Crittenden County Detention Center Inmate Bail & Bonds

Yes. The sheriff's website says the public lobby at 350 Afco Road is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for payments and bonds. That covers cash bonds you post yourself and bonds a licensed agent brings in. The administrative offices close at 5:00 p.m., so anything that needs a clerk's signature or a court record will wait for morning. Call dispatch at 870-702-2000 while driving over to check the figure ahead of time.

Know the person's legal name, birth date, the combined bond for all charges, and any hold placed on them. Carry photo ID plus payment the window accepts, which here means a money order, a cashier's check, or the bond in exact cash. Card payments with a fee may be possible through a lobby kiosk, but ask first. The bail instructions for this jail say the same: call before arranging payment. Don't leave without a receipt listing your name and the case number.

From the detention center itself. Call 870-702-2010 during business hours or dispatch at 870-702-2000 at night and ask for the booking record. If the person has already seen a judge, the clerk of that court has the signed order and will match the jail's number or correct it: district court at 870-732-7560, circuit court through the clerk in Marion at 870-739-3248.

At the first appearance, which Rule 8.1 says must come promptly after arrest, typically within a couple of days. If you can learn an amount from the jail before that, the 24-hour lobby lets you pay at once. For a felony the judge looks at the charge, record, job, family ties, and past missed court dates (Rule 9.2) and may add conditions (Rule 9.3). After that, the felony goes up to circuit court, and the file stays with the clerk in Marion.

It won't. The sheriff's office says it neither recommends nor advises on bail bond companies. Its website links to the state licensing board's list of companies licensed in Crittenden County. A deputy who steers you to a particular agent is doing something the office says it will not do. Choose an agent yourself, check the license, and arrange to meet at the lobby.

Under Arkansas Code 17-19-301 a bondsman charges 10 percent, raised to the next $5, plus a $10 state board fee and a $15 processing fee. A $5,000 bond costs $525. None of that returns, even on a dismissal. Cash bond you pay on your own comes back at the end, less any fines, court costs or restitution ordered. If the bond is small enough to cover, paying it yourself at the lobby is usually the better deal.

Arkansas Code 16-84-103 allows an Arkansas resident to act as surety if their property, minus debts and exemptions, equals the bond. The sheriff signs a sworn property statement, and then the court looks it over. A local judge decides if a home or farmland can stand in for cash, and if land over in Tennessee counts at all. The circuit clerk at 870-739-3248 can tell you what the judge requires; bring the deed and a current tax statement.

Crittenden County District Court has six departments under one district judge. West Memphis is at 317 West Tyler Avenue, 870-732-7560. Marion's clerk is at 14 Military Road, 870-739-5411. Earle and Turrell share 870-792-7205. Gilmore answers 870-343-2697, and Jericho 870-739-4918. Which one has the file depends on the town whose officer filed the charge. Misdemeanors, traffic tickets, and the first look at a felony all begin in one of them.

Mostly for the report. West Memphis Police are at 626 East Broadway Street, 870-735-1210; Marion Police at 3477 State Highway 77 South, 870-739-2101; Earle Police at 1004 2nd Street, 870-792-8909. Some departments keep people a short while before moving them, so check whether they've been driven to Afco Road yet. The judge sets bond either way.

Then the Crittenden County jail is only holding the person for the other state, and no Arkansas bond will open the door. The person either waives extradition and is picked up, or contests it and stays while the paperwork runs. Find out from the jail which out-of-state county wrote the warrant, and phone that clerk about bond. A lawyer licensed in that state is the one who can help.

Bail may be withheld on a capital charge with clear evidence, as Arkansas's constitution allows. Someone picked up on a felony while already free on a felony bond can be held too. Everything else that looks like "no bond" is a hold: parole or probation, another county, another state, or a federal agency. The jail at 870-702-2010 can say which; only the agency that placed the hold can lift it.

The county's public defenders work out of West Memphis, 870-732-3313, within the Second Judicial District. A judge hands the case to the office once the person swears to a low income at the first appearance. That lawyer can then ask the judge to cut the bond, which goes better with pay records, a lease and a list of local relatives.

The Crittenden County Juvenile Detention Center shares the 350 Afco Road address and is run by the sheriff's office. Children are not given a bond amount. A juvenile-division judge holds a detention hearing and rules on sending the child home. Call the sheriff's office at 870-702-2010 and request the youth unit, or try the circuit clerk at 870-739-3248, who keeps juvenile records, for the hearing date. Because the youth unit is separate, searching the adult list for a teenager will not help; call instead.

