a rigid schedule reminiscent of grade school. There are so many parts of your busy life that you miss; you can’t even name them all. You realize this is not the place for you. As you look around at the people, with whom you have shared a few days, you hope they are able to get out soon as well.

Some people, who spend a week in jail, say that the experience changed them. However, they say that if there were a next time, they would pay the bond and make bail.

The post Why You Don’t Want to Spend a Week in Jail first appeared on Bail Bonds Direct.