Further down is a black image of handcuffs. In the broadest sense, the bail-bond business is simple.

Bail Bondsman Salary

You get arrested for a crime: A judge sets your bail—the money you have to pay if you want to be released before your court date—at, maybe, fifteen thousand dollars. Jakab and his peers charge a fee, with the rates set by state law: For a fifteen-thousand-dollar bail, that works out to eleven hundred and sixty dollars.

But the fee is not all the defendant, or whoever is bailing him or her out, has to put up if they want to work with Jakab. This is where things get more complicated. If the defendant decides to jet off to Florida, Jakab has to pay the court the full fifteen thousand dollars. To minimize his risk, he asks for collateral. He also demands that one or two people with jobs sign a bond and agree to cover any additional losses. The bigger the risk, the more collateral Jakab seeks.

Selecting those clients requires skill and intuition. Fewer than one per cent default. He also writes into the bail agreements a requirement that the defendant come into his office once a week to sign in. He can turn to a licensed private investigator to track the bail-skipper down.

Making Money: The Bail-Bond Business | The New Yorker

Often, family members help him find the defendant. While I was sitting with Jakab behind the plastic barrier in his office—with all the cash he handles, he keeps the interior door locked—a young man in a Yankees cap came in. He nodded at us, signed in, and turned around without a word.

Jakab watched him walk out. Most of the defendants are between seventeen and twenty-six years old, black or Latino, and poor.

Jakab received his introduction to the business in college, when he got a summer job running bonds for fifty or seventy-five dollars a pop to the courthouse in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

After graduation, he worked for a bondsman in the Bronx, and in he set out on his own.

But his days of chasing down delinquent defendants are in the past. Sign up for our daily newsletter: Shop Sign in Link your subscription.

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