Northampton County Community Corrections Inmate Bail & Bonds

Bail gets set by an MDJ, short for magisterial district judge. It happens at the preliminary arraignment, a short first hearing that is often held over a video screen from the jail. A state victim-services guide puts the usual wait at about six hours from arrest. The judge reads out each count, gives the accused the written complaint, names the bail and schedules the preliminary hearing (Pa.R.Crim.P. 540).

Before the judge decides, the court's Pretrial Services office looks into the job, home, family ties and record of the accused. Then it suggests a type of bail, though the judge makes the final call. Pretrial Services works from 105 South Union Street, Easton, PA 18042, 610-829-6830, and its officers stay on call after the office closes.

What if nobody can pay? On the next business day, a pretrial officer reviews the bail of anyone still sitting in jail and reports to the judge. That review can lead to a smaller amount or different rules.

State court rules give five choices (Pa.R.Crim.P. 524). Only the fifth one makes anyone pay before release.

• ROR (release on recognizance). The defendant signs, swears to appear, and walks out owing nothing.
• Nonmonetary conditions. That same pledge, with rules added on.
• Unsecured bail. A dollar figure gets written down. It is owed only by failing to appear.
• Nominal bail. A token deposit. Think $1, with a relative or an agency standing behind it.
• Monetary bail. Release waits until money, land or a bond from a bondsman is posted.

Factors include the charge, employment history, criminal record and local roots (Pa.R.Crim.P. 523). Local rules can include weekly check-ins with Pretrial Services, drug tests, treatment, a no-contact order or a GPS ankle monitor. Court notices arrive by regular mail, so a current home address matters.

Judges here set each amount case by case. Pennsylvania rules require money bail to stay reasonable, with the judge thinking about what the accused can truly afford (Pa.R.Crim.P. 528). A judge may also let the family put down just 10 percent.

The grade of the charge weighs heavily. Each grade carries these top prison terms and fines (18 Pa.C.S. §§ 1101, 1103-1105):

• F1 felony: 20 years, $25,000 fine
• F2 felony: 10 years, $25,000 fine
• F3 felony: 7 years, $15,000 fine
• M1 misdemeanor: 5 years, $10,000 fine
• M2 misdemeanor: 2 years, $5,000 fine
• M3 misdemeanor: 1 year, $2,500 fine
• Summary (minor) offense: 90 days, $300 fine

The free UJS case search shows it on the docket sheet. Type the full name and pick this county. Pretrial Services can also read it to you at 610-829-6830.

On nights, weekends and holidays, bail is taken at the jail, 666 Walnut Street, Easton, PA 18042. Walk up to the gate on the Walnut Street side and ask for the official in charge. Go in this order:

1. Phone Pretrial Services at 610-829-6830 to check the amount and the bail type.
2. For 10 percent bail, a talk with a pretrial bail officer is required, either before or after you pay.
3. Ring the jail at 610-829-7400. Ask if some other case or hold will stop the release.
4. Photo ID plus the exact dollar figure, nothing more.
5. Take the receipt home and guard it. Refunds depend on it.

The jail has several parts. The Main Prison and the Tower are housing buildings on the jail grounds. Work Release houses people who leave to go to their jobs. The West Easton unit has its own visitor sign-in. The Community Corrections Program answers at 610-829-7659. Bail is paid the same way for all of them. To learn which unit holds your loved one, ask jail staff when you call.

Yes, on weekdays. The courthouse is in the Government Center, 669 Washington Street, Easton, PA 18042. Pretrial Services says bail is accepted there from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on business days. The counter belongs to the Clerk of Courts, Criminal Division, which gives its own hours as 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday.

1. Before heading over, ring Pretrial Services at 610-829-6830, as the clerk asks.
2. Know the defendant's legal name and birthday, and carry your own ID.
3. Pay at the Criminal Division window, 610-829-6453.
4. Ask for an itemized receipt made out to you (Pa.R.Crim.P. 535).

Property bail can only be posted here, during business hours. You need a certificate of title and a list of liens drawn up by a lawyer or an abstractor. The land can be in Pennsylvania or another state.

Bail here is paid in person. Pretrial Services lists cash, certified checks and money orders for both 10 percent and full bail. The clerk's counter names only cash and certified checks. To avoid a wasted trip, bring cash or a certified check, or ask first whether a money order will work.

• Real estate. Taken only at the courthouse on business days, with title papers.
• Bail bond. A licensed bondsman posts it for a fee.
• Cards. The state court portal takes Visa, MasterCard and Discover with a $2.75 fee. That service is for fines and costs, not for bail.

