Question & Answer

Q: What are commitments? 
A: A commitment is an unpaid citation that has become a form of a warrant. Either you pay the fine or serve a said amount of days. You do not go to court on this matter.

Q: What is a bail bond? 
A: A bond is a guarantee that you will appear in court. There are 3 types bail bonds.

1. Cash bond- Pay an amount to be released until their next court date. 
2. Signature bond- Inmate signs a bond stating that they will return for the next court date. 
3. Co-signature bond- A person an inmate names and the inmate signs a bond indicating that the inmate will return for their next court date.

If the inmate does not return for their court date a warrant will be issued, an additional charge for bail jumping may be added and the bond may also be forfeited.

Q: If I paid a bond for someone, when and how do I get my money? 
A: If you are entitled to get your money back, the Clerk of Courts will reimburse you after the case is completed or ordered by the court. It will be mailed to the name and address on the receipt given when the bond was posted.

Q: What is a probation hold?
A: It is a hold placed by the Department of Corrections for some type of rules violation by the offender. There is no fine or a bond that can be paid to release the inmate. We have no information as to how long the inmate will be held. Once we are notified by the Department of Corrections to release the hold we release the inmate shortly after that as long as there are no other charges.

Q: What is an out of county hold / detainer?
A: Another county or state has a warrant for the inmate. If there is a bond amount you can pay it. If it is not paid, the other jurisdiction will come and transport them to their facility.

Q: When do you receive court paperwork? 
A: Inmates go to court throughout the day, Monday - Friday (except holidays). At the end of the day all the paperwork is collected and processed. The paperwork needs to sorted and matched to the inmates file. Then the files are updated. The court paperwork isn’t usually in the jail before 6:00 pm. Again, the same people who answer the phones are processing the paperwork. To save time, check this website. The update is shown on this site within 15 minutes of updating.

Q: What is a booking fee? 
A: It is a $ 30.00 fee charged to any person who is serving time at the Racine County Jail.

Q: What is a warrant fee? 
A: It is $ 35.00 processing fee charged for anyone who is arrested on a warrant entered by our department.

Q: Do you accept credit cards for payment? 
A: Yes, we use a credit card service, named GPS. They charge a non-refundable service fee.

Q: What time do inmates go to court?
A: If arrested on a new charge an inmate will go to court the next business day between 1:30-2:30 pm. This does not include traffic. Warrants can be anywhere from one to two business days.

Q: When will an inmate be transported to another jurisdiction?
A: Due to security reasons we cannot disclose that information.

Q: What time of day do inmates get released, if they have served their time? 
A: They are usually released between 4-6 am, but there are exceptions.