Warren County Prison Inmate Bail & Bonds

Bail in this county is decided by a magisterial district judge, or MDJ. Three MDJs serve here. Within hours of booking, the arrested person faces one of them for a short first hearing, the preliminary arraignment. There they are handed a written copy of the complaint, told their bail and given a preliminary hearing date (Pa.R.Crim.P. 540).

Arrests don't keep office hours. Under the 37th Judicial District's local rules, one MDJ stays on call through nights, weekends and holidays to handle arraignments and bail. With the defendant's written consent, that judge can appear on a two-way video screen rather than in person.

Some cases begin with a summons in the mailbox rather than handcuffs. For those, bail waits until the preliminary hearing. To find which MDJ has a file, ring the Clerk of Courts at the courthouse, 204 Fourth Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3440.

Pa.R.Crim.P. 524 hands the bail judge five tools. Listed from mildest to toughest:

• ROR. Release on recognizance. The person signs, vows to come to court, and leaves.
• ROR plus conditions. The same signed promise, but with rules, such as reporting to someone on a schedule or no contact with the alleged victim.
• Unsecured bail. Zero dollars now. The defendant just agrees that a fixed sum becomes due if they skip court.
• Nominal bail. A token payment, maybe $1, while a person or group signs as surety (a backer for the defendant).
• Monetary bail. Before the door opens, money or property worth the full amount must be put up.

Only option five costs money on day one. Rule 523 lists the factors: the charge, work history, roots in the community, any prior record and the person's track record with past court dates.

There is no single price per charge. Rule 528 tells the MDJ to keep money bail reasonable and to factor in the defendant's real ability to pay, so two people facing the same count can walk out with different numbers.

The grade of the crime is a big clue. Under 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 1101 and 1103-1105, Pennsylvania caps each grade like this:

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

Sometimes the court lets a family deposit a tenth of the amount. Picture $500 down on bail of $5,000. For the exact figure on your person's docket, phone the Clerk of Courts at 814-728-3440 or the MDJ office that held the arraignment.

The county prison stands at 407 Market St., Warren, PA 16365. A County Warden runs it for the Prison Board. Men and women alike are housed there, placed by staff into a block (B, C, D or E), 2-Dorm, 3-Dorm, RHU MIN, RHU MAX, an isolation cell or detox. Staff can tell you which unit has your person. A local court rule lists the prison as a place bail may be accepted, alongside the MDJs and the Clerk of Courts. Here is a plan:

1. Phone the prison office, 814-723-2486. Its alternative number is 814-723-7553, which also rings the Sheriff's Office.
2. Give the legal name, spelled one letter at a time, and the date of birth. Request the bail total and the docket number.
3. Ask where payment goes at this hour. If it's the middle of the night or a weekend, ask staff how bail gets posted and how to reach the on-call MDJ.
4. Ask what kinds of payment staff can take, the name to put on a check or money order, and any added fee.
5. Bring photo ID and exact payment. Get an itemized receipt and file it away (Pa.R.Crim.P. 535).

On that same call, ask if a separate case or a hold from elsewhere would stop the release.

Yes. On business days, bail can go to any of the three district court offices or to the Clerk of Courts:

• Magisterial District Court 37-2-01, 333 Hickory Street, Warren, PA 16365, 814-723-2260. Hours 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a lunch closing from noon to 1:00 p.m.
• Magisterial District Court 37-3-01, 4234 Market Street, North Warren, PA 16365, 814-723-6750. Hours 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with the same lunch closing.
• Magisterial District Court 37-4-01, 37 Railroad Street, Youngsville, PA 16371, 814-563-4682. Hours 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts, 204 Fourth Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3440. Hours 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Whichever window you pick:

1. Call ahead. Make sure the amount is right and that this office can take this particular bail today.
2. Have the docket number, the defendant's name and your own photo ID in hand.
3. Pay in a form the clerk accepts, and keep the receipt somewhere safe.

