Middlesex County Adult Correction Center Inmate Bail & Bonds

A judge decides, and the law sets a tight clock. First, police pick one of two charging papers (N.J.S.A. 2A:162-16):

• Complaint-summons. Police give a written notice to appear, and the person is free to leave. In the first six months of 2025, about 54 out of every 100 New Jersey defendants were charged this way.
• Complaint-warrant. The person is taken to the Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick and waits for a release decision.

With a warrant arrest, a judge or court officer has 12 hours to review the case. Pretrial Services then scores a short risk test, the Public Safety Assessment, and sends the judge its advice. A release ruling has to come within 48 hours of booking (N.J.S.A. 2A:162-17). Courts around New Jersey beat that deadline in over 97 out of 100 cases each year from 2022 through 2024.

For crimes, the first hearing happens in a single central courtroom, run by a judge the Chief Justice names for that job (R. 3:4-2). Around the courthouse, this setup goes by Central Judicial Processing (CJP). For its schedule, call the Superior Court in New Brunswick at 732-645-4300 and ask for Pretrial Services or the Criminal Division.

State law ranks the options from least to most strict, and the judge has to pick the lightest one that works (N.J.S.A. 2A:162-17):

• Own recognizance (ROR). A signature on a written pledge is all it takes. Nobody pays a cent.
• Unsecured bond. The person promises a dollar amount but pays nothing unless they skip court.
• Release with conditions. Home again, but under rules that Pretrial Services watches. Courts label these monitoring steps PML1 up to PML3+.
• Money bail. A judge may set a dollar figure for one reason only: getting the person to court. Safety worries can't be handled with money.
• Both. A judge can mix rules and money.

Low levels may mean only phone or text reminders. Higher levels can mean weekly check-ins, an ankle monitor or staying at home. Early 2025 numbers show judges ordered about 20 percent of warrant defendants statewide held with no release.

Hardly ever. The Judiciary's reports call money bail a last resort and back that up with numbers:

• Statewide in 2021, judges told just 23 criminal defendants to post money. Nineteen of the 23 had violated release rules from before.
• Add up 2017 through 2021 and the total is 233 money bail orders, against 196,083 eligible defendants.
• Between 2020 and 2024, the share of county jail inmates stuck on small bail of $2,500 or under stayed at 1.2 percent or lower.

Town courts are where cash amounts still turn up most. A municipal judge may set it on a bench warrant, which is a warrant for missing court or not paying a fine. Those amounts must follow statewide schedules from the courts' main office (R. 7:4-2). There is no 10 percent cash choice for a domestic violence charge. To learn the exact amount and every charge it covers, call the jail's Records Office at 732-951-3355.

The Adult Correction Center accepts bail around the clock, seven days a week. You'll find it at the county grounds, Apple Orchard Lane, North Brunswick, NJ 08902, reached from U.S. Route 130, behind a security checkpoint. Follow these steps:

1. Call the Records Office first at 732-951-3355. Amounts can change, so ask for every charge and the full total due.
2. Ask if the judge allowed the 10 percent option. If so, a cash deposit of one tenth of the bail can satisfy it.
3. On indictable charges, plan for a $50 filing fee on top of the bail.
4. Bring exact cash, a postal money order or a certified bank check. Staff can't give change.
5. Bring photo ID, and keep your receipt in a safe place.

Any balance in the person's own jail account can count toward the amount. For questions after you arrive, the jail's main desk is at 732-297-3636.

Often, when the bail comes from a town court warrant. Woodbridge's court tells families that bail "can be posted at any Police Department or at any Municipal Court." Two local windows spell out their rules:

• Woodbridge Municipal Court, 1 Main Street, Woodbridge, NJ 07095, 732-636-6430. Pay at the Violations window, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The window stays open until 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays. It takes cash, a money order or a certified bank check.
• Perth Amboy Municipal Court, Violations Window, 365 New Brunswick Avenue, Perth Amboy, NJ 08861, 732-442-6011. Open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. It takes cash, checks, money orders and major cards in person for court payments. Call to ask if a card works for bail.

Heading to a different town? Phone its court or police desk first, and ask about the amount, open hours and what money it takes.

Property bail goes through the Criminal Finance Division at the Middlesex County Courthouse, 56 Paterson Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, 732-645-4300, ext. 88670. It puts a court lien on the paid-off value of a New Jersey home. Call before you go to learn which papers you need. The filing fee is $30 for a home in this county and $60 for one in another New Jersey county.

