What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Florida
I was recently arrested for my bond being temporarily revolved by my bondsman. Here are the facts surrounding this situation:
I had a court date on October 26th at 8:30 AM at the local country courthouse. However, I was unable to make this court date due to the fact that Hurricane Wilma came through the area and knocked out all power in the area during the afternoon of October 24th. Being that my power was out for 6 days, I listened to the radio to find out if the courthouse would be opened on October 26th for normal court proceedings. All the local radio stations indicated that ALL government offices where closed due to power outages until further notice. With this, I figured I would call the courthouse as soon as I got my power back to reschedule a court date.
I come to find out on October 29th the court was indeed open for hearings on October 26th as it was the only government building that did not have damage to its power structure and therefore was open for daily business as usual. As a result, a bench warrant was issued for my arrest.
I didn’t find out a bench warrant had been issued for my arrest until Monday morning, October 31st when I received a telephone call from my bail bondsman informing me of the situation. I immediately call the local courthouse and informed the clerk of the situation and she indicated to me that she would inform the judge and I was to call back in a few hours for further information. I did so and the judge ordered me to appear in Court on Nov 2nd at 1:30 PM for a hearing on my case.
I appeared in court per the judges’ orders on Nov. 2nd at 1:30 PM and explained to the judge the extraordinary circumstances surrounding my case. He was quite sympatric and resented my arrest warrant. At this point, I was quite happy with the outcome until he informed me of a new law on the books. Apparently, the bail bondsman had withdrawn my bond and as a result I had to be taken down to the local jail house and rebooked. The judge indicated to me that he would normally just release me on my own accord and I would then have to contact my bail bondsman myself and have them repost the bond. But a new law was in place that made this impossible and therefore I had to go through the process of rebooking for the same charges incurred 8 months earlier.
I could clearly see the judge wasn’t happy with this situation as it was clearly unfair and he told me all I had to do was call my bail bondsman and see if they would reactivate the bond I posted 8 months earlier and I would be released immediately. So at this point I wasn’t too worried and figured I would only be inconvenienced for a couple hours.
This ended up turning into a 24 hour nightmare which I will outline for you.
I was taken down to the holding cell in the courthouse and had to wait there for approximately 2 hours to be driven down to the jailhouse. Upon arriving at the jailhouse, I then had to wait another hour or so before I was finger printed, processed and interviewed again. After this rather time consuming process, I was then finally able to call my bail bondsman to clear this mess up. My bail bondsman understood the situation and faxed all the information necessary to get me released from this mess at approximately 4:00 PM. My bail bondsman assured me I would be out of there within 15-30 minutes.
So I waited patiently in the holding cell to be released. As I was sitting there patiently waiting to be released, the door opened to the holding cell and 3 officers came in and accused me of putting a piece of toilet paper over the camera inside the holding cell. I told them I did not and to look at the video tape to confirm my innocence. They said they would do that. Apparently someone had done this previously before my arrival. But since the officers where quite mad about the situation, they decided to take there frustrations out on me and put me in a cage where I had to stand up straight and couldn’t go to the bathroom for over 2 hours. I keep my cool and asked them to check the status on my case to see if the bond was reposted but I was totally ignored and treated as a criminal. I was told to shut up or further punishment would be accessed.
Apparently, since these so called officers of the law where pissed off from this episode, they took complete disregard for me and my file apparently sat there not to be processed. I stood in that cage for over 2 hours until finally there was a shift change. Noticing there where new guards on duty I informed one of them of my situation. He said he would look into it immediately. After about another hour of patiently waiting in this barbaric cage, I was finally told that my papers where submitted too late I would have to spend the night in jail to wait until my papers could be processed in the morning. I asked one of the officers that witnessed the toilet paper in the camera episode if they had taken a look at the video and he responded, “I don’t give a S***” At the point I was very unhappy as it was my 5th wedding anniversary and I had reservations at restaurant with my wife and I was angry at the mistreatment I had received to this point.
I was finally released from the “cage” and I was told that I had to be fingerprinted, interviewed and processed again. I told them this had already been done hours earlier so I was put in a holding cell again so the officer could find out if this was true. After about another 30 minutes the officer showed and said indeed this had been done but the paperwork was temporarily misplaced but had been found. I’m thinking to myself at this point how unprofessional and quite inept these people really perform there straight forward and easy tasks. I didn’t say anything, just thought it.
So finally I was told to take off my street clothes and was issued jailhouse clothes and put back into the holding cell. Luckily there was a telephone in there and I was able to call my wife and tell her about the situation. I also called my bail bondsman and was told my paperwork was faxed to the jailhouse hours earlier and I should have been released then. This obviously did not happen.
After about another hour I was taken down to general population. During this whole time I was not given any food or drink so I was quite tired and tried to go to sleep.
