Fulton County Sheriff's Office Inmate Bail & Bonds

The local judge who decides bail is a magisterial district judge, who runs a small community court. Within hours of an arrest, one of these judges holds a quick first hearing called a preliminary arraignment. Video is common for it. The judge reads out each charge, hands over a copy of the complaint, fixes bail and sets the day of the preliminary hearing (Pa.R.Crim.P. 540).

A person who remains behind bars must have that hearing inside 14 days. Out of jail? Then the limit stretches to 21 days. Late at night and on weekends, the first hearing is often run by video with whichever district judge is on call.

Fulton's three district courts are:

• Magisterial District Court 39-4-01, 27952 Great Cove Road, Suite 1, Hustontown, PA 17229, 717-987-3221
• Magisterial District Court 39-4-02, 208 North Second Street, McConnellsburg, PA 17233, 717-485-4842
• Magisterial District Court 39-4-03, 8328 Great Cove Road, Suite 100, Needmore, PA 17238, 717-573-2225

Not sure which of the three has the case? The Sheriff's Office can tell you at 717-485-4221.

State rules offer five kinds of pretrial release (Pa.R.Crim.P. 524). Four of them cost nothing on the day of release.

• Release on recognizance (ROR). The person simply signs, promising to attend each court date.
• ROR with conditions. That same signature, along with rules like probation check-ins, staying clear of a certain person, or turning over guns.
• Unsecured bail. An amount is set, yet nobody pays it unless the person misses court.
• Nominal bail. Just $1 or a similar small sum is posted. A named person or agency then vouches for the defendant.
• Monetary bail. Before release, cash, real estate or a bond must back the full amount.

The judge's choice rests on the charge, work history, family ties nearby, any past record and how well the person kept earlier court dates (Pa.R.Crim.P. 523).

No chart ties a dollar figure to each crime here. The judge sizes the bail for the person in front of them. Under the rule, money bail must stay reasonable, with the defendant's means taken into account (Pa.R.Crim.P. 528).

Judges also look hard at how serious the crime is. Pennsylvania ranks crimes by grade, and every grade has a ceiling (18 Pa.C.S. §§ 1101, 1103-1105):

• F1, the top felony grade: at most 20 years behind bars and a $25,000 fine
• F2: at most 10 years and $25,000
• F3: at most 7 years and $15,000
• M1, the top misdemeanor grade: at most 5 years and $10,000
• M2: at most 2 years and $5,000
• M3: at most 1 year and $2,500
• Summary offense, the lowest level, which covers many traffic and disorderly conduct cases: at most 90 days and $300

When the case is filed, its docket sheet on the free UJS case search shows the bail. Pick the county and enter the name. For a quicker answer, phone the Clerk of Courts at 717-485-4212.

Even though the person sleeps in another county's jail, their case belongs to Fulton's courts. Take these steps in order:

1. Phone the Sheriff's Office at 717-485-4221 to find out which jail took them. Or ring the Bedford County Correctional Facility, 425 Imlertown Road, Bedford, PA 15522, at 814-623-2955, or the Franklin County Jail, 1804 Opportunity Avenue, Chambersburg, PA 17201, at 717-264-9513.
2. Jot down the amount, whether it is cash or a bond, and the docket number.
3. Call the Clerk of Courts at 717-485-4212. Ask where the money must be paid, which payment types are taken right now and what time the window closes.
4. Carry a photo ID and the payment to the county courthouse, 201 N. Second Street, McConnellsburg, PA 17233.
5. Ask for the itemized receipt the rules require, and store it somewhere safe (Pa.R.Crim.P. 535).
6. Phone the jail again to learn the release time and where to pick the person up.

Yes. Bail usually goes to the Clerk of Courts. Here that clerk shares one office with the Prothonotary, the Recorder of Deeds and the Register of Wills.

• Clerk of Courts, county courthouse, 201 N. Second Street, McConnellsburg, PA 17233, 717-485-4212, email prothonotary@co.fulton.pa.us. Courthouse hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. The clerk's fee list includes a charge for handling bail money paid into court.

