Juniata County Inmate Bail & Bonds

Bail for arrests in this county is the call of a magisterial district judge (MDJ). That ruling is made at the preliminary arraignment, the very first hearing. It is commonly done on a two-way video link, with the arrested person in Lewistown and the judge on a screen. A pa.gov walkthrough of the court process says the wait is generally under six hours.

Three things happen there: the person receives the written charges, called the complaint, bail gets set, and a preliminary hearing goes on the calendar (Pa.R.Crim.P. 540). The county's two district courts both act as bail judges:

• Magisterial District Court 41-3-01, Courthouse Annex, 30 North Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059, 717-436-7722
• Magisterial District Court 41-3-02, Port Royal Community Building, 212 North Fourth Street, Port Royal, PA 17082, 717-527-4949

When an arrest comes after the courts close, an on-call judge takes it. The court that ruled is named on the papers the person is given.

Rule 524 of the state's criminal rules offers five kinds of release (Pa.R.Crim.P. 524). In four of them, nobody pays cash on the spot.

1. Release on recognizance (ROR). A signature on a written promise to come back is all it takes.
2. ROR plus conditions. That same signature, with extra rules attached, such as phone check-ins or a no-contact order.
3. Unsecured bail. A set sum is written into the order, and it is owed only after a no-show.
4. Nominal bail. Only a token amount, as little as $1, is put down. A relative, friend or bail agency vouches for the person as surety.
5. Monetary bail. The one type that needs money, land or a bond before the door opens.

Rule 523 sets out the factors. They include the charge itself, steady work, family nearby, past convictions and the person's track record of making court dates (Pa.R.Crim.P. 523).

No statewide price list exists for each crime. Pennsylvania rules say any money condition must be reasonable and must take the person's finances into account (Pa.R.Crim.P. 528). The grade of the charge still counts. These are the legal ceilings for each grade (18 Pa.C.S. §§ 1101, 1103-1105):

• F1 felony: a ceiling of 20 years behind bars and a $25,000 fine
• F2 felony: a ceiling of 10 years, with fines to $25,000
• F3 felony: a ceiling of 7 years, with fines to $15,000
• M1 misdemeanor: a ceiling of 5 years, with fines to $10,000
• M2 misdemeanor: a ceiling of 2 years, with fines to $5,000
• M3 misdemeanor: a ceiling of 1 year, with fines to $2,500
• Summary offense, such as disorderly conduct: a ceiling of 90 days and $300
• Murder: first degree means death or life, while second degree means life (18 Pa.C.S. § 1102)

The exact bail in your person's case is printed on the docket sheet, which anyone can open free on the UJS Web Portal; pick Juniata and type the name. Or ask the clerks at the court that ruled, such as Magisterial District Court 41-3-01, Courthouse Annex, 30 North Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059, 717-436-7722.

The jail's family guide points people first to the court holding the case, during that court's open hours. Once the courts close, the jail accepts bail by money order, but only when the court papers list a bail amount. Here is the order to do things:

1. Ring the Mifflin County Correctional Facility at 717-248-1130 to confirm the booking and the exact bail.
2. Check that the paperwork shows an amount the jail is allowed to take tonight.
3. Buy a money order for that figure, and ask who to make it payable to.
4. Carry it, plus a photo ID, to 103 W Market St., Lewistown, PA 17044.
5. Tuck the receipt somewhere safe, since a refund later depends on it.

Walking out is rarely instant. Staff release people as soon as practical, depending on the court paperwork and the workload that day.

Yes. On weekdays, pay the office that has the case at that moment. Phone ahead for the amount and the kinds of payment its counter takes.

• A case that has not left the district court is paid at Magisterial District Court 41-3-01, Courthouse Annex, 30 North Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059, 717-436-7722, or Magisterial District Court 41-3-02, Port Royal Community Building, 212 North Fourth Street, Port Royal, PA 17082, 717-527-4949, whichever the papers name.
• A case already moved up to the Court of Common Pleas goes through the Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts, 1 N Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059, 717-436-7715. County offices keep hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Take a photo ID and, if you have it, the docket number. Insist on an itemized receipt before stepping away.

Under Rule 528, a money bail can be satisfied with cash for the full figure, with Pennsylvania real estate whose clear value matches it, or with a licensed bondsman's surety bond (Pa.R.Crim.P. 528). Some courts let a family post just 10 percent. On $5,000 bail, that would be $500. Ask the court that set the bail whether it allows that.