The MDJ offices accept cash, checks and money orders. Before writing a check, ask the clerk for the exact payee and whether a personal check is welcome for bail.

Rule 528 also allows these forms of security, alone or mixed:

• cash for the full figure
• land or a house whose equity, meaning value minus loans, reaches the bail amount
• a licensed bondsman's surety bond
• a deposit of 10 percent, if the court okays it

Watch whose name lands on the form. Sign as depositor on a 10 percent deposit and you become a surety. If the defendant then misses court, you could owe the whole bail. Property bond questions go to the Clerk of Courts, 814-728-3440.

Hiring a bondsman is allowed in this state. Each one holds an Insurance Department license (42 Pa.C.S. § 5742) and must also file with each county where they want to write bonds (42 Pa.C.S. § 5743.1).

• What you pay a bondsman is a premium. It's gone for good, even when charges are dropped.
• Since 2015, no Pennsylvania law has limited that premium. Get the quote on paper before signing.
• Anybody charging a fee just to steer you to a bondsman commits an offense (42 Pa.C.S. § 5749).
• Go through the whole contract. Find out what the bondsman can demand from you if court is missed.

Ask the Clerk of Courts at 814-728-3440 if a bondsman has filed papers to work in this county.

A bail order frees a person from a single case. Other holds can stack on top:

• A second open case. It needs its own bail or release order.
• A bench warrant. One for a missed date, from here or from another county, has to be cleared by a judge.
• Probation. Someone already on county probation should ask how the new arrest touches that case. Adult Probation sits at 204 Fourth Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3520.
• Federal custody. A person wanted on a federal case answers to the U.S. Marshals.
• Immigration. An ICE detainer runs on its own track, apart from state bail.

Ahead of paying, ring the prison at 814-723-2486 and have staff read off each hold in the file.

The state constitution makes nearly every prisoner bailable (Pa. Const. art. I, § 14). Only two openings let a judge refuse: a count that could bring the death penalty or a life term. The other is a case where nothing short of jail will keep people safe.

Either way, the burden sits on the prosecutor, who must back it up with evidence at a hearing. Pennsylvania's highest court said so in Commonwealth v. Talley (2021). An accusation alone won't do.

Local prosecutions run through the District Attorney's Office, 204 4th Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3460, open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Yes, bail can be modified (Pa.R.Crim.P. 529). Until the preliminary hearing, the defense goes back to the MDJ who set it. Afterward, a Common Pleas judge of the 37th Judicial District, covering Forest and Warren counties, takes the request.

1. Have the public defender, or a lawyer you hire, file a written motion.
2. Pull together proof of work, a rental lease or house deed, relatives living close by, and what the household can honestly spare.
3. Propose rules that ease the court's specific fears, say a check-in schedule or a no-contact order.

Rule 600 adds a deadline. After 180 days held before trial, with time lost to defense delays left out of the count, the defense may move for nominal bail (Pa.R.Crim.P. 600). Hearing dates come from Court Administration, 204 Fourth Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3530.

Inside the courthouse, the Public Defender's Office takes clients who can't afford private counsel. It is at 204 Fourth Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3435 (16 P.S. § 9960.1 and following).

1. Complete the public defender application, every line. The office returns forms with blanks.
2. Get it into the office's hands five days or more before the preliminary hearing.
3. Attach income proof like pay stubs or benefit letters. For someone not in custody, every household member's income counts.
4. Bring along any paperwork tied to the charges.

To qualify, income must fit the federal poverty guidelines. The person also signs a sworn statement about money. Since Act 34 of 2023, the state helps pay for this county work.

Here is every courtroom a local criminal case might pass through:

• Court of Common Pleas, 37th Judicial District, county courthouse, 204 Fourth Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3400. Felony and misdemeanor cases land here after the preliminary hearing. Weekday hours run 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Central Court, in that same building. The President Judge sends all criminal preliminary hearings here, and the three MDJs rotate on the bench. The hearing notice lists the day and time.
• Magisterial District Court 37-2-01, 333 Hickory Street, Warren, PA 16365, 814-723-2260.
• Magisterial District Court 37-3-01, 4234 Market Street, North Warren, PA 16365, 814-723-6750.
• Magisterial District Court 37-4-01, 37 Railroad Street, Youngsville, PA 16371, 814-563-4682.
• Federal court, Erie Courthouse, 17 South Park Row, Erie, PA 16501, 814-464-9600.

