Last year, we had a call late in the evening on December 23rd from a woman in Arizona who wanted to arrange bail for her sister who had been arrested in San Diego and was incarcerated at the Las Colinas Women’s Jail. She wanted her sister bailed out quickly, and we understood her urgency. Getting a person out of jail as fast as possible is one of the top concerns that our clients have.

However, this client had an added complication: the woman in jail had a plane ticket for the afternoon of the 24th and plans to visit her ailing mother for Christmas. Our client wanted to arrange bail right away so that her sister could make it to the airport in time. This was a problem, because the jail system works on its own schedule.

We work hard to get our clients’ bail processed as quickly as possible, but we always need to work within the system. Our client in this case was impatient with the process. She thought the police should just go ahead and release her sister because the case was without merit.

As bondsmen, we process the paperwork and file the bond (known as “posting bail”) very quickly. From that point, it’s up to the jail. Unfortunately for our clients, jail isn’t a hotel where you call down for a bellman and sign for your charges as you walk out the front door. If it’s a small jail and they aren’t busy (it’s not lunch time, not change of shift and they aren’t dealing with another arrestee), a defendant may be out in minutes. However, larger busier jails take hours to release an inmate. Las Colinas serves as the women’s jail for all of San Diego County and as such is quite busy.

The sister in Arizona called many times that day and went through a range of emotions from hope to anger to disappointment and likely other emotions she didn’t share with me. We expect this from clients. Needing a bail bond can be a very emotional process – add to that the emotion of the season.

This was an extreme example, but many clients have anxieties about the bail bond process. After all, most people have never had any contact with the criminal justice system. They don’t really understand the arrest and booking process or have any idea how long it takes to bail someone out of jail.

We always carefully explain how the bail bond process works so that our clients know what’s happening at all times. But it’s important to understand that courts and jails work on their own timetable. They don’t care that someone thinks the charges are bogus or that it’s Christmas, or that someone has a plane to catch. Fortunately, the woman got out of jail on the 24th, but unfortunately, not in time to make her plane to Arizona.

Photocredit: © Jeffrey Collingwood – Fotolia.com