• After hours at the Lewistown jail, a money order is the safe choice.
• Call first before counting on a personal check or a bank card.
• The district court page links PA ePay for court cases, which takes Visa, MasterCard, Discover and debit cards. It is built for fines and costs, not for posting bail.
• Paper bills tucked in an envelope can vanish, so keep cash out of the mail.

To hear what the Clerk of Courts counter takes, dial 717-436-7715. That office sits at 1 N Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059.

Commercial bail is lawful in this state. You pay a bondsman a premium, and the bondsman signs a surety bond that promises the court the whole bail figure if your person never comes back. The Lewistown jail's family guide notes that bondsmen are private businesses the jail has no power over.

• A bondsman needs a state license, issued through the Insurance Department (42 Pa.C.S. § 5742).
• Before taking Juniata cases, each one has to register with the county too (42 Pa.C.S. § 5743.1).
• State law set a ceiling on premiums until 2015, when that cap was repealed. Ask for the price on paper.
• Count the premium as spent. It stays gone even if the charges are later dropped.
• Charging a fee only for steering you to a bondsman breaks state law (42 Pa.C.S. § 5749).

Before signing anything, ask what collateral is wanted, such as a car title, and how it gets returned.

A receipt for bail clears just the case it was posted on. So before handing over money, call 717-248-1130 and have the Lewistown staff list every hold. The jail sits at 103 W Market St., Lewistown, PA 17044. Holds to ask about:

• Warrants from elsewhere. A county or state that issued one may want the person shipped there.
• Supervision detainers. If your person is on probation or parole here, that office is Juniata County Probation and Parole, 1 N Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059, 717-436-7716.
• Two or more cases. Bail must be met in each one.
• Federal or ICE holds. Those follow federal law, not state bail rules.
• Paperwork time. Release comes as soon as practical, not always at once.

Under Pennsylvania's constitution, almost anyone charged with a crime can be bailed (Pa. Const. art. I, § 14; 42 Pa.C.S. § 5701). Only two situations let a judge say no:

• The most a conviction could bring is death or life behind bars.
• No mix of release rules could protect other people.

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania put the weight of proof on the Commonwealth in those cases. Its lawyers have to show strong evidence, and a judge has to be persuaded (Commonwealth v. Talley, 2021). Any push for no-bail detention here starts with the District Attorney, whose office sits in the courthouse at 1 N Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059, 717-436-7725.

A written request to change bail has to come through the defense, whether the lawyer is hired or appointed (Pa.R.Crim.P. 529). Early on, the MDJ on the case can rule on it. Once Common Pleas has it, file with the Clerk of Courts, 1 N Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059, 717-436-7715.

1. Round up proof of local roots: recent pay stubs, your lease or deed, and the names of nearby relatives.
2. Add up what the household could honestly put toward bail.
3. Suggest safeguards the court might accept, for instance a curfew or weekly reporting.

Time served counts in your favor. After 180 days in jail waiting for trial, the defense can file for release on nominal bail. Days lost to delays the defense requested are subtracted first (Pa.R.Crim.P. 600).

The county Public Defender's Office represents people without the money to hire counsel. Its cases include felonies, misdemeanors, juvenile matters and summary charges where jail is possible. Find it at 30 North Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059, 717-436-7743.

• The office says people earning under $20,000 a year generally qualify.
• Ask the MDJ office for a paper form, or download the online application.
• Drop it off at the office in the Courthouse Annex or at that district court.
• The Public Defender Act makes every applicant swear in writing that they can't afford a lawyer.

Since Act 34 of 2023, Harrisburg has chipped in to fund county defenders, a first for Pennsylvania. The county's Public Defender page has more.

