Livingston County Jail Inmate Bail & Bonds

Only a judge can set release here; deputies and police officers cannot. Someone held after an arrest is taken before a town or village justice, or a County Court judge, for arraignment, the first hearing. That hearing normally comes within roughly 24 hours. A defense lawyer is present, provided free to anyone too poor to hire one (CPL 510.10(2)).

Plenty of people never spend a night inside. For charges under the top four felony classes (A through D), the law generally tells police to write an appearance ticket, a slip naming the court date, and send the person home (CPL 150.20). That rule has exceptions, such as a family violence case, an outstanding warrant or no proof of identity.

If the charge is not a "qualifying offense," the judge has to release the person on their own word or with conditions like check-ins (CPL 510.10(3)). Money bail, and remand (jail without bail), stay off the table except for the qualifying offenses in CPL 510.10(4) and 530.20.

Courtroom shorthand for the ruling is a securing order. State law allows four versions (CPL 500.10):

• Own recognizance. The person signs and walks out owing zero dollars, bound only by their word.
• Non-monetary conditions. Rules stand in for cash: reporting to a pretrial officer, a stay-away order, or electronic monitoring. None of the cost may be charged to the person (CPL 500.10(3-a)). Monitoring runs for 60 days at most per order, though a judge can renew it (CPL 510.40(4)).
• Bail. Money or a bond, and only when the charge qualifies.
• Remand. Locked up with no price for freedom, which the law limits to qualifying felonies.

Whenever bail is the answer, the order must name three or more acceptable forms, and the judge picks one of those to be a surety bond, either unsecured or partly secured (CPL 520.10). An unsecured bond costs nothing today: a signer simply promises the full sum if court is missed. A partly secured bond needs cash down of up to one tenth of the bail (CPL 500.10(18)).

Pre-Trial Services, a unit of the Probation Department, supervises check-ins locally at 6 Court Street, Room 101, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7916. People coming from County Court walk over in person right after their hearing. People from a town or village court phone in at once, leave a message and wait for reporting instructions.

Don't look for a printed list of prices. Judges here choose each figure case by case, and the law makes them consider whether paying would cause the person undue hardship (CPL 510.10(1)). Charges usually land in these groups:

• Violations (not crimes; the jail cap is 15 days): never bail.
• Most misdemeanors, lesser crimes carrying under a year behind bars locally: released with nothing to pay.
• Most nonviolent felonies, serious crimes with possible state prison time: usually released too.
• Criminal contempt for breaking a protective order that guards a family or household member: bail possible.
• Violent felonies, robbery in the first degree being one example: bail or remand possible.
• Class A felonies: bail or remand possible, and a town or village justice has no power to release (CPL 530.20(2)).
• Repeat situations, like a felony while on probation or a harmful new crime while out on a like charge: bail possible.

Statewide numbers for 2024 tell the story in small courts: 75% walked out on a promise, 5% left with conditions, 13% faced a bail figure, and 7% stayed remanded. Your own case's number comes from the jail, 585-243-7180, or from the clerk of whichever court ruled.

State law gives three places to deposit cash bail: the sheriff holding the person, the court, or the county treasurer (CPL 520.15). Here, the jail is part of the Sheriff's Office complex at 4 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454. Go in this order:

1. Phone the Jail Division, 585-243-7180, before driving to Court Street.
2. Read out the name letter by letter, plus the birthday. Record the amount, each bail form allowed and the case number.
3. Find out whether the jail can accept bail right now, what kind of payment, and during which hours. Sheriff's Office business hours run 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays, so ask what happens at night or on a weekend.
4. Carry a photo ID and the precise amount. Expect to complete and sign a short form.
5. Hold on to the receipt. The money is still yours unless a judge forfeits it, and that slip is your proof.

When proof of the deposit is filed, state law requires the person's release with no delay.

The court that set the amount may accept it directly (CPL 520.15). Lots of town courts here open only part of the week, so phone first.

• Geneseo Town and Village Courts: 119 Main Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-4530, option 3. Clerks work Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to noon.
• County Court clerk, for felony cases: 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-371-3920, weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• County Treasurer: 6 Court Street, Room 203, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7050.

Any other town or village case: call the justice court named on the paperwork. Ask the clerk for the sum, the kinds of payment allowed at the counter, and how soon the jail learns you paid.

State law names every acceptable form: cash, an insurance company bail bond, secured, partly secured or unsecured bonds, and a credit card (CPL 520.10(1)). Which ones apply depends on the judge's order in that case.

• The two courts in the county seat take bail or fines in person as cash, money order, bank certified check, MasterCard or Visa, in U.S. dollars.
• Those courts won't accept a personal check, and they take no payments over the phone.
• Their online payments page links separately to the Town Court and the Village Court. Have the court name, payer name and birth date, case number and judge's name. Check with the clerk whether bail can go through, or fines only.
• At the jail, staff at 585-243-7180 can say which forms they handle that day.

Cash should never go in the mail.

Bondsmen, the everyday name for bail agents, cannot work in New York without a Department of Financial Services (DFS) license. Confirm one through the DFS license lookup for bail agents first.

