InfoFree.com: Profile of Crime, Justice & America
Sources: Interviewed Ray Hrdlicka, founder, publisher of CJA, reviewed company website and stories in the business press about CJA
Photo contact: rayhrdlicka@crimejusticeandamerica.com, 1-877-517-4608
Crime, Justice & America Reaches Inside Jailhouses
by Leo Adam Biga
Reinventing Himself
Ray Hrdlicka has turned his business degree, marketing flair and law and order intrigue into an entrepreneurial niche in the criminal justice world. Though his ambition sometimes overreaches his execution, he's nothing if not a survivor.
After dabbling as a private investigator and bounty hunter he found his calling as a bail bondsman. His Calif.-based company H&H Bail Bonds, along with a string of like agencies he purchased through a holding company, Emergency Financial Services, established a niche in the retail bail bond market. H&H grew into a multimillion dollar nationwide brand, courting much controversy in the process. Heavy debt and expensive lawsuits resulted in Hrdlicka dissolving the business in a 2001 Chapter 7 filing.
Seeing opportunity in defeat he reinvented himself, this time as the publisher of Crime, Justice & America, a magazine and media company whose target audience is county jail inmates, bail agents and criminal defense attorneys. CJA connects inmates frustrated by a system they don’t fathom with professionals expert at navigating the system. The attorney-written content covers everything from what questions to ask your lawyer and how to talk to law enforcement officials to how to prepare for pretrial probation interviews and how to file motions.
Advertisements by bail agents and attorneys supply Hrdlicka his revenue stream.
The magazine is distributed inside county jails, though in some instances he must wage 1st Amendment legal fights to gain unimpeded entree, including an ongoing case headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Giving Customers What They Need
From the magazine's 2002 start his strategy's been to create a one-stop shop and must read. He says the advice CJA provides is invaluable, especially when budget cuts are threatening jail and prison law libraries.
"It's exceeded our expectations in terms of how well received it is by the readership," Hrdlicka says.
He gauges CJA's impact by the many letters inmates write praising it. Based on what they and correctional officers report, he knows the magazine gets handed off from inmate to inmate and even travels from facility to facility. Bail agents and attorneys who advertise in it see a spike in calls when an issue comes out. Hrdlicka says ads sell fast and he keeps a waiting list of those wanting to buy space.
Now he intends making the magazine's online mirror, crimejusticeandamerica.com <http://crimejusticeandamerica.com> , "the portal for the criminal justice industry," adding, "It's a unique opportunity to bring information to the criminal justice industry in a manner that the entire criminal justice system has never been able to achieve before. In other words, access."
In addition to articles, the site features polls, news and podcast interviews and will soon add videos, blogs and a searchable cache of criminal justice records.
"We're also going to drive traffic to that site by the other businesses we're bringing out. For instance, BidMyBail.com <http://BidMyBail.com> is a very unique concept where the customer (an inmate or an inmate's relative) registers, answers a series of questions, and bail agents bid on the terms and conditions to get the customer's business. It's going to ensure the best value for the customer's time and money. The customer is the driving force, not the service provider. We're flipping the industry on its head."
Finding New Ways to Develop Leads
He uses InfoFree.com <http://InfoFree.com> as a lead generation resource to help get his product in front of bail agents before competitors do.
“I was thrilled when I found InfoFree. You can buy other lists, but once you've bought the list it’s now static and you don't know when it was last updated. InfoFree is constantly updating their information and I need that to make sure I have the most current information to be able to contact service providers ASAP. It allows us to react fast.
“I filter it by bondsmen down to the county level and by credit rating and business size. By using those filtering features we can make it better for us, for the vendor, for the customer, and it creates repeat business.”
Sources: Interviewed Ray Hrdlicka, founder, publisher of CJA, reviewed company website and stories in the business press about CJA
Photo contact: rayhrdlicka@crimejusticeandamerica.com, 1-877-517-4608
Crime, Justice & America Reaches Inside Jailhouses
by Leo Adam Biga
Reinventing Himself
Ray Hrdlicka has turned his business degree, marketing flair and law and order intrigue into an entrepreneurial niche in the criminal justice world. Though his ambition sometimes overreaches his execution, he's nothing if not a survivor.
After dabbling as a private investigator and bounty hunter he found his calling as a bail bondsman. His Calif.-based company H&H Bail Bonds, along with a string of like agencies he purchased through a holding company, Emergency Financial Services, established a niche in the retail bail bond market. H&H grew into a multimillion dollar nationwide brand, courting much controversy in the process. Heavy debt and expensive lawsuits resulted in Hrdlicka dissolving the business in a 2001 Chapter 7 filing.
Seeing opportunity in defeat he reinvented himself, this time as the publisher of Crime, Justice & America, a magazine and media company whose target audience is county jail inmates, bail agents and criminal defense attorneys. CJA connects inmates frustrated by a system they don’t fathom with professionals expert at navigating the system. The attorney-written content covers everything from what questions to ask your lawyer and how to talk to law enforcement officials to how to prepare for pretrial probation interviews and how to file motions.
Advertisements by bail agents and attorneys supply Hrdlicka his revenue stream.
The magazine is distributed inside county jails, though in some instances he must wage 1st Amendment legal fights to gain unimpeded entree, including an ongoing case headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Giving Customers What They Need
From the magazine's 2002 start his strategy's been to create a one-stop shop and must read. He says the advice CJA provides is invaluable, especially when budget cuts are threatening jail and prison law libraries.
"It's exceeded our expectations in terms of how well received it is by the readership," Hrdlicka says.
He gauges CJA's impact by the many letters inmates write praising it. Based on what they and correctional officers report, he knows the magazine gets handed off from inmate to inmate and even travels from facility to facility. Bail agents and attorneys who advertise in it see a spike in calls when an issue comes out. Hrdlicka says ads sell fast and he keeps a waiting list of those wanting to buy space.
Now he intends making the magazine's online mirror, crimejusticeandamerica.com <http://crimejusticeandamerica.com> , "the portal for the criminal justice industry," adding, "It's a unique opportunity to bring information to the criminal justice industry in a manner that the entire criminal justice system has never been able to achieve before. In other words, access."
In addition to articles, the site features polls, news and podcast interviews and will soon add videos, blogs and a searchable cache of criminal justice records.
"We're also going to drive traffic to that site by the other businesses we're bringing out. For instance, BidMyBail.com <http://BidMyBail.com> is a very unique concept where the customer (an inmate or an inmate's relative) registers, answers a series of questions, and bail agents bid on the terms and conditions to get the customer's business. It's going to ensure the best value for the customer's time and money. The customer is the driving force, not the service provider. We're flipping the industry on its head."
Finding New Ways to Develop Leads
He uses InfoFree.com <http://InfoFree.com> as a lead generation resource to help get his product in front of bail agents before competitors do.
“I was thrilled when I found InfoFree. You can buy other lists, but once you've bought the list it’s now static and you don't know when it was last updated. InfoFree is constantly updating their information and I need that to make sure I have the most current information to be able to contact service providers ASAP. It allows us to react fast.
“I filter it by bondsmen down to the county level and by credit rating and business size. By using those filtering features we can make it better for us, for the vendor, for the customer, and it creates repeat business.”
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