After a restless night of tossing and turning, I was called on the intercom to go to a bond hearing. I was then taken to the bond hearing which was performed via a web cam from the jail to the courthouse. The same judge was present for the bond hearing that I saw the day before. When my bond hearing finally came up, the judge told me I should even be at this bond hearing as my bond was already set and posted. He was clearly amazed that I was still even there to begin with and told me I should be released any time.
So then I was chained together with about 25 other inmates and taken to another holding cell to await an audience with a pubic defender. I told the guard on duty that this wasn’t necessary for me but I was completely ignored. This holding cell was clearly big enough to house about 10 inmates but yet there was at least a total of 30 in there with very little air flow and little or no air conditioning. This whole time I still had nothing to eat or drink so I was feeling quite stressed out knowing that I wasn’t even supposed to be there.
After about another hour or so of watching the inmates see a public attorney one by one I again tried to tell a guard my situation and was ignored once again. So I had to wait at least another 3 hours until everyone had seen a public defender before I was to be taken back to the general population. At this point I was very hungry and thirsty but again there was nothing offered to me. Finally after everyone saw a public defender, I was then chained up to a bunch of inmates and taken back to prison population. Before then I was finally handed a plate of so-called food which I had to carry while handcuffed back to my cell. There was no bread and evidently the food was not completely finished or they ran out of certain items. But nonetheless it was food; a turkey/potato mix and a little bit of salad on the side. I was so hungry I ate it although I didn’t like it at all.
I waited another hour or so after I got back to general population before my name was finally called to be released. Before my release, the clerk at the front desk where you are finally processed did not know how to get my release form finalized because my case was not a usual occurrence. I had to wait another 20 minutes or so for someone that knew what they were doing could hit the proper “option” key to initiate my paperwork. During these 20 minutes, I told the clerk at the desk there must be an option key to fill in the proper information to finish my release papers. She looked at me like I didn’t know what I was talking about and ignored my suggestion. Computers are my specialty and trade I told her but she evidently figured I was a criminal and didn’t pay heed to my advice. So finally another clerk came along and did exactly what I told her. I was finally released.
This whole episode was a nightmare and clearly shows many problems in today’s prison system. The absolute disregard for basic human rights, the ineptitude and untrained state of the employees trusted with this duty and the lack of any organization and competence in the State of Florida’s correctional facilities.
I was recently arrested for my bond being temporarily revolved by my bondsman. Here are the facts surrounding this situation:
I had a court date on October 26th at 8:30 AM at the local country courthouse. However, I was unable to make this court date due to the fact that Hurricane Wilma came through the area and knocked out all power in the area during the afternoon of October 24th. Being that my power was out for 6 days, I listened to the radio to find out if the courthouse would be opened on October 26th for normal court proceedings. All the local radio stations indicated that ALL government offices where closed due to power outages until further notice. With this, I figured I would call the courthouse as soon as I got my power back to reschedule a court date.
I come to find out on October 29th the court was indeed open for hearings on October 26th as it was the only government building that did not have damage to its power structure and therefore was open for daily business as usual. As a result, a bench warrant was issued for my arrest.
I didn’t find out a bench warrant had been issued for my arrest until Monday morning, October 31st when I received a telephone call from my bail bondsman informing me of the situation. I immediately call the local courthouse and informed the clerk of the situation and she indicated to me that she would inform the judge and I was to call back in a few hours for further information. I did so and the judge ordered me to appear in Court on Nov 2nd at 1:30 PM for a hearing on my case.
I appeared in court per the judges’ orders on Nov. 2nd at 1:30 PM and explained to the judge the extraordinary circumstances surrounding my case. He was quite sympatric and resented my arrest warrant. At this point, I was quite happy with the outcome until he informed me of a new law on the books. Apparently, the bail bondsman had withdrawn my bond and as a result I had to be taken down to the local jail house and rebooked. The judge indicated to me that he would normally just release me on my own accord and I would then have to contact my bail bondsman myself and have them repost the bond. But a new law was in place that made this impossible and therefore I had to go through the process of rebooking for the same charges incurred 8 months earlier.
I could clearly see the judge wasn’t happy with this situation as it was clearly unfair and he told me all I had to do was call my bail bondsman and see if they would reactivate the bond I posted 8 months earlier and I would be released immediately. So at this point I wasn’t too worried and figured I would only be inconvenienced for a couple hours.
This ended up turning into a 24 hour nightmare which I will outline for you.
I was taken down to the holding cell in the courthouse and had to wait there for approximately 2 hours to be driven down to the jailhouse. Upon arriving at the jailhouse, I then had to wait another hour or so before I was finger printed, processed and interviewed again. After this rather time consuming process, I was then finally able to call my bail bondsman to clear this mess up. My bail bondsman understood the situation and faxed all the information necessary to get me released from this mess at approximately 4:00 PM. My bail bondsman assured me I would be out of there within 15-30 minutes.
