Taxpayers: do you really want to bail out more criminals at your expense?

Former pretrial services investigator Erika Matthews talks about what “Pre-trial Services” really is, about her experiences working in pretrial services, and the huge cost to taxpayers It may shock you to learn that Erika was pressured to release more and more defendants, regardless of whether they were dangerous. In addition, Erika talks about pretrial FTAs (failure to appears), indigent defendant… Continue reading

Commentary: Current bail system shouldn’t be discarded

There are lots of parts of our United States justice system that could and should be improved. However, he private bail system and bail bonds industry  is probably the most efficient and effective part of the whole system. It is definitely not where overhaul should begin –  despite a heated debate taking place nationally, led by State like Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania,… Continue reading

Bail Bondsman in SD charged with Overcharging

He was charged with two counts of petty theft, but… Is this a case of a bail bondsman over charging? Or did he simply add collateral to the bond fee? Of course, the laws governing bail bondsmen vary from State to State. In Virginia, where this author serves as a bail bondsman, bail fees are set by law.  The minimum… Continue reading

Good bail bonds company advertising?

Not a new idea, but Lord Stephen Range, owner of Discount Bail Bonds and Process Server is getting aggressive in his Iowa market. CEDAR RAPIDS  Feb 18, 2015 A new bail bond company in Cedar Rapids is generating some comments and questions around both the Linn County Courthouse and Cedar Rapids City Hall. The questions aren’t about the business itself, but… Continue reading

Botched bond mistakenly lets accused cocaine dealer back on the streets

This video talks about how an officer mistakenly lopped off a zero when entering the bond about (and one other important term). I once had the same mistake made at the Riverside Regional Jail in Virginia – except in my case, the mistake was much smaller, from $15,000 to $1,500. We got it corrected though before posting the bond. Here’s… Continue reading

Chandler AZ Bail Bonds company opens fire on fugitive – Video

Two bail bondsmen from Danos Bail Bond Company in Chandler, AZ opened fire and killed a suspect they were trying to apprehend. They were a father and son team working together. The agents  tracked the fugitive to a trailer park in east Chandler near Williams Field Rd & Gilbert Road. The subject came out with an assault rifle and a… Continue reading

9 Questions about Pre-Trial Services answered by short video

Should the commercial bail bonding industry be done away with and replaced by Pre-Trial Services? This video entitled “9 Questions Answered About Pre-Trial Release” explains how a program initially meant to help very poor nonviolent offenders fails in many other ways while costing taxpayers a fortune… produced by AboutBail. Continue reading

How Does Bail Work? See this quick video

If you do a Google search you will see that there are a plethora of lengthy articles with complicated terms and descriptions that may well confuse the reader even more. This video is a short, clear and easy explanation that will help people better understand the bail bonds process and clearly get the answer to “How does Bail work?” This… Continue reading

Bail Bonds and Your Constitutional Rights

Fundamental to our rights in the United States, is the right to speedy trial and reasonable bail. In this video, Mr. James Bondsman explains how the bail bonds process helps people access their rights guaranteed by the 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments of the Constitution. It’s also important to understand, that when a person signs a bail bond contract and… Continue reading