Never mail cash. Hand the payment only to court or jail staff and get a receipt. Questions go to the Criminal Division at 610-829-6453.

Paid bail bonds are legal in this state. Bondsmen need an Insurance Department license (42 Pa.C.S. § 5742) and county authorization (42 Pa.C.S. § 5743.1). Pretrial Services gives the same rule.

• The bondsman's fee is called a premium. Dropped charges or not, it stays with the bondsman.
• No state cap on that fee remains. Have the bondsman write the price down before you sign.
• Expect a request for collateral, like a car title. Find out in writing when it gets handed back.
• Paying someone only to locate a bondsman for you is illegal (42 Pa.C.S. § 5749).
• A skipped court date can leave the bondsman owing everything, so they work hard to track the defendant down.

Ask any bondsman to show their license and proof that they may write bonds in this county.

Money posted on one docket does nothing for any other docket. Before paying, rule out these:

• A second case. Each open case carries its own bail.
• A bench warrant. Pretrial Services schedules a hearing within 72 hours for anyone held on one (Pa.R.Crim.P. 150).
• Probation or parole. An alleged violation may bring a detainer. County Adult Probation is at 105 South Union Street, Easton, PA 18042, 610-829-6800.
• Another county or state. An outside warrant must be settled on its own.
• Federal or immigration holds. Each runs by separate rules.

Before you pay, call Prison Records at 610-923-4303. Ask them to read you every hold on file.

Pennsylvania's constitution gives nearly every accused person a right to bail (Pa. Const. art. I, § 14). A judge can say no for just two reasons. The charge could end in execution or life behind bars. Or no set of rules short of a cell would keep the town safe.

In Commonwealth v. Talley (2021), the state's top court raised the bar. Prosecutors who want someone held must back it up with solid proof at a hearing. A charge alone falls short.

Charges here are pressed by the District Attorney, whose staff work from the Government Center, 669 Washington Street, Easton, PA 18042, 610-829-6630.

A request to change bail goes through a lawyer (Pa.R.Crim.P. 529). The county Public Defender handles bail reduction hearings for the clients it takes on.

1. Line up a lawyer. Ring the Public Defender at 610-829-6384 or hire one privately.
2. Pull together proof of steady work, a lease or electric bill, letters from relatives nearby and a budget showing what you can pay.
3. Pass these papers to the lawyer, who asks the judge for a hearing.
4. Offer rules the judge might like, such as check-ins, drug tests or a GPS monitor.

Rule 600 adds a clock. Once 180 days of jail have passed since the complaint, minus delays the defense caused, counsel may file for release on nominal bail (Pa.R.Crim.P. 600). Someone denied bail outright gets no help from this rule.

Money too tight for a private attorney? Apply to the county Public Defender. There is no charge for people who qualify. The office is in the basement of the Courthouse, 669 Washington Street, Easton, PA 18042, 610-829-6384. You can also apply online.

It takes on felony and misdemeanor cases, plus some summary ones. It also covers probation and parole violations. Lawyers there also handle bail and extradition hearings. Mental health commitments and juvenile cases are on its list too.

Each applicant signs a sworn form about money (16 P.S. § 9960.1 and following). A false answer is treated like perjury. Act 34 of 2023 marked the first time state dollars flowed to county defender offices.

Once held for trial, a felony or misdemeanor moves to the Court of Common Pleas. This county alone forms its 3rd Judicial District. It sits in the Government Center, 669 Washington Street, Easton, PA 18042, main line 610-829-6500. Court Administration is in the same building at 610-829-6700.

First hearings happen at 14 magisterial district courts:

• 03-1-04: 248 Brodhead Road, Suite 2, Bethlehem, PA 18017, 610-691-2364
• 03-2-01: 402 E. Broad Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018, 610-691-1501
• 03-2-03: 3650 Nazareth Pike, Unit 2, Bethlehem, PA 18020, 610-746-9740
• 03-2-04: 1404 Walter Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015, 610-865-4010
• 03-2-05: 400 Northampton Street, Suite 100, Easton, PA 18042, 610-258-5900
• 03-2-06: 700 C Philadelphia Road, Easton, PA 18042, 610-258-8711
• 03-2-08: 136 S. Main Street, Nazareth, PA 18064, 610-759-6424
• 03-2-09: 3 Weller Place, Easton, PA 18045, 610-258-7266
• 03-2-10: 327 Broadway, Suite 200, Bethlehem, PA 18015, 610-868-9191
• 03-2-11: 1214 Stefko Boulevard, Bethlehem, PA 18017, 610-694-0553
• 03-2-12: 1901 Hay Terrace, Suite UL5, Easton, PA 18042, 610-258-4640
• 03-3-01: 4330 Lehigh Drive, Suite 2, Walnutport, PA 18088, 610-767-6345
• 03-3-02: 31 W. First Street, Suite 1, Wind Gap, PA 18091, 610-863-5447
• 03-3-03: 269 Blue Valley Road, Bangor, PA 18013, 610-588-3998

Federal prosecutions go to the federal trial court. Its benches near here are the Holmes Building, 101 Larry Holmes Drive, Easton, PA 18042, with sister courthouses in Allentown and Reading. The clerk's main line is 215-597-7704.

