Chautauqua publishes five ways to post bail and says outright that only one of them is free, which is a rare piece of plain speaking about cost. Send photos and letters too.
Send photos and letters too
Two separate things get mixed up constantly, so it is worth separating them at the start. Commissary money buys shampoo and snacks and runs on one system. Bail buys somebody’s release and runs on five different ones. The county is unusually straight about which of those five costs you nothing.
Money for the commissary account goes through SmartDeposit, either on its website or by ringing 1-866-643-9557, paid by credit card.
The county describes the commissary itself as a small virtual store that sells food and supplies. Your person buys from it through an electronic kiosk inside the jail rather than filling in a paper order.
The county’s wording on the fee:
a fee is charged by the company that handles the transaction
These services usually price by the size of the deposit, so one large transfer and several small ones are rarely the same total cost. The figure that applies is the one SmartDeposit shows you before you confirm.
That is worth two minutes of attention if you are going to be sending money every week for months.
The county is refreshingly open about the economics, which is rare enough to quote:
Money made from the store directly benefits the Incarcerated Individuals, regardless of how much Incarcerated Individuals spend. The jail does not make a profit from commissary. Funds are spent on maintaining the jails’ legal library and other supplies and programs.
Most counties do not explain where the commissary margin goes. This one says it funds the legal library and programmes.
This is the most useful section on the page, because the county sets out all five and is explicit about cost.
| Route | Fee |
|---|---|
| Cash brought to the jail | No fee at all |
| Credit card at the jail | A fee |
| A bail bondsman | A fee |
| Online payment service | A fee |
| Telephone, 1-877-EZBAIL5 | A fee |
The county’s wording on the first is plain: bail can be paid without any fees by bringing the cash to the jail.
On a four-figure bail, a percentage fee is real money. If somebody can get to Mayville with cash, that route costs nothing, and the county says so itself rather than leaving families to work it out.
Worth stating because the two get confused. Money on a commissary account buys goods inside. It does not move a release date and it has nothing to do with bail.
The bail amount is set by the court, not the jail.
One thing to be clear about, because this jail has two mailing addresses and neither takes money.
Personal mail goes to a scanning box in Syracuse, and cheques and money orders are excluded from it. Legal mail goes to Mayville. Neither is a route for funds.
If you are sending a letter at the same time as putting money on the account, those are two separate errands. Pigeonly handles the letter and photos while the money goes to the vendor.
6 of 6 questions
Through SmartDeposit, on its website or by ringing 1-866-643-9557, paid by credit card. Your person then buys from the commissary through an electronic kiosk inside the jail.
Send MoneyThe county says a fee is charged by the company handling the transaction. SmartDeposit shows its own fee before you confirm, and those fees usually scale with the size of the deposit.
Send MoneyCash brought to the jail, which the county states carries no fees at all. The other four routes, a credit card at the jail, a bail bondsman, an online payment service and the 1-877-EZBAIL5 telephone line, all charge. On a large bail that difference is significant.
Send MoneyYes. A credit card, a bondsman, the online payment service and the telephone line all work from a distance. Each of them carries a fee, which is the trade-off against the free cash route at the jail counter.
Send MoneyNo. Personal mail here goes to a scanning box in Syracuse that excludes cheques and money orders, and the other address is for legal mail. Neither is a route for money.
Send MoneyThe county states that the jail makes no profit from commissary and that funds are spent on maintaining the jail's legal library and other supplies and programmes. Very few counties publish that.
Send MoneyConfirm the booking before you pay anything.
View ArticleTwo mail addresses, and neither takes money.
View ArticleMessaging runs on GettingOut, a different vendor from SmartDeposit.
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All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified September 22, 2026. Official source: sheriff.us/bail ›