Historical Context: Alabama Professional Bail Bonding Board

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The Historical Context for the Alabama Professional Bail Bonding Board has been posted from the Records Disposition Authority (RDA) approved by the State Records Commission on October 18, 2023. The RDA establishes disposition requirements by designating records as either temporary records which may be destroyed after a specified retention period, or permanent records, which must be preserved in perpetuity. The complete RDAs for close to 175 agencies can be found on the Alabama Department of Archives and History website.

The modern bail bond system practiced in the United States traces its roots to Anglo-Saxon England, where offenders paid recompense, or wergelds, for their crimes. The wergeld (or “man price”) system designated compensation based on the type of offense and the victim’s social status. If offenders were unable to pay, family or friends could pledge sureties on their behalf, promising to ensure the individual paid whatever compensation they owed. If the offender failed to pay, these guarantors would have to pay the wergeld themselves or receive the same punishment for non-payment as the offender.[1]

English settlers in the Americas brought the English bail system with them to the colonies, where it rooted and evolved into the system the United States practices today. For most of the bail system’s history, a bond served as a personal financial obligation, not a business transaction. Individuals, their families, or friends paid the set bond, which was returned when the accused appeared for their court date. In much of the world, bond practices continue in this form.[2] In the United States in 1898, however, a pair of San Francisco brothers turned a local favor into a new business: the first bail bond company. Peter and Thomas McDonough began loaning lawyers money for bonds out of their family’s bar near the city’s municipal court. Upon learning that lawyers borrowing money for bonds, in turn, charged their clients an additional fee for the convenience, the brothers began charging fees as well – and thus, a business was born.[3]

Today, the United States is almost unique in practicing commercial bail bonds; however, states exercise independent control over the level of regulation placed on the commercial bail bond industry.[4] Some states, including Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin, have used that leeway to outlaw the practice of commercial bail bonding. Other states regulate bondsmen through designated state agencies (such as Arkansas), as a subsidiary responsibility of a broader agency (such as California), as an oversight function of the state court system (such as Minnesota), or at the county level (such as Georgia).[5] Finally, some states, including Vermont and Iowa, have no regulations on the profession at all.[6]

In Alabama, legislators issued the first state-wide regulations on the professional bail bond industry in 1949 with an amendment to the criminal procedure code of the Code of Alabama 1940. Those “engaged in the business of making bonds and charging therefor” were required to file a ten-thousand-dollar corporate surety bond with the probate judge in the company’s county of operation.[7] Later acts raised the bond amount to twenty-five thousand dollars.[8] Individual counties or judicial circuits retained discretion to set other regulations. Over the ensuing decades, cities, counties, and judicial circuits used this discretion to pass regional laws loosening or tightening requirements for bail bond companies. Jurisdictions passed common regulations such as requirements that professional bondsmen file a list of their financial assets and liabilities with local officials,[9] adjustments to the required surety bond amount,[10] limits on the size of bond companies can post,[11] and residential requirements for bondsmen.[12] In most localities, regulations on bail bondsmen came as internal process changes and often occurred as a reaction to unethical business practices.[13]

In 1978, Montgomery County established the most comprehensive and organized local regulations on professional bondsmen. In addition to reaffirming the necessity of a twenty-five-thousand-dollar surety bond for companies to practice, Alabama Act 1978-98 set licensing standards reminiscent of its future state-wide successor and established a special body, the Surety Commission, to evaluate licensure applicants in Montgomery County. The Commission’s membership comprised the presiding circuit court judge, the presiding criminal circuit court judge, the presiding district court judge, the district attorney of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, and an unspecified gubernatorial appointee. Professional bail agent applicants were required to be nineteen years of age, a U.S. citizen, not convicted of a felony, not convicted of a crime of violence, and have a “character and reputation in the community… equivalent to that which is expected of a law enforcement officer.”[14]

At the statewide level, regulations remained unchanged until 1993 with the passage of the Alabama Bail Reform Act of 1993. Besides dictating how and when bail can be granted, the Act refined the process by which bail bond businesses were authorized to operate. Bail bond companies and surety companies both had to receive an annual authorization order from the circuit court judge of the counties where the company provided services. Bail bond companies were additionally required to secure a twenty-five-thousand-dollar surety bond, submit a list of individuals working as bail bond agents for the company, and submit a signed affidavit affirming that the company would uphold any bond agreements in which it was a party and that no employees of the business had been convicted of a felony or crime of moral turpitude. It also decreed that attorneys, judges, or other officials setting or accepting bonds could not hold a financial interest in a bail bond or surety company. Individuals receiving money or other compensation for providing a bond without registering had committed a Class A misdemeanor. The law also standardized the procedure for issuing a bondman’s process, a legal document sanctioning bail bond and recovery agents to arrest individuals who fail to show up for court dates after a bail company has posted a bond on their behalf. [15]  

By the early twenty-first century, citizens, legislators, and professional bail bond associations alike were keenly aware of the inadequacies of the existing bail bond regulation system. Individual judicial circuits could revoke a company’s permission to operate in their region if the company’s actions warranted punishment; however, since registration occurred at the circuit level, a company disciplined in one region could simply resume operations in a different area of the state. No mechanism existed to prevent a company from operating state-wide.

