Going to Jail for a Maryland DUI

After you have been arrested for driving under the influence, or DUI, in Maryland, police officers usually will take you to the nearest police station. The station could either be a district station or one of the City’s stations, depending on which officer arrested you for the offense that was charged or alleged. Once you are at the station, you will be processed and usually given paper work that says there are criminal charges against you.

If you have been arrested and are facing DUI charges, a Maryland DUI lawyer can help. Even if it is someone’s first DUI offense in Maryland, if it is serious enough, they will certainly go to jail. A serious offense would include a serious car accident, or if the individual was extremely uncooperative with the police. Most of the time, however, people who go to jail for a DUI will go with a second or third offense, meaning they have had previous DUI charges. Having an experienced attorney on your side can not only help you to understand the legal process you are facing, but will also work with your best interest in mind to minimize your potential penalties as much as possible.

Central Booking v. Going to Jail

Central Booking is the main police station where people might be held if they are going to be held for an extended amount of time, or are waiting to be bonded out. Often times, Central Booking will be where bonds are paid, where bond amounts are determined, and where most major activity associated with the police takes place. All the other stations around the county are usually considered satellite stations.

Central Booking and going to jail are in the same category or classification. There is no fundamental difference between the two. What does vary, though, is how close in proximity an individual was to either place when they were arrested. For example, someone can get arrested and go directly to Central Booking because that is where the particular officer who arrested them is based out of, and so that is where he will process them. Others might go to one of the other district stations because that is where the officer is from, and that is where he operates out of.

Ultimately, if somebody is being held, they will usually be taken to Central Booking, especially if they are going to be held for more than a few hours. Central Booking is the main facility to hold prisoners while they are either waiting to be bonded out or moved to a more general population facility.

Mandatory Minimums

A mandatory minimum in any particular case does not always mean that the judge must send you to jail. In some situations, the mandatory minimum is a mandatory sentence that the judge has to impose, but could suspend.

The cue, then, is to look to see whether the mandatory minimum is an executed sentence, or simply a sentence. In the case of a simple sentence, the judge could impose it, but suspend it, which means you would not have to serve that time.