Maryland Bail Bonds Blog

Recently, Baltimore City Central Booking and intake center changed its procedures as far as processing an inmate for release. The changes revolve around the records department literally closing its doors from 12:30am until 7:30am. Prior to this change, the records department used to be open 24 hours a day except on Sundays when they would shut down at midnight.

This change directly affects the Baltimore City bail bondsmen, as well as the families that are trying to get their loved ones released from custody. Basically, when the records department shuts down inside the jail there is nobody physically in the building to accept a release. This is a problem because with nobody to process the release, it delays the defendant from walking out the door.

The funny thing about all this is that bail bondsmen can still post their bails 24/7 inside Baltimore city central booking. The reason that we can post a bail anytime is because a district court commissioner remains inside the jail even though the records department is shut down. What this means, is that when a bail bondsman has a bail to post in the middle of the night we can physically post the bail; but we have to come back after 7:30am to hand the release to somebody from the records department.

This is an unfortunate change because it significantly delays the inmate from getting released. What makes this change even more discouraging is that sometimes when we go to drop a release off when records opens, they will tell us they don't have the defendants paperwork ready to accept the release. If the records department doesn't have paperwork for the defendant then they cannot process the release!

Big Boyz Bail Bonds tries to handle this change as best as physically possible. If someone wants to do a Baltimore city bail at 3am that's not a problem, we will post it immediately. Then when we return to the jail at 7:30am to hand the release in and they say the paperwork is not ready we will check back every half hour to see if the release is ready to be handed in. Once the jail has both the release and the defendant's paperwork, they take on average between 4 and 6 hours to release the defendant from custody.

Recently, Big Boyz Bail Bonds received a phone call in regards to posting an outrageously high bail of $750,000. Typically on these size bails it is helpful to bring the overall size of the bail down by posting part of a property up against the size of the bail. Essentially, when one posts property for a bail, they are using the equity in their home to collateralize the bond. The courts put a temporary lien against the property until the defendant appears for court.

In the case of the $750,000 bail there were two homes being used to post against the bail. With the two homes being put up for the bail our bail bonds company still had to be responsible for over $600,000 of the bail. After Big Boyz Bail Bonds did all the paperwork with the family everyone was prepared to post the bail at the Towson District Court Commissioners office. However, we ran into a slight problem...

As we handed our paperwork through the window to the commissioner she realized that one of the homeowners on the bail did not have a current state tax bill. Just like that, our hopes of getting the defendant released on a party property bail bond in Baltimore County were depleted. In order to post property in the state of Maryland you need the following items:

- Deed to the house, along with everyone present with photo ID that is listed on the deed. This includes if someone appears on the deed but is deceased then you need proof with a death certificate.

- Mortgage bill. Or if there is no mortgage, you need some sort of proof that the property is free and clear of any money owed.

- A current state tax bail that shows the total assessed value of the property.

As long as one has the above items they will be able to post property with the courts with little problem. In addition, the courts have a pretty unique way in determining the equity that is in a home. If your home is valued at $200,000 and you owe $100,000 you would think the courts would give you credit for $100,000 in equity to put towards the bail. This is not the case. The courts actually take the total assessed value of your property (off your tax bail) at 80% value. So if your house is valued at $200,000 then 80% of that is $160,000. So if you owe $100,000 on your property the courts will only give credit for $60,000.

For more information concerning posting bail and posting property for bail please check out a helpful resource known as the maryland criminal attorney blog.