Westmoreland County Prison Inmate Bail & Bonds

That job falls to a magisterial district judge, or MDJ for short. Outside Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, these local judges handle the opening steps of adult criminal cases. Bail is set at a quick hearing named the preliminary arraignment. Pennsylvania's victim services guide puts it at roughly six hours after an arrest. Usually the judge sees the person on a screen while they sit at the prison.

During that hearing, the MDJ hands over a copy of the complaint, reads the charges, sets bail and picks a preliminary hearing date (Pa.R.Crim.P. 540). The date can be no later than 14 days out for a person who stays jailed, and 21 days out for a person sent home.

Evenings belong to the county's Night Court. On a rotating schedule from 4:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m., an MDJ works by video. Night Court arraigns people on misdemeanor, felony and domestic violence charges. It also handles search and arrest warrants. Prison Records at 724-830-6081 can tell you if bail has been set.

Rule 524 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure gives five ways out (Pa.R.Crim.P. 524). They go from gentlest to toughest:

• ROR. These letters mean release on recognizance. The person signs, promises to return for each date, and pays nothing.
• ROR plus rules. That pledge, along with nonmonetary conditions such as checking in or keeping away from a named person.
• Unsecured bail. The judge names a sum on paper. Nobody owes it unless the person fails to appear.
• Nominal bail. A token deposit, like $1, backed by someone or some agency that serves as surety.
• Money bail. The rules call this a monetary condition. Somebody must put up cash, real estate or a surety bond from a bondsman.

Only that last type requires money in hand. Under Rule 523, judges look at the charge, local roots like work and family, the person's record and how well they kept past court dates.

Pennsylvania courts do not work from a menu of charges and prices. The judge chooses an amount for that one case. Rule 528 requires it to be reasonable and asks the judge to weigh what the person can afford, plus the Rule 523 factors. So a theft charge might bring low bail for one person and high bail for another.

How serious the charge is still counts for a lot. Pennsylvania grades every crime, and each grade carries a top penalty (18 Pa.C.S. §§ 1101, 1103-1105):

• F1, the gravest felony grade: 20 years behind bars and a $25,000 fine at most
• F2: a cap of 10 years, fine to $25,000
• F3: a cap of 7 years, fine to $15,000
• M1, the top misdemeanor: a cap of 5 years, fine to $10,000
• M2: a cap of 2 years, fine to $5,000
• M3: a cap of 1 year, fine to $2,500
• Summary, the lowest level, like many traffic tickets: a cap of 90 days, fine to $300

To see the actual bail, enter the name and county in the free UJS Web Portal search box. The docket sheet lists what type of bail was set and how much it is. Brand-new entries sometimes lag, and Records at 724-830-6081 often knows sooner.

Once the Clerk of Courts shuts at 4:00 p.m., the county's advice is to reach a bail bondsman or the prison. Release then happens at the prison itself. Work through this list:

1. Phone the prison at 724-830-6000. Past 6:00 p.m., request the lieutenant.
2. Be ready with the legal name and birthday. Note the bail and docket number they give.
3. Ask whether any other case or detainer is attached. A single open hold keeps the door shut.
4. Ask which payment the prison accepts that night. The county's bail page names money orders for prison payments.
5. Carry a valid photo ID. The county wants one from anyone posting bail.
6. Take the itemized receipt and guard it (Pa.R.Crim.P. 535). Refunds depend on it.
7. Wait for the release at 3000 South Grande Boulevard, Greensburg, PA 15601.

Even after payment, release paperwork can run a while. Call before you drive over.

Yes, daytime bail mostly goes to the Clerk of Courts Office. Look for it one flight up in the courthouse, 2 North Main Street, Suite 203, Greensburg, PA 15601. Its phone is 724-830-3734.

1. Come on a weekday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Weekends and holidays the window stays shut.
2. Have a valid photo ID with you.
3. Write down the docket number first, from the portal or from Records.
4. Plan on the whole cash bail. The county asks for the full sum unless a judge orders a smaller deposit.
5. Read the depositor form slowly before signing, and hold on to your receipt.

While a case is still with the MDJ, that judge's office can also accept bail. This county has several such offices. The docket names the right one. Court Administration at 724-830-3828 can say which office holds the case and how to reach it.

At the Clerk's window, cash and certified checks work. So do Visa, Mastercard and Discover. Any card payment adds a 2.75% service fee, and that fee stays with the court. One card charge tops out at $20,000. A disputed card charge later on cancels the bail, and a warrant follows.

