Guides · After an arrest
What happens in the first hours after an arrest in Ontario?
What usually happens, in plain words, for the person charged and the family.
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What happens when someone is arrested?
The person is told the charge and their rights, including the right to a lawyer. They can call duty counsel for free from the station. Nothing they say to police helps them; anything they say can be used.
They do not have to answer questions.
What happens at the station in the first hours?
Police decide: release with paperwork, or hold for bail. Release paperwork is usually an appearance notice or an undertaking — with a court date on it and often conditions. If held, the person is moved to a police division or a detention centre and the clock starts.
What happens between the station and the hearing?
The bail hearing is the family’s window. The person cannot build their own plan from a cell, so what helps is what the family brings:
- A surety identified and reachable.
- An address where they will live.
- Any papers the police handed over, photographed so the wording is available.
- A criminal defence lawyer’s office on the phone, so someone is at the hearing who knows the plan.
What happens at the bail hearing?
The possible outcomes are release with conditions, release with a surety, detention, or an adjournment for a plan. More in What happens at a bail hearing.
What happens after the hearing?
If released: read every condition. Breaking one is a new charge. If detained: there is a right to a review — ask the office.
What commonly goes wrong?
- A no-contact condition covers every form of contact — calls, texts, messages sent through someone else. A single message can be a breach.
- Posts about an arrest are public, and a post can end up in the Crown’s file.
- Anything said to police after an arrest can be used as evidence. The right to remain silent applies from the time of arrest, and a lawyer can be reached before any statement is made.
- Bail hearings are commonly held the morning after an arrest, which is why families reach a lawyer’s office before the hearing.
What do we see in the first hour?
The first hour is confusion: where the person is, what they’ve been told, whether a lawyer has been reached. Someone answers when you call Remandly — not voicemail — and the call itself sorts the confusion: which station, what charge, whether a bail hearing is coming. We cover bail hearings anywhere in Ontario.
The file stays open by text.
What do people ask after an arrest?
What happens at the police station?
Police decide: release with paperwork, or hold for bail. Release paperwork is usually an appearance notice or an undertaking — with a court date on it and often conditions. If held, the person is moved to a police division or a detention centre and the clock starts.
What happens before the bail hearing?
This is the family’s window. The person cannot build their own plan from a cell. What helps: A surety identified and reachable.
An address where they will live. Any papers the police handed over, photographed so the wording is available. A criminal defence lawyer’s office on the phone, so someone is at the hearing who knows the plan.
Do I have to talk to the police?
No — a person does not have to answer police questions, whether that’s in person, at a station, or over the phone. You can confirm identifying information if asked, but you’re not required to explain, discuss the events, or answer follow-up questions.
What does a surety do?
A surety is an adult who tells the court they will supervise a person released on bail and who pledges an amount of money as a promise that the rules will be followed. Two things are involved: making sure the person sticks to every condition of release, and risking loss of the pledged amount if they don’t.
Sources
- Justice Laws Website, accessed September 25, 2026
- Ontario Court of Justice, accessed September 25, 2026
- Legal Aid Ontario, accessed September 25, 2026
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