Dutchess County Justice and Transition Center Inmate Bail & Bonds

A judge makes the call at the arraignment, the first court hearing on the charge. The state courts say about 24 hours is the usual gap between arrest and arraignment.

Plenty of people skip that wait. For most misdemeanors and lower-level felonies, police generally must issue a desk appearance ticket and let the person leave (CPL 150.20). That ticket lists a date to appear in court. Family violence and some other cases are carved out of this rule, so those people are usually held for a judge.

Someone who is held usually is arraigned by the justice or city court for the town, village or city where police made the arrest. In this county that means Poughkeepsie City Court, Beacon City Court, or one of 28 town and village justice courts. New York calls the judge's ruling a securing order (CPL 510.10). For an arrest late at night or over a weekend, phone the jail at 845-486-3900 and ask where and when the hearing is set.

The law spells them out (CPL 500.10):

• Own recognizance (ROR). Free to leave on a pledge to return. No money changes hands.
• Non-monetary conditions. Free to leave with rules, like check-ins with a pretrial officer or keeping away from a certain person. The court cannot charge the person for this supervision (CPL 500.10(3-a)).
• Bail. Cash or a bond that guarantees a return to court.
• Remand. Held with no bail at all. Only some felonies allow it.

If the charge is not on the "qualifying offense" list, the judge is limited to the first two (CPL 510.10(3)). Electronic monitoring is a condition, too. It fits only certain charges and only when nothing lighter will do, and a judge has to revisit it every 60 days or sooner (CPL 510.40(4)).

Pretrial supervision here is handled by the Office of Probation and Community Corrections, which the state court system has certified. Its main office is at 50 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, 845-486-2600.

Nothing like a price sheet exists for New York crimes. The judge sizes up the accusation, past convictions, any earlier failure to show up, and the family's money, including whether paying would cause "undue hardship" (CPL 510.10(1)).

Some quick terms help. Felonies are serious crimes that can lead to state prison, graded class A (most serious) through class E. Misdemeanors are smaller crimes, graded class A or B, punished with up to 364 days in a county jail. Violations are lesser still and are not crimes. Here is a rough guide:

1. Violations and most misdemeanors: freed without money.
2. Most nonviolent felonies: freed without money, unless an exception fits, such as a fresh felony committed while on probation.
3. Violent felonies under Penal Law § 70.02, such as first-degree robbery: money bail or remand can be ordered.
4. Class A felonies: bail or remand can be ordered, and a local court has no power to free the person (CPL 530.20(2)).
5. Choking a relative or violating an order of protection that shields one: money bail can be ordered.
6. Listed sex offenses, and any charge claiming someone died: money bail can be ordered.
7. Hurting someone or damaging property while already free on a similar pending case: bail is allowed.

Outside New York City, the state's 2024 figures show town and village judges releasing 75% of people on recognizance and setting bail for 13%. City courts set bail 20% of the time. Whenever bail is set, the order must list no fewer than three forms, and among them the court picks an unsecured or partly secured surety bond (CPL 520.10). The partly secured kind needs a deposit capped at a tenth of the full amount (CPL 500.10(18)). The unsecured kind needs nothing paid up front. To learn the figure in a live case, ring the jail at 845-486-3900.

The jail sits at 150 North Hamilton Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. Staff take bail and release papers from every court, all day and all night, every day of the year. Work through this list:

1. Phone 845-486-3900. Know the defendant's legal name and birthday, then ask the amount, the court, and the bail forms the judge allowed.
2. Ask whether more charges are pending. Each one needs to be paid or secured before the door opens.
3. Carry the full sum in U.S. currency, or plan to use a credit card.
4. Complete and sign the bail paperwork that state law requires from whoever posts (CPL 520.15).
5. Guard the receipt. Only the person whose name is on it can claim the refund later.

Release can take a while, and the jail sets no fixed time. A lost receipt can be reprinted by the jail's business office from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The jail's alternative number is 845-486-3913.

