Send Money to Someone at Schenectady County Jail

The Kiosk in the Lobby, and the Fee That Comes Out of Your Money

A Cobra Cashier kiosk stands in the main lobby of the correction facility. It takes cash, credit cards and debit cards, and the county says a transaction deposits the money immediately, so nothing waits out a weekend or a holiday.

The fees are published:

Payment	Fee
Cash	3.25 dollars
Credit card	4.95 dollars

Read the next sentence twice, because it changes the arithmetic. The county states that the fee will be deducted from the amount deposited. It does not get added at the till.

So handing the kiosk 50 dollars in cash leaves 46.75 on the account. By card it leaves 45.05. If you want a round number to land, you have to put in more than the round number.

Cash is 1.70 dollars cheaper each time. Over a year of weekly top ups that is about 88 dollars that stays with your family.

What the Machine Will Take

The kiosk accepts United States currency in 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 denominations. Ones are not on the list, so a pocket of singles is not going to work.

The lobby is closed nights, weekends and holidays. Deposits at the kiosk only happen during lobby hours, Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 6 PM.

Access Corrections Covers Everything Else

For deposits outside those hours the county names Access Corrections, on 1-866-345-1884 or at accesscorrections.com.

That is the route for a family living too far from Veeder Avenue to drop in, or anyone who needs money on an account on a Sunday.

You Need the Name and the CHN

The county is specific: family and friends must know the inmate’s full name and Criminal History Number.

The CHN is Schenectady County’s own identifier for somebody in its custody, and it is not something an outsider has to hand on day one. Your person knows it, and the Corrections Division on 518-388-4300 can give it to you.

If a deposit will not go through and you know the money is fine, the identifying details are the first thing to check. A middle name, a hyphen or the name somebody actually goes by rather than the one they were booked under will stop a payment cold.

Bail Is a Different Company and a Different Rule

The Corrections Division takes bail as cash, certified bank checks and credit cards, in person or electronically. The remote card route runs through GovPayNet, which charges 7 percent of the bail amount on every transaction.

To pay online you need four things, and the county lists them:

1. The defendant’s name
2. The defendant’s date of birth
3. The court of jurisdiction and the name of the judge
4. The cash bail amount

All four can be obtained from the Corrections Division on 518-388-4300, which saves ringing round the courts.

Technical trouble with the payment itself goes to GovPayNet on 1-877-EZBAIL5.

The Refund Belongs to the Defendant

This is the most important paragraph on the page, and the county puts it in capitals on its own site.

If you use the remote bail option, the receipt is made out to the defendant, and the funds you paid by card, minus the service fee, become the property of the defendant.

When the case is disposed of, any money the court releases can only be collected by the defendant. The county states plainly that it is then your responsibility to obtain the funds from them.

So paying somebody else’s bail by card is not a loan that returns itself. If the relationship changes over the months a case takes, you have no claim on the refund through the jail or the court. The 7 percent fee is gone regardless.

That is an argument for talking it through before anyone pays, and for understanding that bail is a promise the defendant returns to court rather than a deposit you are holding.

While the Money Is Being Sorted Out

Most families arrive at this page trying to work out bail rather than commissary, and bail can take days. Letters do not wait on any of it. Pigeonly sends photos and letters into the jail while the rest of it is still being arranged.