Hang on to the receipt. Pretrial Services sets out how money comes back here:

• 10 percent bail. When the case ends, 80 percent of what you paid comes back. The county keeps 20 percent as a fee.
• Full cash bail. A small fee, based on the amount, is kept. The rest is returned.
• Timing. State rules give the clerk 20 days, counted from the final end of the case, to send the deposit to the payer (Pa.R.Crim.P. 535).
• Fines first. Did the defendant sign as depositor? Then the court may apply that money to fines, costs and restitution.

Miss a hearing and two things can follow: a bench warrant for arrest, and a forfeit of the bail. Everyone who signed may then owe the whole amount, not only the 10 percent. Fresh charges are possible as well. For refund questions, call the Criminal Division at 610-829-6453.

Settle the money and the bags early. Phone 610-829-7400 to learn how unspent account money gets paid out and when stored property may be collected. Bring ID. Picking things up on someone's behalf may take a signed release from them, so ask.

The jail has a re-entry case manager who links people with help outside, such as treatment or housing. Reach that office at 610-829-7484. Our inmate money guide explains deposits and payouts in plain terms.

This county falls inside the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Local cases are heard by judges sitting in Reading, Allentown or Easton:

• Holmes Building, 101 Larry Holmes Drive, Easton, PA 18042
• Edward N. Cahn U.S. Courthouse, 504 W. Hamilton Street, Allentown, PA 18101
• The Gateway Building, 201 Penn Street, Reading, PA 19601

The clerk's office answers at 215-597-7704. At the opening federal appearance, the judge weighs jail versus release until trial at a detention hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142). State bail rules play no part.

Pending trial, the Marshals keep watch over federal defendants from their office at 601 Market Street, Room 2110, Philadelphia, PA 19106, 215-597-7272. The federal jail for this district is FDC Philadelphia, 700 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, 215-521-4000. For a court-appointed federal lawyer, call the Federal Community Defender at 215-928-1100; its office is 601 Walnut Street, Suite 540 West, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Sentenced federal prisoners can be traced through the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

No. Detainers ride on a federal track that bail never touches. Expect roughly this sequence:

1. Paperwork comes first. ICE sends over a detainer on Form I-247A.
2. Under it, the jail is asked to keep someone for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. The Third Circuit, whose rulings bind federal courts in Pennsylvania, settled this point; see Galarza v. Szalczyk (3d Cir. 2014). Its reading: a detainer is a plea from ICE, never an order. Keep a prisoner on that paper alone, and the county owns the decision and its legal risk. That is why jails in this state each write a detainer policy of their own. Ask this jail about its policy at 610-829-7400.
4. If ICE takes custody, its Philadelphia Field Office handles the case: 114 N. 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-656-7164.
5. Try the ICE Online Detainee Locator. Type in the name and native country, or the A-number on immigration papers.

Each sentence here comes as a range, say 3 to 23 months. The top number, known as the maximum, settles where it gets served (42 Pa.C.S. § 9762). Top number below 2 years: the county jail. Top number at 5 years or above: a state facility. In the gap between, expect state prison, though the judge can keep it local with the District Attorney and the jail on board.

New state prisoners spend their first stretch at a reception center. There, staff assign a security level and look at treatment needs. This step can last weeks or even months before a home prison is picked.

• Search the DOC inmate locator.
• The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections is at 1920 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050, 717-728-2573.
• Our guide to Pennsylvania state prisons has a page for every one.

Under the Juvenile Act (42 Pa.C.S. § 6301), arrests of people under 18 normally stay in the juvenile system, and the adult jail is not where they go. Juvenile Probation handles the case from 650 Ferry Street, Easton, PA 18042, 610-829-6880.

When a judge orders a youth detained, the placement is the Juvenile Justice Center, a secure detention center run by the court at the same address, 610-829-6850. It also takes youth from other counties.

Adult court is the starting point for some 15, 16 and 17 year olds: those charged with murder, and those accused of certain violent crimes involving a deadly weapon (42 Pa.C.S. § 6302). Defense lawyers can petition to move such a case into the juvenile system. Records of youth cases never appear on the public court portal.