Under CPL 520.15, cash bail can be handed to the court that set it, the county treasurer, or the sheriff who has the person. In this county, the jail's bail page sends families to the Justice and Transition Center, where bail for any court is accepted at any hour.

When bail is set during business hours and the person has not been moved to the jail yet, phone the court with the case. Ask whether its clerk can accept the money:

• Poughkeepsie City Court, 62 Civic Center Plaza, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, 845-483-8200, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Beacon City Court, 1 Municipal Plaza, Suite 2, Beacon, NY 12508, 845-431-1900, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• County Court, 10 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, 845-431-1710, weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cases in a town or village court go through that court's own office. The state's town and village court finder lists each justice court's phone and hours.

Each method has its own rules:

• Cash in person. U.S. bills, for the entire amount, with no extra charge.
• Credit card in person. Taken, but a private bail payment firm processes it and adds a fee.
• Online or by phone. The county says bail can also be paid online or by phone through a third-party company that charges a fee. The fee is separate from the bail and never counts toward it, and the firm's terms apply. Call the jail at 845-486-3900 and ask staff how to reach that company by web or phone.
• A mix of card and cash. Fine. The firm charges the card part first, and cash makes up the balance.
• Personal checks. Refused.
• Bonds. Written only by a licensed bail bond company, never by the jail.

Never mail bail money to the jail.

Any licensed bail bond company may write a bond here. The bondsman files it with the judge, picks up a release order and carries that order to the jail. Staff free the person on that order, with no cash receipt involved. What you owe the bondsman is a private deal between you.

The state Department of Financial Services (DFS) licenses bondsmen and sets the ground rules:

• The premium, meaning the bondsman's fee, has a legal ceiling: 10% on the first $3,000, 8% on the next $7,000 and 6% on any part above $10,000 (Insurance Law § 6804). On a $5,000 bond, that tops out at $460.
• You normally lose the premium. The whole fee comes back, though, within 14 days when the person stays jailed or ends up freed without money bail.
• Extra charges on top of the premium are banned, apart from a few costs DFS names, like tracking down a person who missed court.
• Collateral should stay reasonable, near 10% of the bond. The bondsman has 45 days to hand it back once the bond is closed out.
• DFS says every payment and every piece of collateral earns you a signed, itemized receipt.
• Charitable bail groups are nonprofits that can post cash bail. Ask in writing for the group's DFS certificate number.

Look up a bondsman on the state bail agent license search, and report trouble through the DFS complaint form.

One bail settles one case. Other things can still block the exit:

• More charges. Every open charge needs its own bail paid or secured.
• A warrant from somewhere else. The county says another agency's warrant can stop a release even after the money is in.
• Probation. A new felony during probation can make the case a qualifying offense. Probation is at 50 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, 845-486-2600.
• A federal or ICE hold. Paying county bail does nothing to a detainer from the U.S. Marshals or immigration officers.
• Processing. Paperwork takes time, and the jail promises no set wait.

Before handing over money, ask the jail at 845-486-3900 to read out every hold on the person.

Remand means no bail is set and the person stays in jail. A judge can order it only on a qualifying felony (CPL 510.10(4)). A 2023 budget change, announced May 3, 2023, dropped the duty to pick the "least restrictive" choice. Judges now look for an order that will reasonably bring the person back, with more leeway on serious crimes.

• A local court can't let go of a defendant facing a class A felony, or one with two prior felony convictions. A higher court has to rule on release (CPL 530.20(2)).
• The prosecutor must get a chance to speak before a local court frees someone on a felony.
• Jail on a felony complaint has a time limit. After 120 hours behind bars with neither a preliminary hearing nor a grand jury decision, the person must be freed (CPL 180.80). The clock stretches to 144 hours when a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday is included, and there are exceptions.

The District Attorney's Office, which asks judges for bail or remand, is at 236 Main Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, 845-486-2300.