• State law caps the agent's premium: 10% on the first $3,000 of the bond, 8% on the part between $3,000 and $10,000, and 6% on any amount past $10,000 (Insurance Law § 6804). For $5,000 bail, $460 is the ceiling.
• Normally the premium is not returned. The exception: if the person stays in jail, or walks out with no money bail, the full premium is due back within 14 days.
• Collateral means property or cash the agent keeps as security. DFS says it should be reasonable, for instance 10% of the bond, and handed back within 45 days once the agent has the court's release of the bond.
• Apart from the premium, an agent may bill only for certain listed expenses.
• Insist on a signed receipt listing every payment and every item of collateral.
• Charitable bail organizations, nonprofits approved to post cash bail, are a second route.

Problems with an agent go to DFS on its consumer complaint page.

Paying covers one case and nothing else. So first, have jail staff at 585-243-7180 run through every hold on file. Typical ones:

• Another court's warrant. A County Court warrant can be carried out across New York. A town or village warrant reaches this county plus the counties bordering it (CPL 530.70).
• A separate case. Each open case carries its own securing order.
• State parole. Parole holds come from DOCCS, the state corrections and parole agency, 518-457-5000.
• Probation. A fresh felony while on probation is enough on its own to permit bail (CPL 510.10(4)). County Probation works from 6 Court Street, Room 101, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7190.
• Federal or immigration custody. State bail leaves either of these in place.
• Time already being served, weekend sentences included.

A judge may remand, keeping someone jailed without any bail, solely on a qualifying felony (CPL 510.10(4)). Violent felonies, class A felonies and certain sex and terror crimes are on that list, among others. With a qualifying misdemeanor, a judge can go as far as bail but no further.

Every ruling turns on one question: how likely is this person to flee? The judge considers prior convictions, past no-shows in court, finances, any violated protective order, firearm history and whether someone was badly hurt (CPL 510.10(1)). Since the 2023 budget, judges are free of the rule that once forced the "least restrictive" choice. Reasons still have to be given in court or on paper.

Bail or remand requests are made by prosecutors from the District Attorney's Office, inside the courthouse at 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7020, and staff answer weekdays between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

1. Begin with the defense lawyer. A request to revisit the amount goes back to the same judge first.
2. Collect wage records, a lease, letters from relatives nearby and an honest monthly budget. The figure is supposed to reflect what the person can manage.
3. Bail set in a town or village court can be taken up with a County Court judge for review. Only one such request is permitted, so build it carefully (CPL 530.30). For felonies, prosecutors speak before any change.
4. Propose supervision that eases the judge's concerns, like reporting to Pre-Trial Services.

The County Court clerk sits at 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-371-3920.

Every defendant gets a lawyer at arraignment. Whether they qualify is sorted out later (Executive Law § 832(4)). Anyone sitting in jail, or whose household falls below 250% of the poverty line, is presumed to qualify.

• Public Defender: Government Center, 6 Court Street, Room 109, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7028. Covers felonies, misdemeanors, Family Court and appeals. Use the application form online, send it by mail or fax, or slide it through the window slot, since the office door is kept shut. Call ahead, and bring income proof plus every court paper.
• Conflict Defender: 6 Court Street, Room B-11, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7987. Represents people the Public Defender can't, such as a co-defendant in the same case. This office also manages the Assigned Counsel Program, which places private attorneys on cases.

Felony cases finish at the courthouse on Court Street. Everything else starts before the local justice where the arrest happened, and many of those benches sit just a few evenings a month.

• County and Supreme Court, 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-371-3920
• Family Court, first floor, Room 129, 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-371-3919
• Avon Town and Village Courts, 23 Genesee Street, Avon, NY 14414, 585-226-2425, ext. 13
• Caledonia Town and Village Courts, 3095 Main Street, Caledonia, NY 14423, 585-538-4800
• Conesus Town Court, P.O. Box 71, Conesus, NY 14435, 585-991-8070
• Dansville Village Court, 14 Clara Barton Street, Dansville, NY 14437, 585-335-6547
• Geneseo Town and Village Courts, 119 Main Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-4530
• Groveland Town Court, 4955 Aten Road, Groveland, NY 14462, 585-243-3782
• Leicester Town Court, 132 Main Street, Leicester, NY 14481, 585-382-9419
• Lima Town Court, 7321 East Main Street, Lima, NY 14485, 585-582-1011
• Livonia Town Court, 35 Commercial Street, Livonia, NY 14487, 585-346-0221
• Mount Morris Town Court, 117 Main Street, Mount Morris, NY 14510, 585-658-3358
• Mount Morris Village Court, reached through the village office, 117 Main Street, Mount Morris, NY 14510, 585-658-4160
• North Dansville Town Court, 14 Clara Barton Street, Dansville, NY 14437, 585-335-2330
• Nunda Town Court, 4 Massachusetts Street, Nunda, NY 14517, 585-468-5558
• Nunda Village Court, 4 Massachusetts Street, Nunda, NY 14517, 585-468-2215
• Ossian Town Court, 4706 Ossian Hill Road, Dansville, NY 14437, 585-335-8040
• Portage Town Court, North Church Street, Hunt, NY 14846, 585-476-5981
• Sparta Town Court, 7351 Route 256, Scottsburg, NY 14545, 585-335-7045
• Springwater Town Court, 8022 South Main Street, Springwater, NY 14560, 585-669-2001
• West Sparta Town Court, 8302 Kysorville-Byersville Road, Dansville, NY 14437, 585-335-2443
• York Town Court, 2668 Main Street, York, NY 14592, 585-243-3128, ext. 1

Under CPL 520.15, posted cash is owned by whoever put it down. Only a forfeiture order changes that.

