Holds
Mental Health Holds (5150) and Why Bail Will Not Release Someone
A bail bond does not end a psychiatric hold. If someone is on a 5150, the money is not what is keeping them in — and paying it early can be wasted.
This is one of the few situations where an honest bail agent should tell you to keep your money in your pocket for now. A bail bond does not end a mental health hold. If the person is on a 5150, the bail amount is not what is keeping them in custody, and posting it early can mean paying a premium for a release that does not happen.
What a 5150 actually is
Section 5150 of the Welfare and Institutions Code allows a person to be taken into custody and held for up to 72 hours for assessment, evaluation and crisis intervention where, as a result of a mental health disorder, they are found to be a danger to themselves, a danger to others, or gravely disabled. It is a civil detention for treatment. It is not an arrest, not a criminal charge, and not a bail matter.
The 72 hours can be extended. Under Welfare and Institutions Code 5250, a further certification for intensive treatment can follow. Those decisions belong to the treating facility and the process around it — not to the jail, not to the court’s bail schedule, and certainly not to us.
Where families get caught out
| A hold with no criminal charge | There is no bail amount because there is no criminal case. Nothing to post. The question is a treatment question. |
| A criminal charge and a hold together | Bail may be set on the criminal matter, but the person is not released while the hold stands. Posting early buys nothing until the hold resolves. |
| Transferred out of the jail | Someone moved to a treatment facility may vanish from the jail’s inmate search entirely, which families read as a release. It usually is not — see jail transfers. |
| Hospitalised under guard | A person receiving medical treatment while in custody is still in custody. Release logistics run through the facility, not the hospital. |
What to do instead
- Establish whether a hold exists at all. Ask the facility directly whether the person is bail-eligible. This costs nothing and is the single most useful question.
- Find out whether there is a criminal case and what the charge is — see find an inmate and holds and multiple cases.
- Speak to a criminal defence lawyer if there is a charge. Mental health can bear on how a case proceeds in ways a bail schedule does not describe, and in Orange County matters of this kind are associated with the Costa Mesa Justice Complex, which the court identifies for probate and mental health rather than criminal matters.
- Wait to post until you know the hold is resolving. A bond posted into a standing hold does not produce a release.
What we will and will not tell you
We can tell you whether a bail amount exists and what the schedule says. We cannot assess anyone, advise on treatment, predict when a hold will lift, or give legal advice. If someone is in immediate danger, that is an emergency call, not a bail call.
Related
PaperworkRelease PaperworkThe document that actually controls the court date.Read more
SearchFind an InmateOrange County and Los Angeles County custody searches.Read more
ProcessHow Long Release TakesWhat controls the clock once the money is in.Read more
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Please note: American Freedom Bail Bonds is a licensed bail bond agency, not a law firm. Nothing on this page is legal advice and we cannot predict how any case will be charged or resolved. Confirm current details with the court, the facility, or a criminal defence lawyer. California bail license 1841014.
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