This county is one of only ten that accept bail through PA ePay Bail, the courts' own web payment service. The county's bail page sends families there. Keep these points in mind:

• The 2.75% fee and $20,000 cap apply online too.
• A separate $23.70 filing fee goes to the Clerk of Courts by phone at 724-830-3609.
• A web payment is no promise of a fast release. Staff must handle it first.
• Bondsmen and other sureties work with the court or prison directly instead.

Never mail cash for bail. At night, ask the prison which payment it takes before you leave home.

Pennsylvania allows paid bail bondsmen. If the person vanishes, the bondsman owes the court the full bail. You pay a premium for that service, and it is gone for good once paid, however the case turns out.

• Bondsmen hold an insurance producer license issued by the Insurance Department (42 Pa.C.S. § 5742).
• Bondsmen also file paperwork with this county before they may post bonds on Main Street (42 Pa.C.S. § 5743.1).
• Each one must run an office located in the state (42 Pa.C.S. § 5744).
• Since a 2015 repeal, state law sets no maximum premium. Insist on a written quote that lists the fee and any car title or deed held as collateral.
• Nobody may legally collect money just for connecting you with a bondsman (42 Pa.C.S. § 5749).

Families lean on bondsmen after 4:00 p.m., when the Clerk's window is shut. Every court date still has to be kept, or the whole bail can come due.

A paid bail clears one docket and nothing else. Watch for these:

• Another case. Each docket carries its own bail, so each must be dealt with.
• A bench warrant. A judge issues one, often after a missed date. Once jailed in the issuing county, the 72-hour clock for a hearing starts. When a different county issued it, the wait may stretch (Pa.R.Crim.P. 150).
• Probation or parole. Someone already under supervision may get a second hold while officers review the new arrest. County adult probation sits at 2 North Main Street, Greensburg, PA 15601, 724-830-3700.
• Federal or ICE papers. Paying state bail leaves both in place.
• Processing time. Web payments must clear before anyone walks out.

Before paying, have Records at 724-830-6081 list each hold that applies.

Pennsylvania treats bail as a right for nearly everyone. A judge may deny it in just two situations (Pa. Const. art. I, § 14; 42 Pa.C.S. § 5701):

• The crime can be punished by death or by life behind bars.
• No mix of release conditions short of jail could protect the community or any one person.

A 2021 ruling by the state's highest court, Commonwealth v. Talley, put the burden on the prosecution. It must back up either reason with solid proof at a hearing. Charges on paper do not do it.

The county's elected District Attorney runs the prosecution side. Its County Detectives Bureau works from 2 N Main Street, Greensburg, PA 15601, 724-830-3287. Talks with the prosecution are best left to the defense lawyer.

A written motion to modify bail comes from the defense lawyer or public defender (Pa.R.Crim.P. 529). Until the preliminary hearing, the MDJ who set the bail can rule on it. Later, the Court of Common Pleas decides.

1. Share the person's work history, address, family and any health needs with the lawyer.
2. Back it up with papers: pay stubs from the last month, the lease or mortgage bill, a letter on company paper.
3. Give an honest figure for what the family could post.
4. Propose conditions the judge might accept in place of money, such as weekly reporting or no contact with a witness.

Time in custody can help too. Rule 600 sets a 180-day line for pretrial jail time. Delays the defense asked for are not counted. Past that line, the lawyer can file for release on nominal bail (Pa.R.Crim.P. 600). That rule leaves out people held without any bail. Motions are filed with the Clerk of Courts, 724-830-3734.

The Public Defender Act of 1968 puts a public defender in each of the 66 counties outside Philadelphia (16 P.S. § 9960.1 and following). That office represents people too poor to hire a lawyer. Its work runs from the preliminary hearing through trial, and it also covers probation revocations and juvenile matters.

• Each applicant swears, in writing, to their finances. A false one carries perjury penalties.
• The county decides its own income limit.
• Act 34 of 2023 brought the first state funding for county public defense.

Someone in the prison can ask staff about applying. Relatives can call Court Administration at 724-830-3828 to get the Public Defender's Office number and the steps to apply. Move quickly, because the preliminary hearing comes within weeks.