Under state rules, the district judge who set bail may also accept the deposit. Phone that office before you go to make sure it can take your payment:

• Magisterial District Court 39-4-01, 27952 Great Cove Road, Suite 1, Hustontown, PA 17229, 717-987-3221
• Magisterial District Court 39-4-02, 208 North Second Street, McConnellsburg, PA 17233, 717-485-4842
• Magisterial District Court 39-4-03, 8328 Great Cove Road, Suite 100, Needmore, PA 17238, 717-573-2225

The state rule lists what can satisfy money bail (Pa.R.Crim.P. 528):

• the full sum in cash
• a deed to Pennsylvania property whose equity matches or beats the bail amount
• a bond from a bondsman holding a state license
• 10 percent paid in cash, if the court allows that option

Ask the Clerk of Courts at 717-485-4212 whether the 10 percent option applies to your case. Ask as well about checks, money orders and cards, and who a check should be made payable to.

Bring bail in person. The county's district court page points to the UJS online payment page, but that page is meant for citations, fines and costs, not bail on a Fulton case. Cash should never go in an envelope.

Paid bond agents operate legally across the state. A bondsman promises the court the full bail, and in return you pay them a fee.

• Bondsmen must hold a Pennsylvania Insurance Department license (42 Pa.C.S. § 5742).
• Before working in any county, a bondsman must lodge a copy of the state license and related papers with that county (42 Pa.C.S. § 5743.1). Fulton's Clerk of Courts charges bonding companies to file quarterly statements, so the clerk can tell you who works here.
• The old state cap on fees was repealed in 2015. Get the total price written down first.
• You do not get the fee back, whatever happens to the charges.
• Charging money only for finding a bondsman for someone is a crime (42 Pa.C.S. § 5749).

Before signing with any bond agent, check their standing with the Clerk of Courts at 717-485-4212 before signing.

Bail clears just one case. Any of these can still keep the door shut:

• Another county's or state's warrant. That warrant has to be cleared where it came from.
• A probation or parole detainer. The county's probation office can place one. Adult and Juvenile Probation is at 318 North 1st Street, McConnellsburg, PA 17233, 717-485-3192.
• A separate charge. Two cases can mean two bails.
• Release rules still being arranged. A release tied to supervision may wait until that supervision is ready.
• A federal or immigration hold. A federal case or an ICE detainer follows its own rules.

Before handing over money, ask the jail to name each hold on the person. Reach Bedford at 814-623-2955 or Franklin at 717-264-9513.

Pennsylvania's constitution makes nearly every person bailable (Pa. Const. art. I, § 14). A judge can say no to bail in just two situations:

• the top penalty for the charge is life in prison or death, or
• no release rules, however strict, could keep other people out of danger.

Either way, proving it is the prosecutor's job. That takes real evidence at a hearing, not just words (Commonwealth v. Talley, 2021).

Prosecutions here come from the District Attorney's Office, 116 West Market Street, McConnellsburg, PA 17233, 717-485-5419, open weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Yes. The defense can file a motion to change bail (Pa.R.Crim.P. 529). Before the case leaves the district office, that request goes to the judge who first set bail. Once the case moves up, the Court of Common Pleas decides.

1. Have a private lawyer or the public defender file the motion.
2. Gather pay stubs, proof of a local address, the names of relatives close by, and how much the family can realistically put up.
3. Offer conditions aimed at the judge's fears, like reporting every week.

Time in jail matters as well. When a person has been held past 180 days from the date of the complaint, leaving out any delay the defense caused, the lawyer can seek nominal bail (Pa.R.Crim.P. 600).

The Public Defender's Office sits at 201 N. 2nd Street, McConnellsburg, PA 17233, 717-485-3447.

By law, a public defender serves every Pennsylvania county but Philadelphia (16 P.S. § 9960.1 and following). Someone without money for a lawyer may ask this office to take the case. The person signs a statement under oath about income, and the county decides using its own money guidelines.

• Public Defender's Office, 201 N. 2nd Street, McConnellsburg, PA 17233, 717-485-3447, email publicdefender@co.fulton.pa.us
• Office page: county public defender

Phone the office to learn how to apply and which papers, like pay stubs, to bring. Since Act 34 of 2023, Pennsylvania has put state money into county public defense, which it never did before.

Adult cases nearly always begin at a district court and later move to the courthouse.

