How to Bail Someone Out of Jail in Miami Dade
Miami Bail Bond News: How to Bail Someone Out of Jail in Miami Dade
“Bail” is a deposit of money that courts require from criminal defendants. The court holds the deposit to ensure that the defendant keeps any court appearances. Bail amounts vary based on the charges and severity of the crimes and sometimes the courts do not allow bail at all. “Bailing someone out” is when you provide the money so that the defendant does not need to remain in jail.
Find out if the person was detained. After arrest, a person will be released or jailed. If jailed, then they will need to be arraigned before a judge. The date of arraignment depends on the date of arrest: if a weekday, then arraignment could happen as soon as the next day or two. If the person was arrested on the weekend, they will have to wait until the following Monday.
Some courts have weekend or night court that allows people to get arraigned sooner. At the arraignment, the judge will determine the person’s bail.
Some offenses have bond amounts already set by law. If the person committed one of these offenses, then you can find out the bail amount ahead of time. Illinois, for example, sets bond amounts according to the charged offense because the state wants to avoid undue delay in freeing someone when the date and time of arrest makes it inconvenient to have the person arraigned
Find out where the person is detained. Large, metropolitan police departments like Miami & Fort Lauderdale may have different holding locations. Different agencies (the police department versus the sheriff’s department, for instance) have different holding facilities as well. The first thing you need to ask the person is where exactly he or she is detained.
Find out the person’s booking status. Regardless of why the person has been detained, he or she will have to finish going through the booking process before being eligible to post bail. The booking process requires photographs, fingerprinting, paperwork information that includes the person’s address, etc. Depending on how busy the agency is, someone may have to wait several hours for a turn through the booking procedures.
The person may have no idea how long his or her wait will be. You can call the arresting agency after getting off the phone with the friend for a time estimate on the expected wait.
Use the court’s website. If you haven’t received a call from the person, but you know that he or she was arrested regardless—you were present at the time of arrest, for instance—then you can see if the court keeps an online database of the booking process. Many jurisdictions keep real-time information on the status of people being held in jail, so you might be able to search for the person by last name to learn their location and booking status.
