Can someone explain making bail to get out of jail? I feel like I'm missing something.?

Question

Ok, so I just saw where Caylee's mom is trying to bail out of jail for $500,000 or something like that.. What I don't understand is how she has that kind of money to get her out of jail. Is it not worth just staying in jail than spending half a million dollars to get out for a few days? Also, the same thing applies to other convicts. If someone is accused of a small crime and the bail is set at $50,000 +. It seems like everyone always has $50,000 to get out of jail just to go back to court and most likely go back to jail anyway. It just doesn't make sense to me how people pay so much money just to get out of jail temporarily..

Answer 1

Hello Cameron. Some highly erroneous information above me here. But I also want to add more about bonds and amounts.

Bond amounts are established due to the level of crime being charged with, the likelyhood of the individual not returning to court (hence the higher amounts) or in certain cases ( such as child support  violations), it is enough to cover the amount being disputed in court so if the person is found guilty, the fine is subtracted from the bond and any remaining funds are returned.

The bad information ( as it was reported above ) is when you pay a bondsman for release. Most areas are 10% with a few being 15% of the bond. The bondsman pays the full amount and you are free until your court date. When you do go to court, the bondsman has his full amount returned to him, but you do not get your 10% or 15% back, That now belongs to the bondsman for fronting the full amount of your bond and it is his profit. That is how he makes his living.

As to how or why a person is able or willing lay out thousands of dollars to be free for a period of time before trial is something that is different for each person and how highly they value their freedom and the subsequent ability of retaining a good defense while out of jail.

I hope this helps and you can find it useful

Answer 2

Bail is put up to guarantee the person won't flee.

They get the money back when they appear in court.

Usually a person gets a bail bondsman to put up the money for a 10% fee.  They usually have collateral like a house or a car to keep if the perpetrator takes off.

Answer 3

Outside of the courthouse and many jails there are several little offices that advertise BAIL BONDS.  The bail bondsman puts up a guarantee of the entire bail for a ten percent payment.  Thus, a $50,000 bond is $5,000.  If the suspect does not appear in court, the bond is lost and the bondsman will hunt the culprit down to avoid having to pay the guaranteed bail.  This is the basis of the TV show, "Dog, The Bounty Hunter".  The bounty is the bail that he has guaranteed plus a fee paid by the court for bringing in the bail jumper.

Answer 4

Cameron, the reason you see such high bonds, is because of the subjects arrest record. Bonds are made high so they can't make bail and get out to run. There are 3 ways you can make bail. 1, cash. 2, bail bondsman, which the defendant pays like 100.00 on every 1000.00. 3, Put up a deed to land that is equal to the bond. Hope this helps !  

Answer 5

Making Bail isn't a permanent situation. Unfortunately I know from experience. When I wa arrested my bail was set at $10,000. Psht I don't have 10k now or did I then. a Bail bondsman fronts the money and you pay a percentage. Example, I paid 1,000, he put in the other 9, and I was out of jail.Once I showed up for court the money was refunded. So in short it is just collateral. the money is returned after you show up to you scheduled court date.

Answer 6

That's one way you realize how valuable freedom really is.