In 2019, the Legislature passed the Alabama Bail Bond Regulatory Act to address these concerns, creating the Alabama Professional Bail Bonding Board. The Act granted the Board the power to approve, deny, or revoke licenses for bail bondsmen and recovery agents and establish standards for pre-licensure and continuing education.[16] Alabama Act 2021-499 expanded the Bail Bond Regulatory Act to additionally provide for registration of surety bondsmen and surety bond companies with the Board and create a process by which established bail bond companies could accept and train apprentice bondmen.[17] Today, the Alabama Professional Bail Bonding Board promotes public confidence in the bail bond industry by enforcing professional standards for professional bail bondsmen, surety bondsmen, and recovery agents in Alabama.

[1] Timothy R. Schnacke, “A Brief History of Bail,” The Judges’ Journal 57, no. 3 (2018): 4-7, 35-36.

[2] Bail refers to the release of an alleged offender prior to trial. Bond is a monetary deposit made to secure bail. Though “bail” and “bond” are colloquially used interchangeably, this RDA document adheres to the technical delineation between the two.

[3] Timothy R. Schnacke, Michael R. Jones, and Claire M.B. Brooker, “The History of Bail and Pretrial Release,” Pretrial Justice Institute, September 23, 2010, https://cdpsdocs.state.co.us/ccjj/Committees/BailSub/Handouts/ HistoryofBail-Pre-TrialRelease-PJI_2010.pdf.

[4] Adam Liptak, “Illegal Globally, Bail for Profit Remains in U.S.,” New York Times, January 29, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/us/29bail.html. The only other country practicing commercial bail bonds on a large scale is the Philippines.

[5] The bail bonds industry uses the term “bail bondsmen” to describe bail bond professionals regardless of gender. This RDA uses the term throughout the document in the same manner in keeping with this practice.

[6] National Conference of State Legislatures, “Bail Bond Agent Licensure,” April 23, 2013, https://www.ncsl.org/ research/civil-and-criminal-justice/bail-bond-agent-licensure.aspx.

[7] Alabama Act 1949-199. Surety bonds are a form of insurance that guarantees the policy holder can and will fulfill their duties. If a defendant failed to show up for court, the surety company might pay the forfeited bail if the bail bond company was unable to do so itself.

[8] Alabama Act 1963-124. This act also provided an exemption to Morgan County, permitting professional bondsman in that county to furnish only a $10,000 bond.

[9] Alabama Act 1963-65 (Marshall County); Alabama Act 1971-1431 (Tuscaloosa County).

[10] Alabama Act 1966-179 (Cullman County, requiring a $10,000 instead of $25,000 bond); Alabama Act 1971-1960 (Lauderdale County, requiring a mere $7,000 bond).

[11] Alabama Act 1963-170 (First Judicial Circuit, limiting companies to only provide bond of less than $5,000); Alabama Act 1969-143 (Lauderdale County, limiting companies to provide bond of less than $10,000).

[12] Alabama Act 1963-170 (First Judicial Circuit, requiring that bondsmen must own real property worth at $5,000 within their county of operation); Alabama Act 1963-341 (Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, requiring that bondsmen must be a resident of the state and a real property owner within the state); Alabama Act 1969-146 (Lauderdale County, requiring that bondsmen be a resident and homeowner in the county).

[13] Buzz Sawyer, “Bond changes proposed,” Selma Times-Journal (Selma, AL), April 20, 1975, https://www.newspapers.com/image/570741049/?terms=%22bail%20bonding%22&match=1. Brandon Tubbs, “Laird prescribes changes for bail bonding companies,” Anniston Star (Anniston, AL), September 14, 2002, https://www.newspapers.com/image/106945579/?terms=%22bail%20bonding%22&match=3.

[14] Alabama Act 1978-98.

[15] Alabama Act 1993-677.

[16] Alabama Act 2019-409.

[17] Surety bondsmen and surety bond companies have additionally registered with the Alabama Department of Insurance since 1957 (Alabama Act 1957-727).

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