The jail lists four ways to pay bail:

• Cash in the exact amount
• A postal money order
• A certified bank check
• Money already in the person's jail account

Plan to use one of these four. Credit cards and personal checks are not among them. NJMCdirect, the state's ticket website, is for town court tickets and fines. Bail at the jail is paid in person.

In some cases, the money can't be taken until a sworn bail source form reaches the prosecutor (N.J.S.A. 2A:162-13). That form names each person chipping in, how they know the defendant and how much they gave. If someone asks you to pay bail any other way, check first with the Records Office at 732-951-3355.

Yes. The county's own bail page says you can hire a bail bond agency to post bail for you. Here is what to know:

• Whatever you pay the agency stays with the agency, win or lose.
• Cash you post yourself is returned when the case is over.
• A bondsman needs a state license. Since late 2003, the Department of Banking and Insurance has insisted on it. Ask to see it before you sign.
• A few serious charges carry a stricter rule: full cash, or a bond an authorized company writes.

Get every promise in writing, including any car title or other item you hand over. Ask how and when it comes back.

Each bail amount covers one case and nothing else. Before handing over money, ask the Records Office at 732-951-3355 about these:

• Other warrants. A town court warrant from another town needs its own bail or release.
• Two cases. A Superior Court charge and a town court charge are handled apart.
• A detention motion. The prosecutor may ask that the person be held with no release.
• Parole or probation. A violation can bring a separate hold.
• A broken release rule. Violating earlier conditions is the top reason judges now set money at all.
• A federal or ICE hold. Those follow their own rules.

Only after a hearing, and only in narrow cases. The state constitution gives everyone a chance at release (N.J. Const. art. I, para. 11). A judge can say no only if nothing would work. In other words, no cash figure and no list of rules could make sure of three things: a return to court, the safety of others, and no meddling with the case.

Prosecutors may ask for this in the gravest cases, like violent first and second degree crimes, many gun charges, domestic violence and certain sex offenses. They can also file when they see a serious risk of running, harm or witness threats (N.J.S.A. 2A:162-19). In a murder case, or one that could mean life in prison, the judge begins by leaning toward holding the person, and the defense must push back with proof.

• Most detention hearings are argued at the first appearance itself. The state may push it back by as many as 3 days, the defense by as many as 5.
• The person has a lawyer at the hearing and can question witnesses.
• A detained person can be held for 90 days before an indictment and 180 days after it, with some time not counted. After 2 years the state must be ready for trial (N.J.S.A. 2A:162-22).

These motions come from the County Prosecutor's Office on the third floor of 25 Kirkpatrick Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-745-3300.

Work through the defense lawyer, who can ask the judge to look again at the money or the rules. These steps help:

1. Collect pay stubs, a lease, school papers and letters from relatives nearby.
2. Write down what the family can really afford. The law says money bail exists to get the person back to court, not to keep them in (N.J.S.A. 2A:162-17).
3. Offer a plan that eases the judge's concerns, such as regular reporting or an evening curfew.
4. If the person was ordered held, the lawyer can appeal. The law says that appeal must be heard fast (N.J.S.A. 2A:162-18).

To ask when the next court date is, call the Superior Court at 732-645-4300.

Facing an indictable charge with no money for a lawyer? The state must still provide one. At the first hearing the court gives out the 5A form, which asks about income, bills and assets. A judge reviews it and makes the call. The state's guide to applying lays out each step.

• Office of the Public Defender, 550 Jersey Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-937-6400

In a town court, the lawyer comes from the municipal public defender. That help is open to people who can't pay and who could face jail, a lost license or penalties above $800. The town may charge up to $200, which a judge can cut or drop. Each court has the form. In Woodbridge, raise your hand on the court date and ask the judge.

The state's Superior Court has three buildings in New Brunswick. One phone line, 732-645-4300, reaches all of them:

• Middlesex County Courthouse (criminal cases and Criminal Finance), 56 Paterson Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08903
• Superior Court building, 14 Kirkpatrick Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08903
• Family Courthouse (youth cases), 120 New Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08903

Each of the 25 towns has a municipal court. Cranbury's cases are heard in Plainsboro. Court phones: Carteret 732-541-3900; Plainsboro and Cranbury 609-799-0863; Dunellen 732-968-3400; East Brunswick 732-390-6915; Edison 732-248-7328; Helmetta 732-521-4946; Highland Park 732-777-6010; Jamesburg 732-521-2222; Metuchen 732-632-8505; Middlesex Borough 732-356-4644; Milltown 732-247-3936; Monroe 732-521-4020; New Brunswick 732-745-5089; North Brunswick 732-247-0922; Old Bridge 732-721-5600; Perth Amboy 732-442-6011; Piscataway 732-562-2330; Sayreville 732-525-5446; South Amboy 732-525-5929; South Brunswick 732-329-4000; South Plainfield 908-226-7651; South River 732-257-1233; Spotswood 732-251-0700; Woodbridge 732-636-6430.

