Title 15

All judges or magistrates, when authorized by law to grant bail, shall take care that every prisoner in jail shall have an opportunity to give bail in cases in which a prisoner is entitled to bail. Any judge or magistrate, when authorized by law to grant bail, may approve any bon…

(a) If the offense charged in an indictment is a misdemeanor, the defendant must be discharged by the sheriff, or his deputy, on giving sufficient bail; but the amount of bail must in no case be less than $50.00. (b) If an indictment charges a misdemeanor and the defendant is com…

(a) When an indictment is filed in court charging the defendant with a bailable felony and the defendant fails to give bail in open court, the judge of the court must forthwith endorse on such indictment the amount of bail to be required of the defendant. When an application for …

When a writ of arrest is issued upon an indictment, the clerk issuing the writ shall endorse on the writ an order to the sheriff to take bail of the defendant in the amount fixed by the judge and endorsed by him or her on the indictment, unless the defendant is charged with an of…

(a) When an application for bail is made to any circuit judge and is refused, no subsequent application can be made, but the evidence in such case may be preserved for review on application to the Court of Criminal Appeals. (b) When an order is made by the Court of Criminal Appea…

When bail is taken in open court, it must be entered in the minutes, and may be as follows: (Code 1852, §687; Code 1867, §4238; Code 1876, §4846; Code 1886, §4419; Code 1896, §4361; Code 1907, §6341; Code 1923, §3374; Code 1940, T. 15, §199; Acts 1949, No. 199, p. 230.)

When not taken in open court, the undertaking of bail must be in writing, signed by the defendant and at least two sufficient sureties and approved by the court or officer taking the same, and may be substantially in the following form: (Code 1852, §688; Code 1867, §4239; Code 18…

(a) Each person signing as surety an undertaking of bail must be: (b) The court or magistrate in taking bail, in lieu of the foregoing, may allow a corporation, foreign or domestic, qualified to do a bonding business in this state and authorized to execute the undertaking of bail…

It is not necessary that lunatics or infants should themselves execute or acknowledge the undertaking of bail, but any other person may enter into an undertaking for their appearance. (Code 1852, §695; Code 1867, §4246; Code 1876, §4854; Code 1886, §4422; Code 1896, §4364; Code 1…

It shall not be lawful for any judicial or ministerial officer of this state to sign as surety an undertaking of bail for any prisoner or other person tried before him, to put in his charge under any criminal accusation or to sign any bond or other obligation for the release or a…

All undertakings of bail must be returned by the court or officer by whom taken to the clerk of the court before which the defendant is bound to appear within the same time and in the same manner as is provided by Section 15-10-47 for the return of writs of arrest. (Code 1852, §7…

The court before which any defendant is bound to appear may require him to enter into a new undertaking when it appears to the court that the original undertaking was insufficient when entered into or has since become insufficient from any cause whatever. (Code 1852, §702; Code 1…

At any time after an order admitting him to bail, a defendant, instead of giving bail, may deposit with the clerk of the court in which he is held to answer the sum mentioned in the order; and, upon delivering to the officer in whose custody he is a certificate of the deposit, he…

If a defendant has given bail, he may, at any time before the forfeiture of the undertaking, deposit the sum mentioned in the recognizance with the clerk of the court in which he is held to answer; and, upon the deposit’s being made, the bail is exonerated. (Acts 1949, No. 199, p…

When money has been deposited, if it remains on deposit at the time of a judgment for the payment of a fine, the clerk of the court receiving the deposit must, under the direction of the court, apply the money in satisfaction thereof and, after satisfying the fine and costs, must…

In lieu of a deposit of money, a defendant may deposit negotiable bonds of the United States or of the State of Alabama of the face value of the cash deposit required. Such bonds shall be treated in the same manner as a deposit of money, except that the clerk shall, under order o…

The undertaking of bail binds the parties thereto, jointly and severally, for the appearance of the defendant on the day fixed in the bond or undertaking from day to day of such session and from day to day of each session thereafter, until he is discharged by law and, if the tria…

No bail undertaking shall be discharged by reason of the want of the qualifications required in this chapter, by reason of there not being the requisite number of bail, by reason of any agreement other than is expressed in the undertaking, by reason of the infancy, coverture, lun…

Bail may, at any time before a conditional judgment is entered against them, exonerate themselves by surrendering the defendant; and for that purpose, they may arrest the defendant on a certified copy of the undertaking at any place in the state, or may authorize another person t…

After the entry of conditional judgment against any surety on an undertaking of bail, he may arrest the defendant as provided in Section 15-13-62, but such arrest and delivery of the defendant to the sheriff shall not exonerate the surety unless, in the judgment of the court, a g…

To exonerate the bail, the surrender of the defendant must be made to the sheriff of the county in which the court is held, to which the defendant is bound to appear or to which the trial has been removed; and, if the charge is for a misdemeanor, the sheriff may discharge him on …

If money has been deposited instead of bail and at any time before the forfeiture thereof the defendant surrenders himself to the officer to whom the commitment was directed, the court must order a return of the deposit to the defendant upon producing the certificate of the offic…

