Sacramento County Bail Schedule: Amounts, Enhancements, and Posting

The Sacramento County bail schedule is the preset list of dollar amounts that jail staff use to set bail at booking, before a defendant sees a judge. It is adopted each year by the Sacramento Superior Court under Penal Code 1269b(c), which requires every California county to approve and annually revise a countywide bail schedule covering all bailable felony and misdemeanor offenses.¹ The amount that applies to a given charge determines how quickly someone can get out of jail and at what cost, at least until arraignment.

How the Schedule Is Structured

The document is titled “Felony and Misdemeanor Bail Schedules for Persons in Pretrial Custody” and is posted as a PDF on the Sacramento Superior Court website.² Charges are grouped by code: Penal Code first, then Vehicle Code, then Health and Safety Code, with separate sections at the back for enhancements and prior-conviction add-ons.

Two default rules cover anything not specifically listed. A felony that doesn’t appear in the schedule is set at $10,000. A misdemeanor that doesn’t appear is set at zero, meaning the person should be released without posting money.² That zero-dollar default reflects California’s broader shift toward releasing low-risk misdemeanor defendants without cash up front.

When several charges come out of one incident, jail staff generally use the highest single charge to set the base bail rather than adding them together. Charges from separate incidents are more likely to be stacked.

Bail Amounts for Common Charges

The range is wide. First-degree and second-degree murder carry no bail at all, so the defendant stays in custody until a judge acts. Below that, amounts drop steeply with the severity of the offense. A sample from the schedule last updated in November 2025:

Assault with a deadly weapon (PC 245(a)(1)): $50,000
Assault with a firearm (PC 245(a)(2)): $75,000
Assault with a machine gun (PC 245(a)(3)): $150,000
First-degree residential burglary (PC 459/460(a)): $50,000, reduced to $25,000 if the victim knows the defendant
Second-degree burglary over $950 (PC 459/460(b)): $10,000
Burglary with explosives (PC 464): $50,000

These figures come directly from the current Sacramento schedule.² For any charge not on the list above, the schedule PDF itself is the definitive source.

Enhancements That Can Dwarf the Base Bail

The listed amount for the underlying crime is only the starting point. The schedule has a separate enhancements section, and each applicable enhancement is added on top of the base figure. In serious cases the enhancements exceed the base bail many times over.

Firearm and Weapon Enhancements

Firearm allegations drive the biggest jumps. The schedule breaks them out by how the weapon was involved:

A principal was armed with a firearm (PC 12022(a)(1)): add $10,000
Personal use of a firearm (PC 12022.5(a)): add $50,000
Personal use of an assault weapon or machine gun (PC 12022.5(b)): add $100,000
Personal use of a firearm during certain violent crimes (PC 12022.53(b)): add $100,000
Personally firing a gun during those crimes (PC 12022.53(c)): add $200,000
Firing a gun and causing great bodily injury or death (PC 12022.53(d)): add $1,000,000

Non-firearm weapons also trigger add-ons. Using any dangerous weapon other than a gun adds $10,000 under PC 12022(b)(1). Using one during a carjacking adds $50,000.²

Prior Convictions and Pretrial Status

Criminal history can push bail into amounts almost no one can pay. A defendant charged with a violent or serious felony who has one prior conviction for a violent or serious felony gets an added $1,000,000. A new felony with one prior strike adds $500,000 or double the base bail, whichever is greater. Two or more prior strikes add $1,000,000.²

Pretrial status matters too. Being arrested for a new offense while already out on bail or on supervised release adds $10,000. Ten or more documented arrests, citations, or bench warrants within the past twelve months adds $25,000.²

Gang and Great Bodily Injury Enhancements

Committing a felony for the benefit of a street gang adds $50,000 under PC 186.22(b)(1). If the gang-related charge carries a potential life sentence, the enhancement rises to $1,000,000. Personally inflicting great bodily injury generally adds $50,000, but climbs to $100,000 when the victim is a child under five or the case involves domestic violence.²

What Changes at Arraignment

The scheduled amount only controls what happens at the jail. Once the defendant reaches arraignment, the judge can raise the bail, reduce it, release the defendant on their own recognizance, or order detention. Penal Code 1275 directs judges to weigh the seriousness of the offense, the defendant’s record, the likelihood of appearance, and the safety of the public and any victims.³

The California Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in In re Humphrey reshaped how the schedule works in practice. The court held that a defendant cannot be kept in jail solely because they cannot afford bail. If money bail is imposed, it must be set at an amount the defendant can realistically pay. Before ordering pretrial detention, the court must find by clear and convincing evidence that no combination of release conditions could adequately protect public safety or ensure the defendant’s return to court.⁴