Federal cases go to Newark for the part of the county north of the Raritan River, at 50 Walnut Street, Room 4015, Newark, NJ 07101, 973-645-3730. Cases from south of the river go to Trenton, at 402 East State Street, Room 2020, Trenton, NJ 08608, 609-989-2065.

Money you put up in your own name is returned once the case wraps up, according to the county's bail page. Money paid to a bondsman stays gone. Hold on to the receipt and your ID so the refund can find its way back to you.

Skipping a court date puts the bail at risk. A judge may order the money forfeited and send out a warrant. The fastest fix is to get the person back to court right away with a lawyer.

For a refund or a forfeiture question on a Superior Court case, call Criminal Finance at 732-645-4300, ext. 88670. When the money went to a town court, that court's clerk handles the refund.

As release nears, ask what is being held: the wallet, keys, phone and any account balance. The jail's Business Office handles account refunds and can explain pickup times. Reach it at 732-951-3430. You can also reach the main desk at 732-297-3636.

Ask staff where to collect items, and carry a photo ID to Apple Orchard Lane, North Brunswick, NJ 08902. If you pick up for someone else, ask if a signed note is needed. Items police took as evidence are handled by the Prosecutor's Evidence Control Unit at 732-745-3300. Our money page explains how account deposits usually work.

A federal judge, under federal law, so the state reform rules drop away. The Raritan River decides which courthouse hears it:

• North of the river: Martin Luther King Building & U.S. Courthouse, 50 Walnut Street, Room 4015, Newark, NJ 07101, 973-645-3730
• South of the river: Clarkson S. Fisher Building & U.S. Courthouse, 402 East State Street, Room 2020, Trenton, NJ 08608, 609-989-2065

Expect a magistrate judge within about a day of the arrest. Lawyers argue jail or home right then, though the prosecutor can request a 3 day delay and the defense a 5 day delay (18 U.S.C. 3142(f)). The U.S. Marshals hold the person and choose the jail while the case is pending. To learn the location, call the Marshals in Newark at 973-645-2404. After a prison sentence, find them on the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator. Case files are on PACER.

Not by itself. An immigration request runs on a separate track from the state case. The steps tend to go like this:

1. The process opens when Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodges Form I-247A. This detainer requests custody for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
2. If the person is held, ICE officers come to take custody.
3. ICE may move the person to a site such as the Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility, 625 Evans Street, Elizabeth, NJ 07201, 908-282-5700. The ICE field office for the state is at 970 Broad St., 11th Floor, Newark, NJ 07102, 973-776-3274.
4. Type the person's A-number, or their name with their birth country, into the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

New Jersey's Immigrant Trust Directive changes step 1 for county jails (AG Directive 2018-6). Here, a detainer by itself can't keep someone past their release time. The exceptions are narrow. One is a pending charge, or a past conviction, for an offense the Directive treats as violent or serious. Another is a conviction for any indictable crime dated within the last five years. Last on the list: a deportation order that a federal judge has signed and made final. In those cases the extra time runs out at 11:59 p.m. that same day. Staff also have to give the person a written notice of each ICE request, in words they can read.

A state prison sentence is served under the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Sentenced people pass through a reception center before they reach a prison. Intake for men happens at the Central Reception and Assignment Facility. The Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women handles intake for women. Testing there covers medical, mental health and drug needs, and a scoring system places each person in a prison that fits.

• Use the DOC's inmate search, linked from its offender information page, to find the person.
• Our New Jersey state prisons guide covers each prison.
• The State Parole Board answers at 609-292-4257.

Teens under 18 are kept apart from the Apple Orchard Lane adult jail. When a judge orders a youth held, the stay is at the Juvenile Detention Center, which shares the Route 130 grounds. Its street is Apple Orchard Lane, North Brunswick, NJ 08902, 732-297-8991. Its mail goes to P.O. Box 7164, North Brunswick, NJ 08902. It is a secure, short-stay center for youths sent there by the Family Court. Youths from Somerset, Monmouth and Mercer counties are held there too.

A youth case belongs to the Family Part, which keeps it apart from adult criminal court. The Prosecutor's Juvenile Unit also runs diversion programs that can keep a case out of court. A move to adult court is possible only for youths age 15 or older, and only for certain grave crimes the law names (N.J.S.A. 2A:4A-26.1). For the youth's location and hearing time, parents can phone Youth Services at 732-398-4410.