As per the 8th Amendment, US citizens have a right to bail, and bail cannot be set at an excessive amount. As a result, most people who are arrested in California are immediately eligible for bail once the booking and processing procedure is complete. But, some individuals either cannot afford bail at its current cost, or need to go before a judge to see if they are eligible for bail at all. In these cases, a defendant may attend a bail hearing.
A bail bondsman doesn’t take a direct role in a bail hearing. The defendant and their legal representation, whether hired privately or provided for them by the court, attend the hearing. Once the judge has determined that the defendant is eligible for bail, and has set the cost, a bail agent comes into play.
Once bail has been set, the bail bond process can immediately begin. It starts by contacting the bail bondsman (if you haven’t already done so) and filling out the short, simple bail bond application forms and signing the indemnitor’s agreement. After that, we dispatch an agent to post the bond at the jail the defendant is located at. The defendant will then be released once they are processed out.
The length of time it takes for a defendant to be released after the bond is posted depends on the jail they’re located at. If the defendant is at a small, short-term holding facility like the Santa Clarita Sheriff Station, they will probably be released within a few hours. Should the defendant be located at a larger holding facility, such as Twin Towers Jail or Men’s Central, it can take as long as 12 hours or more for the defendant to be processed out.
These are some of the largest, busiest jails in the world and inmates are constantly being processed in and out throughout the day and night.