Sacramento’s schedule reflects this. It states that after arraignment the court will make an individualized assessment, consider non-financial conditions such as monitored release, and will not detain a defendant on bail they cannot afford unless the court makes a specific finding that nothing short of detention would work.² Any deviation from the scheduled amount must be explained on the record.⁴

Sacramento County’s Probation Department runs a pretrial services unit that conducts risk assessments, monitors released defendants, and provides court reminders, check-ins, and GPS monitoring at no cost to the defendant.⁵ A favorable pretrial assessment often makes the difference between staying in custody and going home on conditions.

How to Post Bail

Three routes exist: cash, a bail bond, or a property bond.

Cash. The full amount is paid to the court or jail. If the defendant makes every required appearance, the cash is returned at the end of the case, whether the outcome is dismissal, acquittal, or conviction. Administrative fees may be deducted, and refunds typically take several weeks. One warning: any cash payment over $10,000, or related payments totaling over $10,000 within 24 hours, triggers an IRS Form 8300 filing by the court or bail agent.⁶ The filing does not create a tax liability, but it creates a federal record of the payment.

Bail bond. A licensed bail agent posts the full amount with the court in exchange for a non-refundable premium, most commonly 10% in California. Some agents may offer a discount under Proposition 103’s rebating provisions.⁷ On $50,000 bail, that typically means a $5,000 premium that is gone for good, regardless of how the case ends. The agent may also require collateral such as a car title or property deed.

Property bond. California law allows equity in real property to secure bail, but the equity must be worth at least twice the bail amount. On $50,000 bail, that means at least $100,000 in equity. Equity from more than one property can be combined, and a judge holds a hearing to confirm the value before accepting the bond. No one may charge a fee for using your own property as collateral.⁸ The lien is released when the case ends and the bail is exonerated.

Source-of-Funds Holds

Even with the money ready, release can stall. Under Penal Code 1275.1, a judge can put a hold on release if there is probable cause to believe the bail money came from criminal activity. A police officer or prosecutor files a sworn declaration, or the judge finds probable cause on their own, and the defendant stays in custody until they can prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the funds are clean.⁹ The hearing can be closed to the public if the person supplying the money asks for financial privacy. If a declaration is filed but the judge doesn’t act on it within 24 hours, the hold expires. These holds are common in drug cases and cases involving large amounts of cash.

If the Defendant Misses Court

A missed appearance triggers two consequences at once: the bail is forfeited and a new criminal charge is filed.

When a defendant fails to appear without a valid excuse, the court declares the bail forfeited in open court. If the bond or deposit exceeds $400, the clerk mails a forfeiture notice to the surety or the person who posted cash. A 180-day window then opens: if the defendant surrenders voluntarily or is brought back into custody within that period, the court vacates the forfeiture and releases the bail.¹⁰ That window is why bond agents work hard to locate people who skip court.

Missing court is also a separate crime. For a misdemeanor defendant released on their own recognizance, willful failure to appear is a misdemeanor. For a felony defendant released on recognizance, failure to appear is a felony punishable by up to $5,000 in fines, up to a year in county jail, or a state prison sentence.¹¹ Penal Code 1320.5 imposes comparable penalties on defendants released on bail. In either case, a defendant who fails to appear within 14 days of the assigned date is presumed to have intended to evade the court. A bench warrant issues immediately, and the pretrial-release enhancement adds another $10,000 to any future bail.²

Federal Charges Do Not Use This Schedule

Everything above governs state charges filed in Sacramento Superior Court. Federal courts do not use a bail schedule. Under the Bail Reform Act of 1984, a federal magistrate holds an individualized hearing and imposes the least restrictive conditions needed to ensure appearance and community safety, which may or may not involve money. Federal pretrial matters in the Sacramento area go to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, a separate court system with its own procedures.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1269b – Bail Upon Arrest
2
Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento. Felony and Misdemeanor Bail Schedules for Persons in Pretrial Custody
3
California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1275 – Setting Bail Considerations
4
Supreme Court of California. In re Kenneth Humphrey on Habeas Corpus
5
Sacramento County Probation Department. Adult Court Services
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8300
7
California Department of Insurance. Bail Bonds
8
California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1298 – Property as Bail Security
9
California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1275.1 – Source of Bail Funds
10
California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1305 – Forfeiture of Bail
11
California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1320 – Failure to Appear