5 Reasons Not to Stay in Jail
So, you or a friend may be going to jail, and you’re wondering — why not just stay there? There can be a small advantage to staying in jail: You might be able to get credit for time served. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. There are a lot of reasons why staying in jail until your hearing is a bad idea.
1. You Could Lose Your Job (or Opportunities)
If you’re working right now, it’s very likely you will lose your job. Few employers can handle an employee not showing up because they’re in jail. If you’re in school, it’s also very likely you will fail your classes by the time you get out. Because of that, you may find your situation even worse once you get out of jail. It’s best to get out of jail and go to work rather than try to deal with your jail sentence.
And if you aren’t working right now but are applying for positions, it’s possible that you could get the position of your dreams while in jail and not be able to go to an interview or accept a job offer. That can have some significant consequences for you well past your hearing date.
2. You’re Going to be Uncomfortable
You might underestimate how uncomfortable being in jail can be. If you’re serving a jail sentence, you might have access to certain amenities. But if you’re just waiting in jail until your hearing, you often don’t. You may not have any forms of entertainment, you may be around unpleasant people, and you may have a difficult time just sleeping and eating. All these things can wear at you over time.
3. You Could Say the Wrong Thing
No one remembers everything perfectly. While in jail, you can talk to a lot of people. You might say something that contradicts the truth to a guard or another inmate. This could seriously complicate your case.
The problem is that it’s very easy to forget things, misinterpret questions, or just misremember and think you’re telling the truth. But absolutely anything that you say can potentially be held against you, which is why you want to spend the least amount of time in or around a jail as possible.
4. You May Need to Take Care of Your Family
Let’s say you have children. It’s hard and expensive to get someone to care for them, and you might not be able to check in with them to make sure that they’re OK. Rather than having to worry about your children or your spouse back home, it’s better to simply bail out and be with them. Think about potentially missing parent-teacher meetings, recitals, or plays. All of this could be even more devastating if they know this happened because of jail time.
You also might have elderly parents or grandparents you want to be with and take care of. You can’t do that from jail.
5. You Have Limited Contact With the Outside World
Finally, anything can happen when you’re in jail, and you might not know about it when it happens.
Your car could be repossessed because a bill was missed, and you might not know this because you don’t have your bank account statements. Your family member could get hit by a car, and you might not know they’re in the hospital because you can’t get calls from unknown people. Being in jail disconnects you from everything else and means that your life situation could spiral downward without your knowledge, which only makes your future more complex.Ultimately, staying in jail means that you have very limited control over every aspect of your life. And it doesn’t really help your case either. When you can get out of jail, you probably should. We can help. Contact us at A Way Out Bail Bonds today to find out more. Call us in Dallas County (214-760-9978) or Tarrant County (817-261-2828) to quickly get you out of jail and back to your life.