The process for getting someone released at the City of Houston Jail has gotten more difficult to do over the years.
This seems a forever process for those trying to get someone out of jail. The main reason for this is simply the inconsistency of HPD and the Municipal Courts. I’m not trying in any way to imply that they have a poorly run jail or court system; they are as efficient as can be expected in a city the size of Houston. They have limited man power, and have gone through their share of changes to try and maintain.
However, trying to reach them by phone can either be quick and easy or next to impossible; and in this aspect alone ‘for when it is impossible’, as it is right now since I’m on hold and have been for over an hour, the prospect can be daunting. The possibility of reaching them quickly is very seldom by the way.
The next thing that comes into play is what is happening while a bail bondsman is trying to get through to the city jail, (just to find info).
It may take anywhere from 2 hours to as much as 12 hours just to get information about someone in the city jail. Typically this means that before a bail bond company in Houston can get through to get information the city jail has already taken the person in jail to the City of Houston Municipal Court. This is the normal procedure, if a person has been arrested for a City of Houston traffic ticket, then they are taken to court within hours. Once a person is taken to court the information must be processed in order to find out what the results of them being court are, and the jail will not take a bail bond until the results are known. This again is a process that takes several hours and there is no exact time frame. Consequently many times a person will be in jail for hours and hours only because it is impossible to get the information needed to get them out of jail.
If a person pleads guilty or no contest when they appear in court a bail bond is no longer an option because the case will have been disposed of and all that is left is paying a fine or sitting out the time in jail.
If a person pleads not guilty then the case may be reset to go to court that same day or the next day and the case will be disposed of at that next court hearing, and again all that will be left is paying the fine or sitting out the time unless the case is dismissed.
Getting a bail bondsman to help you when someone goes to jail at the City of Houston jail and they are in jail because of outstanding City of Houston traffic tickets is sometimes very difficult for all the above reasons. Unfortunately the easiest and quickest way to get someone out of the Houston City Jail is to go directly to the jail so that information can be gathered quickly. The possibility of getting someone out of jail truly depends on simply being there and being prepared to post a bail bond as soon as the information is available.