Yes. Try these routes:

1. Ask the defense lawyer to argue bail again before the same judge.
2. For a case still in a local court, the lawyer may go once to a County Court judge (CPL 530.30). That fits when the local judge denied release, set bail too high, or set tougher rules than needed. A second try under this law is not allowed.
3. Collect papers that show steady work, a home address, family here and a real budget.
4. The defendant may request a nominal, very small bail amount. If the request is truly voluntary, the judge has to grant it (CPL 510.10(5)).

Deadlines can also force a release. A person held on a felony must be freed if prosecutors are not trial-ready within 90 days of the jailing (CPL 30.30(2)). County Court answers questions at 845-431-1710.

State law makes every county supply lawyers to people charged with crimes who lack the money to hire one (County Law § 722). This county's office is the Public Defender, 45 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, 845-486-2280. Its toll-free alternative number is 800-660-8818.

• Office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
• Walk in for an intake interview any day between 9:00 and 11:30 a.m. People are seen in the order they arrive.
• Its lawyers handle criminal cases and Family Court cases.

State rules treat anyone in jail as eligible. People who earn below 250% of federal poverty guidelines qualify too. A spouse's pay does not count. A lawyer should stand with the person at arraignment. The judge can assign one for now while the money form is checked (Executive Law § 832(4)). When the Public Defender has to step aside, ask the judge how a different free lawyer is named.

County Court tries felonies. City, town and village courts hear misdemeanors and do the early steps in felony cases. All of them belong to the Ninth Judicial District.

• Supreme and County Court, 10 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, 845-431-1710, weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Family Court, 50 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, 845-431-1850
• Poughkeepsie City Court, 62 Civic Center Plaza, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, 845-483-8200
• Beacon City Court, 1 Municipal Plaza, Suite 2, Beacon, NY 12508, 845-431-1900
• Poughkeepsie Town Court, 17 Tucker Drive, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603, 845-485-3692
• Fishkill Town Court, 807 Route 52, Fishkill, NY 12524, 845-831-7860
• East Fishkill Town Court, Town Hall, 330 Route 376, Hopewell Junction, NY 12533, 845-226-4229
• Wappinger Town Court, Town Hall, 20 Middlebush Road, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590, 845-297-6070
• Wappingers Falls Village Court, 2582 South Avenue, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590, 845-297-6777
• Dover Town Court, Town Hall, 126 East Duncan Hill Road, Dover Plains, NY 12522, 845-832-9373

Phone numbers for the remaining justice courts:

• Amenia Town Court: 845-373-7017
• Beekman Town Court: 845-724-5300, ext. 1
• Clinton Town Court: 845-266-5988
• Hyde Park Town Court: 845-229-1620
• LaGrange Town Court: 845-452-1830, option 2
• Milan Town Court: 845-758-6960
• North East Town Court and Millerton Village Court: 518-789-3300, ext. 604
• Pawling Town Court: 845-855-3516
• Pawling Village Court: 845-855-5602
• Pine Plains Town Court: 518-398-7194
• Pleasant Valley Town Court: 845-635-2856
• Red Hook Town Court: 845-758-4611
• Red Hook Village Court: 845-758-4113
• Rhinebeck Town Court: 845-876-3858
• Rhinebeck Village Court: 845-876-4119
• Stanford Town Court: 845-868-2269
• Union Vale Town Court: 845-724-3288
• Washington Town Court and Millbrook Village Court: 845-677-6366
• Fishkill Village Court: 845-897-2103
• Tivoli Village Court: 845-757-3219

Street addresses and court nights for that second group are on the Unified Court System's Find a Court tool.

Cash bail is held by the court while the case is open. Once it closes:

1. Whoever is named on the receipt visits the clerk with that original slip and a photo ID.
2. Ninth Judicial District courts send refunds as a check, nothing else.
3. A full refund follows a dismissal of every charge or a not-guilty verdict.
4. A conviction means the court holds back 3% (General Municipal Law § 99-m). Fines and fees may come out of the money as well.