• If the charges are dismissed or a jury acquits, every dollar returns.
• A conviction means the county holds back a 3% fee (General Municipal Law § 99-m).
• A no-show lets the judge order the money forfeited (CPL 540.10). A person who returns before the case wraps up, with a good explanation, may get that undone.
• After a forfeiture, whoever posted the money gets one year to seek some or all of it back from a County Court judge (CPL 540.30).

Save the payment slip, and carry ID to any refund visit. The court that took the payment explains its refund steps. Bail held by the County Treasurer is handled at 585-243-7050.

Leftover account funds, and the clothes, keys or phone a person came in with, stay with the jail. Before release, call the Jail Division at 585-243-7180 and find out:

1. How the remaining account balance is paid out.
2. When property can be collected, and whether the person must sign it over to you.
3. Which ID to carry.

Pickups happen at 4 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454. Deposits, balances and refunds in general are explained in our inmate money guide.

A federal arrest from this area lands in the Rochester Division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, Kenneth B. Keating Federal Building, 100 State Street, Rochester, NY 14614, 585-613-4000. Its clerk's office keeps weekday hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

• A federal judge, not a town justice, rules on release. That detention hearing usually opens the first court date, though the defense can request a delay of five days or fewer, and the government a delay of three or fewer (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Possible results: release on the person's own promise, release on a bond with no money down, release on conditions, or jail until trial.
• Until trial, custody of federal defendants belongs to the U.S. Marshals Service, 2 Niagara Square, Buffalo, NY 14202, 716-348-5300. The county jail has had an agreement allowing the Marshals to house prisoners there.
• U.S. Probation's Rochester office: 100 State Street, Room 1200, Rochester, NY 14614, 585-263-6810.
• The Federal Public Defender's Rochester office: 28 East Main Street, Suite 400, Rochester, NY 14614, 585-263-6201.
• After a sentence, track the person with the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

They can. Immigration custody runs on its own track, so clearing the criminal bail leaves a detainer in place.

1. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may send jail staff Form I-247A, its detainer paper.
2. That paper seeks custody for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. When ICE officers collect the person, the matter moves to the agency's Buffalo field office, 130 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14202, 716-843-7600. ICE runs a detention site in nearby Batavia: the Buffalo (Batavia) Service Processing Center, 4250 Federal Drive, Batavia, NY 14020, 585-344-6500.
4. Look the person up in the ICE Online Detainee Locator using their name plus country of birth, or an A-number.

New York rules shape what the jail can do next. A 2018 appeals decision, People ex rel. Wells v DeMarco, ruled that New York law grants local police and jailers no arrest power over purely civil immigration matters. Executive Law § 170-k, enacted in 2026, outlaws 287(g) agreements, and every existing one became void on August 25, 2026. Under Civil Rights Law § 28, a civil immigration arrest near a courthouse, of someone coming to or leaving a case, needs a judge's warrant or order. Guidance from the Attorney General recommends that agencies honor detainers only when they come with a judicial warrant.

Prison terms on felonies, anything beyond a year, belong to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS). Local jail time of 364 days or less, plus intermittent weekend sentences, is done at the county jail; ask about those at 585-243-7180.

• Right after sentencing, people stay on Court Street until local officials declare them state ready. The state then has a window of ten business days to come collect them.
• Next comes a reception unit, where medical exams, testing and a security rating decide the final prison.
• Search the DOCCS Incarcerated Lookup using a name or the DIN, the number the state assigns.
• Visiting, mail and address details for each one appear in the New York state prisons guide we keep.

The county also holds a state prison: Groveland Correctional Facility, 7000 Sonyea Road, Sonyea, NY 14556, 585-658-2871. It belongs to the state, separate from the Sheriff's jail, so families reach people there through DOCCS.

Raise the Age changed the rules for teens. Sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds now face adult court only in narrow cases, and none may be held alongside adults. When a youth must be held, it is in a secure detention center built for young people.

• For a misdemeanor, a youth is screened by county Probation, not prosecuted as an adult.
• Felony charges against older teens are first heard in County Court's Youth Part.
• If nobody was hurt and no weapon was involved, the file usually moves to Family Court in 30 days or fewer. Prosecutors may keep it only with proof of extraordinary circumstances (CPL 722.23).
• An officer with a child in custody is required to call the parent without delay (Family Court Act § 305.2).

Juvenile Services, inside Probation, screens these cases. To learn where a youth is placed and the next court date, call Probation at 6 Court Street, Room 101, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7190. Family Court is at 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-371-3919.