For some criminal charges, you are not eligible for release without a hearing in General Sessions court. Under these circumstances, it is possible that you may spend some time in jail. However, for many charges, you may not spend the night. For example, in Charleston County, if we have coordinated with law enforcement to have you turn yourself in at 7:00 a.m. during a weekday, your bond hearing will occur around 9:30 am the same day. If you are released on bond, then you will usually spend 2 to 4 more hours in jail while the court and the jail process your release paperwork. So, in an average situation in Charleston County, you are in and out in 6 hours. That being said, every court is different. For example, the City of Charleston Municipal cases are often heard after 1:00 p.m., so we will try to set up a different “turn in” time for a Municipal case than a General Sessions case. Berkeley and Dorchester Counties could be different as well. Regardless, our job is to get you in and out as quickly as we can and to have the bond set as low as we can.