Money posted on a civil case, such as one in Family Court, is not returned at the end. The jail cannot hand back bail it accepted.

If the person skips court with no good excuse, the judge can order the bail forfeited, and the county may keep it (CPL 540.10). Coming back with a reason before the case wraps up lets the judge cancel that. After that, the deadline to ask for the money back is one year (CPL 540.30). Ask the clerk of the court that holds the bail about any refund.

The property window is at the Justice and Transition Center, 150 North Hamilton Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. It opens Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. and again from 12:30 to 3:00 p.m., if a property officer is on hand. Items still there 30 days after release are destroyed.

Show a photo ID at the window. If the belongings are someone else's, call first to learn whether you need their signed permission. For questions on money left in the jail account, call 845-486-3900. Our guide to jail accounts covers how balances usually work.

That decision belongs to a federal judge. This county sits in the Southern District of New York, and its criminal cases are assigned to the White Plains courthouse named for Charles L. Brieant Jr., 300 Quarropas Street, White Plains, NY 10601, 914-390-4100. The clerk's office keeps weekday hours, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

• Federal law calls for a detention hearing at the very first court date. The defense may win up to five days of delay, the government up to three (18 U.S.C. 3142(f)).
• The judge gets a background report written by Pretrial Services. Its White Plains office is at 300 Quarropas Street, Room 449, White Plains, NY 10601, 914-390-4140.
• Before trial, federal prisoners are guarded by the U.S. Marshals Service, 500 Pearl Street, Suite 400, New York, NY 10007, 646-563-9800.
• Free defense comes from Federal Defenders of New York, 81 Main Street, Suite 124, White Plains, NY 10601, 914-428-7124.

After a federal sentence, check the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

Not by itself. An ICE request runs on its own track, and it tends to unfold like this:

1. Step one is Form I-247A. Immigration officers send this detainer to the jail.
2. It asks staff to hold the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. ICE's New York City Field Office handles this county: 26 Federal Plaza, Suite 9-110, New York, NY 10278 (9th floor), 212-436-9315.
4. After pickup, ICE can send the person to one of its sites, for example the Buffalo (Batavia) Service Processing Center, 4250 Federal Drive, Batavia, NY 14020, 585-344-6500.
5. Track them with the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

New York rules shape what a local jail does. People ex rel. Wells v DeMarco settled a key point in 2018. That appeals decision held that local deputies lack state-law power to make arrests over civil immigration matters. The Attorney General calls detainers voluntary and urges honoring one only when a judge signed a warrant. Executive Law § 170-k, enacted May 27, 2026, outlaws 287(g) agreements and made old ones void on August 25, 2026. Court orders and judicial warrants still must be obeyed. Civil Rights Law § 28 protects people heading to court, in court or going home from court from civil arrest unless a judge has approved it in a warrant or order.

Felony terms longer than a year generally go to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS). Until the county certifies the person as state ready, they stay at the jail on North Hamilton Street. Once that happens, state law gives DOCCS ten business days to collect them. At a reception center, each new arrival is tested and classified, then moved to a prison that matches their needs.

• Find the person by name or DIN, the number DOCCS assigns, on the state incarcerated lookup.
• No internet? Phone DOCCS on business days at 518-457-5000.
• Facility details are in our New York state prisons guide.

New York's Raise the Age law keeps most 16- and 17-year-olds away from adult criminal court. Police holding a child must call a parent immediately (Family Court Act § 305.2).

• Felonies charged against teens of 16 or 17 start out in County Court's Youth Part, and a good share of nonviolent ones are then shifted to Family Court.
• Teens facing misdemeanors are sent to probation intake, not adult court.
• Children 12 through 15 mostly appear in Family Court.
• An adolescent offender can't be kept in a jail for adults. A secure juvenile detention center holds them.
• A child held before a petition is filed must see Family Court within 72 hours or on the next day court sits, whichever is sooner (Family Court Act § 307.3).

Family Court is at 50 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, 845-431-1850. Reach probation intake at 845-486-2600.