Bail bonding companies help defendants secure pretrial release when they can’t afford to pay bail out of pocket. A licensed bail bondsman issues a bond in exchange for a non-refundable fee, guaranteeing the defendant’s compliance with court conditions. If a defendant skips bail, the bondsman may employ bail recovery agents, commonly known as bounty hunters, to track them down. Many bonding companies also provide electronic monitoring services, such as ankle bracelets, to ensure defendants remain within legal boundaries.
Usually, when someone is arrested on a criminal charge, they’re taken into custody and placed in a jail or detention center. This process, called pretrial detention, is designed to ensure:
- Defendants show up to court to answer the charges against them
- Violent or otherwise dangerous defendants are secured so that they’re unable to commit additional crimes
While violent and dangerous defendants will usually be held in jail until their trial, other defendants are typically given the option to secure a pretrial release via the bail system. The bail system allows defendants to surrender assets (usually cash, sometimes property) to the jail until after the completion of the trial. When the trial is over, if the defendant has made their court appearances, the property is returned to them, regardless of the outcome.
In many cases, though, the bail amount is too high for an individual or their family to pay out of pocket. In those cases, most defendants turn to a licensed bonding company to help secure their release.
This month, All-State Bonding Company, a Macon, GA, bonding company is going into detail about the services offered by bonding companies and how they work to help both defendants and the justice system.
What Is a Bail Bondsman?
A bail bondsman, more accurately referred to as a licensed bonding agent, is an individual whom the county and state has authorized to issue bonds to secure a defendant’s release from pretrial detention.
In Georgia, bonding agents are licensed after completing background checks, a pre-licensure education course, and passing the Georgia Property and Casualty Insurance Exam. Bonding agents are also required to secure approval to operate from the local county sheriff’s office. In some counties, only one bonding agent has been authorized to serve a county’s detention center(s); in others, there may be several agents serving one county.
How Does a Bond Work?
When you contact a bonding company, they’ll collect information about the defendant and the arrest and bail amount. In exchange for a percentage of the bail amount (in Georgia, this is set by law at 15% of the bail amount), the bonding company will write a bond guaranteeing your compliance with the conditions of your release, especially attendance at future court dates.
It’s a common misconception that a bondsman pays the full bail amount to the jail up front. In actuality, the bond itself is what secures the defendant’s release, stipulating that if the defendant fails to appear or otherwise violates their release conditions, the bonding company is liable for paying the full bail amount or returning the defendant to jail.
Whether the defendant makes court appearances or not, the 15% of the bail amount paid to the bondsman up front is non-refundable—it is essentially the fee you pay to the bonding company for their services.
What Else Does a Bonding Company Do?
Bail Recovery Services
If a defendant skips bail, the bonding company is out the entire bail amount. Because bail amounts for some crimes can run to hundreds of thousands of dollars, most bonding companies are not willing to absorb the loss. They will employ either internal or external bail recovery agents, better known as bounty hunters.
A bondsman/bail recovery agent has a considerable amount of latitude in terms of what they’re allowed to do to bring a bail jumper back to their jurisdiction. In order to bring someone back to jail, a bondsman/bounty hunter is permitted:
- To enter a defendant’s home or place of work
- To ask questions of a defendant’s family, colleagues, and friends
- To cross state and some international boundaries to pursue a defendant
- To use reasonable and justified force to detain a defendant
If a defendant skips bail, it is usually unlikely that they will be granted bail a second time. If they are granted bail, the initial bondsman will almost never be willing to write a second bond for the individual.
Other Pretrial Release and Alternative Detention Services
As a condition of their bail, many defendants are required to wear a tracking device so that the court can ensure that the defendant doesn’t leave the jurisdiction or go anywhere they’re not allowed to go – such as a curfew, house arrest, near an assault victim’s home, the location of a known drug dealer, or a location that’s been declared off-limits by the court.
Thanks to the increasing number of pretrial detainees and convicts that are required to wear a tracker – usually in the form of an ankle monitor – many bonding companies now also offer ankle monitoring services. In this capacity, the company:
- Supplies and fits ankle monitors to defendants or convicts
- Operates the system that tracks and records each individual’s location
- Works with law enforcement when a defendant or convict needs to be tracked or located.
Arrested in Macon-Bibb County? Don’t Wait in Jail; Call All State Bonding: 478-745-1966
All State Bonding is located in downtown Macon, directly across the street from the Bibb County Jail. We’re available 24/7, and all our bonding decisions are made on-site, so you never have to wait for an answer.