Criminal cases here pass through these courts:

• Court of Common Pleas, 10th Judicial District. Felonies and misdemeanors land here once the preliminary hearing is over. The courthouse is at 2 North Main Street, Greensburg, PA 15601. The Clerk of Courts is in Suite 203, 724-830-3734.
• Court Administration. On the mezzanine at 2 North Main Street, Room M3, Greensburg, PA 15601, 724-830-3828. Staff can say which district court has a case.
• Magisterial district courts. Several offices around the county set bail, hold preliminary hearings and hear summary cases like traffic tickets. Use the state's district judge finder by county or ZIP code.
• Night Court. A video court that covers the district courts from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
• Federal court. Weis federal building, 700 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, 412-208-7500.

Hang on to the itemized receipt. Under the state rule, whoever posted the deposit gets it back, minus fees, no later than 20 days after final disposition (Pa.R.Crim.P. 535). This county's bail page sets out more detail:

• Third-party sureties get money back within 40 days of final disposition or of the prison report date.
• Money posted as a depositor may first pay down the defendant's own fines and costs.
• For cash bail at or sent up to Common Pleas, the Clerk keeps $66.00 on the first $1,000. It keeps $25.00 more for each added $1,000 or part of it. On $5,000, that is $166 kept.

Skipping a court date can wipe out the deposit. The court can issue a bench warrant and keep the entire bail, and a separate failure-to-appear charge can follow. Whoever signed as surety may owe it all. Refund timing questions go to the Clerk of Courts, 724-830-3734.

People freed on bail late in the day walk out at the prison, so plan a ride to 3000 South Grande Boulevard, Greensburg, PA 15601. Ask the prison at 724-830-6000 how leftover account money is paid back at release.

• The account can hold no more than $400.00 at a time.
• Photos mailed in are stored with the person's property. The originals go back at release or transfer.
• Padded envelopes and mailers also go to the property officer, not the person.

Collecting for a relative? Carry photo ID, and ask if the prison wants their written OK. For how accounts work, see our inmate money guide.

Westmoreland belongs to the Pittsburgh division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Its judges sit in the Weis courthouse, 700 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, 412-208-7500. State bail rules do not apply there.

1. The opening court date includes a detention hearing. At it, the federal judge picks home or jail for the wait before trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Pretrial officers check the person's history and send the judge their findings. Its office is at 700 Grant Street, Suite 3330, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, 412-395-6907.
3. Anyone ordered held waits for trial as a U.S. Marshals Service prisoner. Call the district office at 412-644-3351 to learn the location.
4. For defendants without money for a lawyer, there is the Federal Public Defender at 1001 Liberty Avenue, Suite 1500, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, 412-644-6565.
5. After a federal sentence, find the assigned prison with the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

No. Paying the Clerk of Courts settles only the state side. Here is what ICE does:

1. Step one is paper. Federal immigration officers (ICE) get their detainer, Form I-247A, to the Grande Boulevard prison.
2. Its request: keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Pennsylvania sits in the Third Circuit. In 2014 that federal appeals court said a detainer asks but cannot order (Galarza v. Szalczyk, 3d Cir. 2014). The county in that case could not blame ICE, since it was free to ignore the request. Since then, each county jail in the state picks its own approach. Ask the prison about its rules at 724-830-6000.
4. When ICE picks someone up, ICE's Philadelphia Field Office oversees the case: 114 N. 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-656-7164.
5. Check the ICE Online Detainee Locator. Search by A-number, or by last name, first name and birth country.

The maximum term, not the minimum, settles where time is served (42 Pa.C.S. § 9762):

• Top term below 2 years: served at the county prison.
• Top term from 2 years to just under 5: normally a state prison. Keeping the person in the county needs a yes from the prison, the DA and the judge.
• Top term of 5 years or more: always a state prison.

New state inmates are first sorted at a reception and classification center, a stay that can run weeks or months. After that, the state assigns a prison. The Department of Corrections inmate locator shows where someone is held. The DOC's main office is at 1920 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050, 717-728-2573. Our Pennsylvania state prisons page explains visits and mail.

Kids and teens charged with a crime usually land in juvenile court under the Juvenile Act (42 Pa.C.S. § 6301 and following). They are not held at the adult prison. The county detains youth at its Regional Youth Services Center, inside the Juvenile Services Center at 2771 S Grande Blvd, Greensburg, PA 15601. It has 16 secure beds and 8 shelter beds.

Juvenile Probation shares that building, 724-830-4200. Parents can call it for the youth's location and hearing date. These records never appear on the public UJS portal.

Adult court is where a small group of teens start. A murder charge sends any youth there. Certain armed violent crimes do too, once the youth is at least 15 (42 Pa.C.S. § 6302). A defense lawyer may ask for a transfer to juvenile court.