The Southern Regional Jail, 1200 Airport Road, Beaver, WV 25813, holds Raleigh County's arrestees and pretrial inmates. The state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation runs it, and it also takes people from Fayette, Greenbrier, Mercer, Monroe, Summers and Wyoming counties. The main line is 304-256-6726.

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No. The Beckley Correctional Center and Jail on South Eisenhower Drive is a minimum-security work-release facility run by the same state division. It does not take people straight from an arrest. A newly arrested Raleigh County adult is held in Beaver.

Its main number is 304-256-6780, but the jail you want is the one in Beaver.

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Type the first and last name into Raleigh County Inmate Search. The result shows the charge and the bond amount once the booking is entered. A new arrest can take a few hours to post.

Do not give up if the name does not appear at first. Call the Beaver jail at 304-256-6726, or call the police agency that made the arrest.

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The Sheriff's Department, 201 S. Eisenhower Drive, Beckley, 304-255-9195, serves warrants and makes arrests in the county. Beckley police and the State Police arrest people too. Whoever makes the arrest must take the person before a Raleigh County magistrate without unnecessary delay.

State law sets no hour limit for that trip. A person already in Beaver appears by video from the jail.

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The magistrate explains the charge and the right to a lawyer. On a felony, no plea is taken. Instead the magistrate describes the right to a preliminary hearing, which must be held within 10 days if the person is in custody, and then sets bail.

The magistrate who first sets bail keeps control of it only until the case is assigned to a court.

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Bring it to the magistrate clerk's office in the Raleigh County Judicial Center, 222 Main Street, Beckley, WV 25801, 304-255-9197. Six magistrates work there. The law says the clerk or a magistrate receives all bail, so payment goes there.

Ask the clerk for a receipt. If the defendant cannot come, a family member may post bail only with a written acknowledgment signed by the defendant and a magistrate.

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Yes, through the magistrate on call. The court is open every judicial day but Saturday, and each county keeps one magistrate available outside regular hours. That magistrate checks with the regional jail around 10 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. on Saturdays and holidays, and at noon and 10 p.m. on Sundays.

If a person in the jail can post, the magistrate goes to the court offices to take the bond. Phone the clerk at 304-255-9197 for the daytime schedule.

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Credit and debit cards are barred for posting or securing a bond. Personal checks might be turned away. Currency, cashier's checks, certified checks, money orders and traveler's checks are the safe choices.

Count the money before you leave home.

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A surety company or qualified property owners can sign a bond for the full amount. The defendant can also be released on a signed promise, or on an agreement to forfeit unencumbered property with proof of ownership. The judge or magistrate may combine these with conditions such as monitoring.

A judge or magistrate may not steer a defendant toward a surety who is a relative.

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Often no. Misdemeanor defendants are to be released on their own recognizance unless good cause is shown. The exceptions cover violence, a minor victim, a deadly weapon, drug charges, sexual abuse, DUI-type driving offenses and theft or tampering above $250. The magistrate must also weigh residence, community ties and flight risk.

Cash bail on any misdemeanor cannot exceed three times the maximum fine, and a defendant who stays in jail on an unaffordable secured misdemeanor bond is owed a hearing within five days.

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The fee must be at least ten percent of the bond. It can be more, but total fees cannot exceed the bond. The bondsman may require only three percent at signing, with the balance paid over up to twelve months.

A bondsman who takes collateral must give a numbered receipt showing the amount, the date and who accepted it.

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Bondsmen have needed an Insurance Commissioner license since July 1, 2022. Authorized bondsmen are posted in jails and courts, and a detainee who asks for the list must get it. No bondsman may enter a detention center to find customers unless somebody phoned that bondsman first.

A lawyer cannot split fees with a bondsman, and officials cannot be paid to send clients to one.

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Yes, if the owners are adults who hold West Virginia real estate. The assessed value on the county land books, minus liens, must be at least half the bail. The land must be West Virginia real estate.

The deed and a payoff letter should go to the clerk at 304-255-9197 before the magistrate decides.

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Bail is a right for any offense not punishable by life in prison. For offenses with a possible life sentence, the trial court decides. A magistrate also may not release on a promise alone those charged with felony violence, a felony with a minor victim, felony arson or burglary, or a felony drug crime.

Bail pending an appeal is barred for a life offense and for crimes involving a firearm or violence found at trial.

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Visits are non-contact, last 30 minutes and must be scheduled in advance. Each inmate gets one visit per month, and a visit may include two adults, or one adult and two children. Visit scheduling is handled at 304-256-6738.

Money placed on an inmate's account is not bail and cannot free anyone.

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A magistrate must set conditions if there is a threat to the victim: stay away from the victim's home, school and workplace, and avoid contact with the victim and any child. Weapons used in the incident are seized.

Breaking a condition means instant arrest, then a hearing on whether bail is revoked. The court must also review the case with counsel at least every sixty days.

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Willful failure to appear is a felony with a fine up to $5,000 and prison from one to five years, if the underlying charge was a felony. For a misdemeanor, it is a misdemeanor with a fine up to $1,000 and up to a year in jail.

The bond may be forfeited, and a depositor who is not the defendant gets ten days' notice by certified mail before a judgment. A defendant who turns up voluntarily within 24 hours is not prosecuted under that law.

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The court releases the surety once the case ends, and cash goes back to the person who put it up. The circuit clerk, 304-255-9135, keeps cash tied to cases that went to circuit court.

A bondsman's fee is gone for good.

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The Raleigh County Public Defender Office at 220 North Kanawha Street, Suite 2, Beckley, answers at 304-253-7405. Ask the magistrate to appoint a lawyer at the first appearance.

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A minor's arrest follows the juvenile route. The Donald R. Kuhn Juvenile Center in Julian, 304-369-2976, takes detention cases from all 55 counties, and the on-call magistrate checks the juvenile facility too.

Call the magistrate clerk at 304-255-9197 for the hearing.

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