House Bill NO. 1235

By Senator(s) Committee

SECTION 1. Section 83-39-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

83-39-7. (1) Each applicant for professional bail agent who acts as personal surety shall be required to post a qualification bond in the amount of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) with the department. Any professional bail agent making application for license renewal, as herein provided, who shall have furnished bail in fifty (50) or more criminal cases shall post such bond in the amount of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). The qualification bond shall be made by depositing with the commissioner the aforesaid amount of bonds of the United States, State of Mississippi, or any agency or subdivision thereof, or shall be written by an insurer as defined in this chapter, shall meet the specifications as may be required and defined in this chapter, and shall meet such specifications as may be required and approved by the department. The bond shall be conditioned upon the full and prompt payment of any bail bond issued by such professional bail agent into the court ordering the bond forfeited. The bond shall be to the people of the State of Mississippi in favor of any court of this state, whether municipal, justice, county, circuit, Supreme or other court. If any bond issued by a professional bail agent is declared forfeited and judgment entered thereon by a court of proper jurisdiction and the amount of the bond is not paid within ninety (90) days, that court shall order the department to declare the qualification bond of the professional bail agent to be forfeited and the license revoked. The department shall then order the surety on the qualification bond to deposit with the court an amount equal to the amount of the bond issued by the professional bail agent and declared forfeited by the court, or the amount of the qualification bond, whichever is the smaller amount. The department shall, after hearing held upon not less than ten (10) days' written notice, suspend the license of the professional bail agent until such time as another qualification bond in the required amount is posted with the department. The revocation of the license of the professional bail agent shall also serve to revoke the license of each soliciting bail agent and bail enforcement agent employed or used by such professional bail agent. In the event of a final judgment of forfeiture of any bail bond written under the provisions of this chapter, the amount of money so forfeited by the final judgment of the proper court, less all accrued court costs and excluding any interest charges or attorney's fees, shall be refunded to the bail agent or his insurance company upon proper showing to the court as to which is entitled to same, provided the defendant in such cases is returned to the sheriff of the county to which the original bail bond was returnable within twelve (12) months of the date of such final judgment, or proof made of incarceration of the defendant in another jurisdiction, and that a "Hold Order" has been placed upon the defendant for return of the defendant to the sheriff upon release from the other jurisdiction, the return to the sheriff to be the responsibility of the professional bail agent as provided in subsection (2) of this section, then the bond forfeiture shall be stayed and remission made upon petition to the court, in the amount found in the court's discretion to be just and proper. A bail agent licensed under this chapter shall have a right to apply for and obtain from the proper court an extension of time delaying a final judgment of forfeiture if such bail agent can satisfactorily establish to the court wherein such forfeiture is pending that the defendant named in the bail bond is lawfully in custody outside of the State of Mississippi.

(2) The professional bail agent shall satisfy the responsibility to return the defendant who has been held by a "Hold Order" in another jurisdiction upon release from the other jurisdiction:

(a) By personally returning the defendant to the sheriff at no cost to the county; or

(b) Where the other jurisdiction will not release the defendant to any person other than a law enforcement officer, by reimbursing to the county the reasonable cost of the return of the defendant, not to exceed the cost that would be entailed if the option in paragraph (a) of this subsection were available.

SECTION 2. Section 99-5-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

99-5-27. (1) (a) "Surrender" means the delivery of the defendant, principal on bond, physically to the sheriff or chief of police or in his absence, his jailer, and it is the duty of the sheriff or chief of police, or his jailer, to accept the surrender of the principal when presented and such act is complete upon the execution of verbal or written surrender notice presented by bail and shall relieve bail of liability on principal's bond.

(b) Bail may surrender principal if principal is found to be detained on another charge * * *. If principal is found incarcerated in another jurisdiction, bail may surrender him by verbal or written notice of surrender to the sheriff or chief of police, or his jailer, of that jurisdiction and the notice of surrender shall act as a "Hold Order" and upon presentation of written surrender notice to the court of proper jurisdiction, the court shall order a "Hold Order" placed on the principal for the court and shall relieve bail of liability on principal's bond, with the provision that, upon release from incarceration in the other jurisdiction, return of the principal to the sheriff shall be the responsibility of bail. Bail shall satisfy the responsibility to return a principal held by a "Hold Order" in another jurisdiction upon release from the other jurisdiction either by personally returning principal to the sheriff at no cost to the county or, where the other jurisdiction will not release principal to any person other than a law enforcement officer, by reimbursing to the county the reasonable cost of the return of principal, not to exceed the cost that would be entailed if the first option were available.

(c) The surrender of principal by bail, within the time period provided in Section 99-5-25, shall serve to discharge its liability to the State of Mississippi and any of its courts; but if this be done after forfeiture of the bond or recognizance, the court shall set aside the judgment nisi or final judgment upon filing of surrender notice by bail.

(2) (a) Bail, or its agent, at any time, may surrender its principal to any law enforcement agency or in open court in discharge of its liability on the principal's bond if the law enforcement agency that was involved in setting the original bond approves of such surrender, to the State of Mississippi and any of its courts and at any time may arrest and transport its principal anywhere or may authorize another to do so, may be assisted by any law enforcement agency or its agents anywhere upon request of bail and may receive any information available to law enforcement or the courts pertaining to the principal for the purpose of safe surrender or for any reasonable cause in order to safely return the principal to the custody of law enforcement and the court.

(b) Bail, or its agent, at any time, may arrest its principal anywhere or authorize another to do so for the purpose of surrender of the principal on bail bond. Failure of the sheriff or chief of police or his jailer, any law enforcement agency or its agents or the court to accept surrender by bail or its agent shall relieve bail of any liability on principal's bond, and the bond shall be held for naught.

(3) Bail, or its agent, at any time, upon request by the defendant or others on behalf of the defendant, may privately interview the defendant to obtain information to help with surrender before posting any bail bond on behalf of the defendant. All licensed bail agents shall have equal access to jails or detention facilities for the purpose of such interviews, the posting of bail bonds and the surrender of principal.

(4) Upon surrender, the court, after full review of the defendant and the pending charges, in open court, may discharge the prisoner on his giving new bail, but if he does not give new bail, he shall be detained in jail.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1999.

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 83-39-7 AND 99-5-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE MANNER OF RETURN OF DEFENDANT OUT ON BOND; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.