So I waited patiently in the holding cell to be released. As I was sitting there patiently waiting to be released, the door opened to the holding cell and 3 officers came in and accused me of putting a piece of toilet paper over the camera inside the holding cell. I told them I did not and to look at the video tape to confirm my innocence. They said they would do that. Apparently someone had done this previously before my arrival. But since the officers where quite mad about the situation, they decided to take there frustrations out on me and put me in a cage where I had to stand up straight and couldn’t go to the bathroom for over 2 hours. I keep my cool and asked them to check the status on my case to see if the bond was reposted but I was totally ignored and treated as a criminal. I was told to shut up or further punishment would be accessed.
Apparently, since these so called officers of the law where pissed off from this episode, they took complete disregard for me and my file apparently sat there not to be processed. I stood in that cage for over 2 hours until finally there was a shift change. Noticing there where new guards on duty I informed one of them of my situation. He said he would look into it immediately. After about another hour of patiently waiting in this barbaric cage, I was finally told that my papers where submitted too late I would have to spend the night in jail to wait until my papers could be processed in the morning. I asked one of the officers that witnessed the toilet paper in the camera episode if they had taken a look at the video and he responded, “I don’t give a S***” At the point I was very unhappy as it was my 5th wedding anniversary and I had reservations at restaurant with my wife and I was angry at the mistreatment I had received to this point.
I was finally released from the “cage” and I was told that I had to be fingerprinted, interviewed and processed again. I told them this had already been done hours earlier so I was put in a holding cell again so the officer could find out if this was true. After about another 30 minutes the officer showed and said indeed this had been done but the paperwork was temporarily misplaced but had been found. I’m thinking to myself at this point how unprofessional and quite inept these people really perform there straight forward and easy tasks. I didn’t say anything, just thought it.
So finally I was told to take off my street clothes and was issued jailhouse clothes and put back into the holding cell. Luckily there was a telephone in there and I was able to call my wife and tell her about the situation. I also called my bail bondsman and was told my paperwork was faxed to the jailhouse hours earlier and I should have been released then. This obviously did not happen.
After about another hour I was taken down to general population. During this whole time I was not given any food or drink so I was quite tired and tried to go to sleep.
After a restless night of tossing and turning, I was called on the intercom to go to a bond hearing. I was then taken to the bond hearing which was performed via a web cam from the jail to the courthouse. The same judge was present for the bond hearing that I saw the day before. When my bond hearing finally came up, the judge told me I should even be at this bond hearing as my bond was already set and posted. He was clearly amazed that I was still even there to begin with and told me I should be released any time.
So then I was chained together with about 25 other inmates and taken to another holding cell to await an audience with a pubic defender. I told the guard on duty that this wasn’t necessary for me but I was completely ignored. This holding cell was clearly big enough to house about 10 inmates but yet there was at least a total of 30 in there with very little air flow and little or no air conditioning. This whole time I still had nothing to eat or drink so I was feeling quite stressed out knowing that I wasn’t even supposed to be there.
After about another hour or so of watching the inmates see a public attorney one by one I again tried to tell a guard my situation and was ignored once again. So I had to wait at least another 3 hours until everyone had seen a public defender before I was to be taken back to the general population. At this point I was very hungry and thirsty but again there was nothing offered to me. Finally after everyone saw a public defender, I was then chained up to a bunch of inmates and taken back to prison population. Before then I was finally handed a plate of so-called food which I had to carry while handcuffed back to my cell. There was no bread and evidently the food was not completely finished or they ran out of certain items. But nonetheless it was food; a turkey/potato mix and a little bit of salad on the side. I was so hungry I ate it although I didn’t like it at all.
I waited another hour or so after I got back to general population before my name was finally called to be released. Before my release, the clerk at the front desk where you are finally processed did not know how to get my release form finalized because my case was not a usual occurrence. I had to wait another 20 minutes or so for someone that knew what they were doing could hit the proper “option” key to initiate my paperwork. During these 20 minutes, I told the clerk at the desk there must be an option key to fill in the proper information to finish my release papers. She looked at me like I didn’t know what I was talking about and ignored my suggestion. Computers are my specialty and trade I told her but she evidently figured I was a criminal and didn’t pay heed to my advice. So finally another clerk came along and did exactly what I told her. I was finally released.
This whole episode was a nightmare and clearly shows many problems in today’s prison system. The absolute disregard for basic human rights, the ineptitude and untrained state of the employees trusted with this duty and the lack of any organization and competence in the State of Florida’s correctional facilities.
By the way, What was the original court date ,THAT YOU MISSED,