• Court of Common Pleas, 39th Judicial District, county courthouse, 201 N. Second Street, McConnellsburg, PA 17233, 717-485-4212. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. Franklin County shares the same judges.
• Magisterial District Court 39-4-01, 27952 Great Cove Road, Suite 1, Hustontown, PA 17229, 717-987-3221
• Magisterial District Court 39-4-02, 208 North Second Street, McConnellsburg, PA 17233, 717-485-4842
• Magisterial District Court 39-4-03, 8328 Great Cove Road, Suite 100, Needmore, PA 17238, 717-573-2225
• District Court Administrator for the two-county district, Franklin County Courthouse, 157 Lincoln Way East, Chambersburg, PA 17201, 717-261-3848
• Federal court for this area, Sylvia H. Rambo United States Courthouse, 1501 North 6th Street, Suite 101, Harrisburg, PA 17102, 717-221-3920

Money posted as bail goes back to the named depositor roughly 20 days after the final ruling in the case (Pa.R.Crim.P. 535). Keep the receipt with your ID.

• A handling charge called poundage comes out first. The rate appears on the clerk's fee schedule.
• Bail posted in the defendant's own name may be kept to pay that person's fines, costs and restitution.
• A surety who signed the bond may have to pay the entire bail if the defendant fails to appear.
• Skipping court leads to a bench warrant, loss of the bail and maybe new charges.

For a refund, ring the Clerk of Courts at 717-485-4212.

Belongings stay with whichever jail did the booking. Call that jail before making the drive.

• Franklin County Jail, 1804 Opportunity Avenue, Chambersburg, PA 17201, 717-264-9513. Valuable items are released on a property form that names who will collect them.
• Bedford County Correctional Facility, 425 Imlertown Road, Bedford, PA 15522, 814-623-2955. Staff can explain how property and any account balance are given back.

Have a photo ID with you. For deposits and balances in general, read our inmate money guide.

Federal crimes charged in Fulton are heard in the Harrisburg division of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Cases are tried in Harrisburg at the Sylvia H. Rambo federal courthouse, 1501 North 6th Street, Suite 101, Harrisburg, PA 17102, 717-221-3920.

• Bail paid on a state case has no effect on a federal one. The federal judge then holds a detention hearing and picks one of two paths: release with conditions, or jail until trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services gathers facts on the person for that hearing. It is at 1501 N. 6th St., Suite 100, Harrisburg, PA 17102, 717-901-2860.
• Until trial, the U.S. Marshals Service arranges where a jailed federal defendant is housed. Phone its Scranton office, 235 North Washington Avenue, Unit 215, Scranton, PA 18503, 570-346-7277, to learn which jail.
• Federal defenders work from 100 Chestnut Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101 (third floor), 717-782-2237.
• Once a prison term is imposed, track the person with the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

No. A detainer is a separate federal request that stays in place after bail. What usually happens next:

1. Form I-247A is how ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) makes the request.
2. That form seeks to keep the person jailed up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. The appeals court above Pennsylvania's federal courts settled this point. In the case it decided, Galarza v. Szalczyk (3d Cir. 2014), the holding was that ICE paperwork binds no jail; it is a request. If a county holds a person on a detainer alone, it can be blamed in court for that choice. Each jail therefore makes its own policy. Ask Bedford at 814-623-2955 or Franklin at 717-264-9513.
4. After ICE picks someone up, the Philadelphia Field Office oversees the case: 114 N. 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-656-7164.
5. Look the person up on the ICE Online Detainee Locator with their name and birth country.

Judges hand down a range, like 2 to 4 years. Its upper end decides the place (42 Pa.C.S. § 9762):

• maximum below 2 years: a county jail, which for Fulton means Bedford or Franklin
• maximum from 2 years up to 5: usually state prison. A local stay needs the prosecutor, the judge and the county jail to agree.
• a maximum of 5 years and up: always state prison

Each new state prisoner first goes through classification at a reception center, which lasts several weeks or longer, and is then assigned a prison. Search the DOC inmate locator to follow them. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections is at 1920 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050, 717-728-2573. For each prison's details, see our Pennsylvania state prisons page.

Under the Juvenile Act, people under 18 are handled in juvenile court in most cases (42 Pa.C.S. § 6301 and following). A young person who is detained stays in a juvenile center rather than with adults, and the case never shows on the public court portal.

Murder charges put a teen aged 15, 16 or 17 in adult court from day one. So do a handful of violent crimes, if the teen used a deadly weapon. Even so, the defense can ask a judge to send the case back down.

Youth cases here go through Adult and Juvenile Probation, 318 North 1st Street, McConnellsburg, PA 17233, 717-485-3192. Staff there can say where a young person is detained and when the next hearing is set.