(a) The essence of all undertakings of bail, whether upon a warrant, writ of arrest, suspension of judgment, appeal or in any other case, is the appearance of the defendant at court; and the undertaking is forfeited by the failure of the defendant to appear, although the offense,…

(a) When an undertaking of bail is forfeited by the failure of the defendant to appear as required, except when money is deposited instead of bail, a conditional judgment must be entered by the court in favor of the state against the parties to the undertaking for the sum thereon…

(a) If the defendants appear and show sufficient cause for their default on bail, to be determined by the court, the conditional judgment must be set aside; but, if the excuse is not sufficient or if they fail to appear, such judgment must be made absolute for the entire sum expr…

This article shall be known and may be cited as “The Alabama Bail Reform Act of 1993.” (Acts 1993, No. 93-677, p. 1259, §1.)

As used in this article, the following terms shall have the following meanings, respectively, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. (1) APPEARANCE BOND. An appearance bond is an undertaking to pay the clerk of the circuit, district, or municipal court, for the use of th…

As used in this article, “bail” is the release of a person who has been arrested and is being held in the custody of the State of Alabama or one of its subdivisions for the commission of a criminal offense. The primary purpose of bail is to procure the release of a person charged…

Admission to bail is the order of a judicial officer of any court of the State of Alabama, or one of its subdivisions, that the defendant be discharged from actual custody on bail. Judicial officers of all courts in the State of Alabama shall see that every defendant arrested and…

Judicial officers shall see that the amount of bail is affixed to any warrants of arrests issued by the judicial officer at the time of their issuance for which the defendant is arrested and taken into custody. If arrested for an offense for which the defendant is not entitled to…

In cases where a defendant is arrested without a warrant for an offense that is bailable as a matter of right and taken into custody and there is no standard bail schedule prescribed by the presiding judge of the court of jurisdiction for the amounts of bail for the arrests witho…

Except in cases where there is no right to release on bail pursuant to Section 15-13-3, no person or defendant shall be committed to any jail in the State of Alabama on a warrant unless there is an amount of bail affixed to the warrant. No person or defendant shall remain in jail…

(a) Judges of any court within the state may accept, take, and approve bail within the jurisdiction of their respective courts. (b) Circuit, district, and municipal court clerks, including magistrates, may accept, take, and approve bail within the jurisdiction of their respective…

In all cases of misdemeanors and felonies, unless otherwise specified, the defendant is, before conviction, entitled to bail as a matter of right. All sheriffs and police chiefs of this state shall ensure that one of their officers or themselves are available to approve and accep…

In cases where the defendant has been placed on, or granted, probation and is arrested on a probation violation warrant, it shall be discretionary with the court having jurisdiction as to whether bail is granted and in what amount. (Acts 1993, No. 93-677, p. 1259, §10.)

Sheriffs, chiefs of police, jailers, or other law enforcement officers having custody of defendants who have bail set, shall, upon the request of the defendant or upon request of a professional bondsman, provide a place of privacy for the defendant to be interviewed by a professi…

For persons arrested and taken into custody, there shall be four kinds of bail used in this state. No other form of bail may be approved and accepted by any judicial officer, court clerk, magistrate, or any other person designated to accept and approve bail as stipulated in Divis…

The Supreme Court of Alabama shall prescribe the different forms used for bail bonds and shall publish the forms in the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure. The supreme court shall require an original qualifying power of attorney to be attached to all bail bond forms. The origina…

The undertaking of bail binds the parties thereto, jointly and severally, for the appearance of the defendant in court on the day fixed in the bond or undertaking, from day to day of such session, and from day to day of each session thereafter, until the defendant is discharged b…

The obligation of the sureties continues throughout every stage of trial, from the time the defendant is entered thereon until the rendition of the verdict by the jury or judge. The finding of the defendant guilty by a jury or judge discharges the sureties. The obligation of the …

The obligation of sureties is continued beyond the finding of a guilty verdict by the judge or by a jury in cases where the maximum sentence, set out by law, does not exceed 10 years and where the court desires to continue the case for a probation hearing so long as the court has…

When the defendant is before the court pertaining to the case(s), the sureties of such bail may surrender the defendant in court by notifying the judge that it is their desire to surrender the defendant. The judge shall then order the sheriff, or other officer who has the duty of…

The sureties of bail may, at any time before a conditional forfeiture is entered against them, exonerate themselves by surrendering the defendant to the jail having the authority of keeping custody of prisoners of the court having jurisdiction of defendant’s case. For that purpos…

After the entry of a conditional forfeiture against any surety on an undertaking of bail, the surety may arrest the defendant as provided in Section 15-13-117, and the arrest and delivery of the defendant to the authorized jail as stated in Section 15-13-117 shall not exonerate t…

To exonerate the bail, the surrender of the defendant, other than that in Section 15-13-116, shall be made to the original custodian of the county or municipality in which the court is held and to which the defendant is bound to appear, or to which the trial has been removed. If …

After a defendant has been released on either one of the four different types of bail, as set out in Division 2, Section 15-13-111, and the defendant desires to substitute one form of bail for another, the defendant may do so by giving such bail to the clerk of the court having j…