Juniata shares its judges with Perry County in the 41st Judicial District, though each county keeps its own courthouse. Families may need any of these:

• Court of Common Pleas (felony and misdemeanor cases once past the first hearing), at Bridge and Main Streets, 1 N Main St., Mifflintown, PA 17059, 717-436-7700
• Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts (criminal filings), 1 N Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059, 717-436-7715
• Magisterial District Court 41-3-01, Courthouse Annex, 30 North Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059, 717-436-7722
• Magisterial District Court 41-3-02, Port Royal Community Building, 212 North Fourth Street, Port Royal, PA 17082, 717-527-4949
• District Court Administration, Perry County Courthouse, 2 E. Main Street, New Bloomfield, PA 17068, 717-582-5143
• U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Sylvia H. Rambo United States Courthouse, 1501 North 6th Street, Suite 101, Harrisburg, PA 17102, 717-221-3920

Save the itemized receipt the court gives you (Pa.R.Crim.P. 535). After the final ruling, and as long as no hearing was missed, the money goes to whoever is listed as depositor, normally within about 20 days. The county may subtract a handling fee before paying the deposit back. The Clerk of Courts at 717-436-7715 can tell you the local fee. Its office is at 1 N Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059.

Did the accused post the money under their own name? Then a judge can steer it toward fines and court costs. Money posted by a parent or friend in that person's own name is harder to divert this way.

A skipped court date costs a great deal. The judge may sign a bench warrant, declare the whole bail forfeited and allow new charges. Whoever signed as surety may then owe the entire figure. After a bench warrant arrest, the judge must hold a hearing no later than 72 hours after the person lands in jail in the warrant's home county (Pa.R.Crim.P. 150).

Settle the question of belongings early. The Lewistown jail uses a property release form, and whoever collects the items must be named on it and show photo ID. The administration office works 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and closes on holidays.

Call the Mifflin County Correctional Facility at 717-248-1130 and ask how the jail pays out any balance still on the account, and on which days property can be collected. Its address is 103 W Market St., Lewistown, PA 17044. Our guide to inmate accounts covers deposits.

A federal arrest from this area is heard in Harrisburg by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Sylvia H. Rambo United States Courthouse, 1501 North 6th Street, Suite 101, Harrisburg, PA 17102, 717-221-3920. State bail rules play no part.

• Federal law calls for a detention hearing. There the judge chooses between sending the person home with conditions and holding them (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Federal defendants awaiting trial are Marshals Service prisoners. Call its Middle District office at 235 North Washington Avenue, Unit 215, Scranton, PA 18503, 570-346-7277.
• Appointed federal counsel comes out of the Federal Public Defender's Harrisburg office, 100 Chestnut Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101 (third floor), 717-782-2237.
• When a sentence is handed down, use the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator to see where they went.

Paid bail and an immigration hold are separate things, and one does not erase the other. In order, this is what to expect:

1. Federal immigration officers can lodge a detainer on Form I-247A with the Lewistown jail.
2. With it, they ask the jail to keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. In Galarza v. Szalczyk (2014), judges on the Third Circuit, the federal appeals bench for this state, called a detainer only a request. Jailing someone solely on ICE's word can expose a county to a lawsuit. Policies differ by jail, so ask the Mifflin County Correctional Facility, 103 W Market St., Lewistown, PA 17044, 717-248-1130.
4. Pennsylvania falls under ICE's Philadelphia Field Office, 114 N. 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-656-7164.
5. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator by A-number, the ID on immigration papers, or else by full name together with the birth country.

Sentences here come with a low and a high number, like 1 to 3 years, and the high number picks the place (42 Pa.C.S. § 9762). Under 2 years, the time is served in a county jail, which for this county means Lewistown. Five years or longer means state prison. A high number between 2 and 5 years usually sends the person to state prison too. Serving it in Lewistown instead needs the jail, the prosecutor and the court to agree.

• Fresh state sentences begin with a stay at a reception center. Testing there decides a security level and a prison, and it can run for weeks or months.
• Search by name or number on the DOC inmate locator.
• The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections main office is 1920 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050, 717-728-2573.
• For each prison's details, open our Pennsylvania state prisons pages.

The Juvenile Act sends most youths under 18 into juvenile court and juvenile detention, apart from the adult system (42 Pa.C.S. § 6301). Juvenile files are kept out of the UJS portal that the public searches.

One big exception applies. Murder cases against Juniata youths of 15, 16 or 17 are filed with the adult courts. Some armed violent felonies also start there (42 Pa.C.S. § 6302). The defense may then ask a judge to send the case over to juvenile court.

In this county, adult and juvenile probation share one office. Phone Probation and Parole at 717-436-7716 to learn which detention center took the teen in and when a juvenile judge will hear the case. The office is in the courthouse at 1 N Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059. A teen's defense is free through the Public Defender's Office, 30 North Main Street, Mifflintown, PA 17059, 717-436-7743.