Keep your itemized receipt (Pa.R.Crim.P. 535). When the case is closed for good and the defendant made every date, the deposit is paid back to the person listed as depositor. By rule, that should happen within 20 days.

• A fee for running the cash bail system may be kept. Ask the Clerk of Courts, 204 Fourth Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3440, what it is.
• If the defendant was the one who paid, in their own name, a judge may put that money toward restitution, fines and court costs.
• Bondsman premiums are kept by the bondsman.

Skipping court can wipe out the deposit. The judge may forfeit the full bail and order a bench warrant, and fresh charges can follow. Local court forms spell out that warning for defendants.

At release, two things are worth asking the prison about: any balance on the person's account and whatever they carried in at booking. Call 814-723-2486 to learn how the balance is refunded and when items can be collected at 407 Market St., Warren, PA 16365.

During a stay, relatives can add funds online through a deposit website or at the kiosk in the lobby (cash or credit card). Our money and accounts guide explains deposits, balances and refunds. Collecting items on someone's behalf? Carry photo ID. Staff might ask for written permission from the person first, so check.

The Erie division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania handles federal cases from this county. Its address is 17 South Park Row, Erie, PA 16501, 814-464-9600, and its clerk's office keeps weekday hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• Instead of setting a dollar bail, a federal judge runs a detention hearing, then chooses home or custody until trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Pretrial custody on federal charges is the Marshals' job. Their Western District office, 700 Grant Street, Room 2360, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, 412-644-3351, can name the jail holding your loved one.
• The Federal Public Defender, whose Erie office is at 900 State Street, Suite 206, Erie, PA 16501, 814-455-8089, defends people who can't pay.
• After sentencing, try the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

No. A detainer from ICE stands apart from anything the state court does. The usual path:

1. Paperwork comes first. Immigration agents serve the Market Street staff with a Form I-247A detainer.
2. By its terms, the form seeks custody for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. A 2014 ruling by the Third Circuit federal appeals court, Galarza v. Szalczyk (3d Cir. 2014), calls a detainer a mere request. Keeping someone locked up solely on a detainer may make the county liable, so the Market Street prison follows a policy of its own. Ask about it at 814-723-2486.
4. Pennsylvania falls under ICE's Philadelphia Field Office, 114 N. 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-656-7164.
5. To find someone ICE has moved, search the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

Each Pennsylvania sentence carries two numbers, a low end and a top end. The top end decides the place (42 Pa.C.S. § 9762). Under 2 years on top: county prison. A top of 5 years or above: state prison. Anything from 2 to 5 usually lands in state prison too. The exception: the county prison, the District Attorney and the judge all consent to local time.

• A Warden's report for August 2025 counted nine people at the county prison who were sentenced to state prison.
• Day one in the state system starts at a reception and classification center. Expect weeks, sometimes months, of review there before a long-term prison is named.
• The DOC inmate locator lists which prison holds them now.
• The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections central office: 1920 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050, 717-728-2573.
• Read about every state prison in our Pennsylvania state prisons guide.

Anyone under 18 is handled through juvenile court and Juvenile Probation, and they don't go to the adult prison (42 Pa.C.S. § 6301 and following). Juvenile Probation works out of 204 Fourth Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3500. Phone that office. Staff can say which center has the teen and when court is first set.

The public court portal leaves juvenile files out. Still, some teens start in adult court. If the accused is 15, 16 or 17, a murder charge starts the case on the adult side. So does one of the Juvenile Act's violent crimes committed with a deadly weapon. Defense lawyers may later ask that such a case be sent down to juvenile court.