How to bond out of jail in Texas. That is the first goal a person faces when they have been arrested. When a person is arrested and taken to jail in Texas, they have the option to post bail and be released until their court date. Bail is a financial guarantee to the court that the person will return for their scheduled court appearances.
There are several ways a person can post bail in Texas, including cash bail, surety bond and personal recognizance.
Cash bail requires the person or a friend or family member to pay the full amount of the bail in cash to get released. The cash bond is usually paid at the County Sheriff’s Office. Once the case is disposed of, the cash bail is returned to the person who put up the cash.
A surety bond is when a bail bondsman posts bail on behalf of the person. Using a bail bondsman is the most common practice for bonding a person out of jail. The person or their family must pay a non-refundable fee, usually around 10-20% of the total bail amount, to the bail bondsman. The bail bondsman then posts the full bail amount to the court. The bail bondsman is responsible for the full amount of the bond if the person flees. Most bail bondsman will require the person posting to bond to check in regularly with the company and other conditions. If the bail bondsman feels the defendant isn’t abiding by their agreement, the bondsman will send a letter to the judge and ask to go off the bond which will cause an arrest warrant to be issued.
A personal recognizance bond is when the court releases the person on their own recognizance, meaning they sign a document promising to return for their court appearances and not commit any new crimes while out of jail. Personal recognizance bonds are called PR bonds. PR bonds usually occur in low level misdemeanor cases when the person has no prior criminal record.
When a person is released on bail, they may be subject to certain restrictions, such as travel restrictions, curfews, and drug and alcohol testing. An electronic monitoring device is a bond condition often used when a person is charged with a crime of violence. These restrictions are put in place to ensure the person will appear in court as required and not commit any new crimes. Violating these restrictions can result in the revocation of bail and the person being taken back into custody.
If a person gets notice of a bond violation, they should notify their criminal attorney.