Taft Jail: Inmate Information, Visiting Hours and How Bail Works

Most people in Taft assume an arrest means an immediate trip to Bakersfield. It usually doesn’t — at least not right away. The Taft Police Department operates its own jail, and for the first day or two after an arrest, that’s where your husband, wife, son or daughter is sitting: a few blocks off Kern Street, not an hour up the highway.

That matters more than it sounds. It means you can often post bail in Taft, in person, and drive them home the same night. It also means there’s a clock running. This page explains what the Taft jail is, how bail works there, what the hours are, and what changes the moment someone is transferred to Bakersfield.

Quick facts: the Taft Police Department jail

Facility

Taft Police Department Type I Jail — pre-arraignment holding

Address

320 Commerce Way, Taft, CA 93268

Phone

661-763-3101 — the department’s main line; there is no separate published jail number

Visiting hours

5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., Monday through Sunday

Length of stay

Short-term — see below; then transfer to Bakersfield

Bail accepted

Yes — at the facility

We’re available

24 hours a day, every day — Se Habla Español

What a “Type I” jail actually means

California sorts local lockups into types. Under state regulation (15 CCR §1006), a Type I facility holds people for no more than 96 hours after booking, excluding holidays — a short-term lockup, not a jail where a case is served out. The City of Taft describes its own facility as “a Type I Jail facility for pre-arraignment prisoners.”

How long in practice? Sources disagree, so ask. The city’s website states a maximum of 96 hours. The Taft Police Department’s own jail manual sets a stricter internal limit — “prisoners will not be held over 48 hours” — and directs that anyone remaining past that point be transported to the county’s jail in Bakersfield. The manual names the Central Receiving Facility, which is now a court-holding facility that no longer books anyone; transfers now go to the Sheriff’s Inmate Reception Center at the Lerdo Jail Complex. Either way it is short-term, and either way the answer for your situation comes from a phone call to 661-763-3101, not from a number on a website.

Can you post bail at the Taft jail?

Yes, and this is the single most useful thing to know about the facility. The Taft jail accepts bail on site. Under the department’s procedures, bail may be posted by cash deposit, money order, certified check, or by a bondsman — and personal checks are not accepted. Bail is receipted on a three-part form; cash is deposited with City Hall, while money orders, certified checks and bonds go to the appropriate court.

So if a licensed bondsman posts a bond at 320 Commerce Way inside that window, your loved one is released from Taft — no Bakersfield trip, no county intake, no waiting on the transport schedule. You pick them up in town.

Once the transfer happens, that option closes. Bail then has to be posted at the county facility in Bakersfield, and release runs on county timelines — typically 2 to 6 hours after the bond is posted, sometimes longer on a busy weekend night. Neither path is unusual and we handle both, but the first one gets people home considerably faster.

What bail costs

The premium on a California bail bond is most commonly 10% of the bail amount — $1,000 on a $10,000 bail. That rate isn’t fixed by statute: each surety company files its rates with the California Department of Insurance, and its agents must charge the filed rate. Many sureties have a filed rate as low as 8% for qualifying cases (for example, where the defendant is represented by a private attorney), and California law permits an agent to rebate part of the premium. Ask what filed rate applies to your case.

We offer payment plans and easy-to-qualify terms, and we’ll tell you the exact number before you commit to anything. For a quick estimate, try our free bail bond calculator.

Visiting someone at the Taft jail

The jail manual lists visiting hours as 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Sunday. Meals are served in three windows — early morning, midday, and early evening — so visits are scheduled around the last of those.

This is a small facility with a handful of staff, so call 661-763-3101 before you drive over. Hours can shift with staffing, and if your person was transferred to Bakersfield earlier in the day, you’ll want to know that before you’re standing at the counter.

What happens if they’re transferred

If they stay in custody, your loved one is driven northeast to the Sheriff’s Inmate Reception Center at the Lerdo Jail Complex, 17801 Industrial Farm Road in Bakersfield — north of the city. (Older guides, including the Taft jail manual, name the Central Receiving Facility downtown; it is now the Metro Court Holding Facility and no longer books or houses anyone.) The Reception Center is the county’s intake point. From there, most people who aren’t released quickly move on to the Lerdo Pre-Trial Facility north of town.

Once someone is in the county system, you can track them through the Kern County inmate search:

1. kernsheriff.org → “Inmate Search” — the Kern County Sheriff’s official database, and the one to trust.
2. kerninmatesearch.org — an unofficial site some families find easier to navigate; always confirm what you find there against the Sheriff’s database.

Taft jail vs. the county facilities

Other Taft-area facilities and agencies

A few nearby places get confused with the city jail, so it’s worth separating them:

• Taft Community Correctional Facility — 330 Commerce Way, 661-765-2840. Right next door, but a different kind of facility with a different population. Not where someone goes straight after an arrest.
• Kern County Sheriff’s Office — Taft Substation — 601 Gardner Field Road, 661-763-8550. This is the patrol base covering the west Kern communities outside Taft city limits: the city of Maricopa, plus Fellows, McKittrick, Derby Acres, Dustin Acres and Valley Acres. It is a patrol base, not a booking facility, so deputies transport arrestees to Bakersfield. If a deputy made the arrest outside Taft city limits, your person went to Bakersfield, not to Commerce Way.

Which court will handle the case?

The Taft courthouse on Lincoln Street operates on a limited schedule and does not hear the full range of cases, so where a Taft case is heard depends on the case. Don’t guess — the release or court paperwork names the courthouse, department, date and time.

If the paperwork isn’t clear, call the Kern County Superior Court to confirm which location has the case, or call us at 661-324-6009 — we track court dates for our clients and can look it up. Missing a first appearance because you drove to the wrong courthouse is a genuinely avoidable problem. See also our Kern County courthouse locations page.

Frequently asked questions

Does Taft have its own jail?

Yes. The Taft Police Department operates a Type I jail at 320 Commerce Way. It’s a short-term holding facility, not a county jail, and people are moved to Bakersfield if they stay in custody. Sources differ on the exact limit — the city says 96 hours, the department’s own manual says 48 — so call 661-763-3101 to ask.

Can I bail someone out directly from the Taft jail?

Yes. The facility accepts cash, money orders, certified checks and bail bonds — not personal checks. Posting before the transfer to Bakersfield is the fastest way home.

Why can’t I find my loved one in the Kern County inmate search?

If they were arrested in Taft city limits within the last day or so, they may still be at the Taft PD jail and not yet booked into a county facility, so they won’t show in the county database. Call the Taft jail at 661-763-3101 to confirm.

How long does release take?

From the Taft jail, release after a bond is posted is usually quick — it’s a small facility. From the county jail at Lerdo, the Sheriff says release can take up to 8 hours after bail is posted.

What if there’s a hold?

An out-of-county warrant or a probation or parole hold can keep someone in custody even after bail is posted. We check for holds before you pay anything.

Are you available in the middle of the night?

Yes. We’re open 24 hours a day, every day, including holidays, and the Taft jail accepts bail on site; call 661-763-3101 first to confirm when it can be posted.