What is public
- The bond itself — surety name, power number, bail amount, and posting date, filed in the case file.
- The docket entries showing bail set, posted, forfeited, reinstated, or exonerated.
- Booking information while the defendant is in custody: name, booking number, charge, bail amount, and housing facility.
- The bail agent's license status, searchable through the California Department of Insurance.
County inmate locators publish live custody data. Facility pages such as Twin Towers Correctional Facility and San Diego Central Jail explain what each system shows.
What is not public
- Your indemnity agreement, credit application, pay stubs, and references held by the agency.
- Collateral documents, unless a lien is recorded against real property — recorded liens are public by nature.
- Sealed or confidential cases, including most juvenile matters under Welfare & Institutions Code procedures.
- Records in a case that has been sealed after dismissal or arrest-record relief.
How to look up a bail bond
- Get the case number from the defendant, counsel, or the court's public index.
- Search the county Superior Court's public case portal, or request the file at the clerk's window.
- For in-custody status, use the county sheriff's inmate information system.
- For the agent or surety, check licensing through the California Department of Insurance.
Can any of it be removed?
Court records can be sealed only through a specific legal process — for example arrest-record sealing under Penal Code §851.91 for a case that ended without conviction. Sealing the case is what takes the bond entry out of public view; there is no separate way to hide a bond.
Custody records typically drop off inmate locators once the person is released, but the underlying court file remains.