They don't. Food and hygiene orders, phone time, video visits and tablet accounts are all separate. Those funds sit in the person's own account and are never applied to the court case. Bond is a separate payment at the lobby window with its own receipt. A small commissary deposit does let the person call you and a lawyer.

Expect a warrant, a new failure-to-appear count, and a move to forfeit the bond. A bondsman gets a limited time to return the person before the bond is forfeited. Phone the department clerk that day about a new date and get a lawyer on the line. If a bondsman has to track the person down, that search is billed to you.

The balance comes back after the final hearing, once the court takes out fines, costs, and restitution, and it goes to the name printed on your receipt, so keep it. Ask the clerk for the court that handled the case how the refund gets mailed. A bondsman's premium is gone for good.

Anything demanded by phone in gift cards, wire, or a payment app. The real jail takes bond in person at its 24-hour lobby, and licensed agents charge a fixed 10 percent. Anyone phoning as a deputy or bondsman asking for money should be checked; end the call and dial 870-702-2000 yourself.

Felony files sit with the circuit clerk in Marion. Lesser charges land in a district court department picked by the town whose officer wrote the charge:

• Crittenden County Circuit Court (felonies, juvenile division, appeals from district court): Crittenden County Courthouse, 100 Court Square, Marion, AR 72364 · circuit clerk 870-739-3248
• District Court, West Memphis Department: 317 W. Tyler Avenue, West Memphis, AR 72301 · 870-732-7560
• District Court, Marion Department: 14 Military Road, Marion, AR 72364 · 870-739-5411
• District Court, Earle and Turrell Departments: 870-792-7205
• District Court, Gilmore Department: 870-343-2697
• District Court, Jericho Department: 870-739-4918

The smaller departments don't keep walk-in hours every day, so phone before you go. Felony judges here rotate among the counties of the Second Judicial Circuit.

Interstate traffic through West Memphis brings a steady share of federal drug and gun cases. Those never pass through the Afco Road lobby, and no Arkansas bondsman can post them. By statute, Crittenden cases go to the Delta Division of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, which sits at the federal courthouse in Helena, 617 Walnut Street, Helena, AR 72342 (clerk questions go to Little Rock), 501-604-5351. Here is the usual order of events:

• Agents file a criminal complaint, or a federal grand jury indicts.
• A U.S. magistrate judge holds the first hearing, and it may take place in Little Rock.
• A Pretrial Services officer interviews the person about work, family and past cases.
• If prosecutors want the person locked up until trial, the judge holds a detention hearing within days.
• Release comes with federal rules, such as check-ins with an officer or travel limits.

While the case is open, the U.S. Marshals choose the jail. Reach them at U.S. Marshals Service, 600 West Capitol Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72201, 501-324-6256.

It could happen. Under 8 CFR 287.7 an ICE detainer asks the jail to call ICE before release and hold the person as long as 48 extra hours, and weekends and holidays count. Nothing in Arkansas law stops a sheriff from honoring it.

The local charge stays alive, so court dates in Marion or West Memphis still count. Arkansas falls under the ICE New Orleans Field Office, 181 James Drive W, St. Rose, LA 70087, 504-318-2360. People ICE picks up in eastern Arkansas often go to centers in Louisiana, such as:

• LaSalle ICE Processing Center: 830 Pinehill Road, Jena, LA 71342 · 318-992-1600
• Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center: 1133 Hampton Dupre Road, Pine Prairie, LA 70576 · 337-599-2400

After the transfer, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator System (https://locator.ice.gov/odls/). An A-number with birth country gives the cleanest match; a full name with birth country also works.

Someone booked in West Memphis can end up in a different county jail, an ADC unit or a federal hold. Try these:

• Crittenden County jail: Crittenden County Inmate Search. Enter the surname and first name, then click the right booking to see charges and bond.
• VINE: VINELink (https://vinelink.vineapps.com/). Select Arkansas, then type the person's name. You'll see whether they're locked up and at which facility, plus an option for free release notices.
• Federal Bureau of Prisons: Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator (https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/). A register number works best; otherwise give the name along with age, race and sex. Someone still awaiting federal trial may not appear yet, so ask the Marshals at 501-324-6256.
• Arkansas Division of Correction: Arkansas Division of Correction Inmate Search (https://apps.ark.org/inmate_info/). Look up an ADC number or surname to get the unit, a photo and parole date.

Rules on housing and bond change from time to time, so phone first. Call the detention center at 870-702-2010, or dispatch at 870-702-2000 after hours, for the person's location and the bond steps. For a felony hearing date, ring the circuit clerk at 870-739-3248. For a misdemeanor, call West Memphis at 870-732-7560 or Marion at 870-739-5411, or the small-town department that has the case.