The Bail Project
@bailproject
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No one should be in jail due to poverty. We are a nonprofit that provides free bail assistance, reunites families, and restores the presumption of innocence.
United States
Joined August 2016
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We stand ready to provide bail assistance to protesters in cities where we have offices. Please retweet!
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#ArethaFranklin
, 1970, offering to pay Dr. Angela Davis’ bail “whether it’s $100,000 or $250,000“:
“Black people will be free. I’ve been locked up & I know you got to disturb the peace when you can’t get no peace. Jail is hell to be in.”
Lifting up a true freedom fighter.
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Here is the difference being able to afford to pay makes. Let's restore the idea of "presumption of innocence" & return thousands of people back home to their friends and families where they belong. In short, we'd like to put ourselves out of business.
#AudaciousProject
#TED2018
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Proud to stand with Hervis Rogers. Voting restrictions and expansion of the cash bail system go hand in hand. We must fight back.
Read our press release:
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We must push for this to be the new normal.
BREAKING: Bexar County Judge -- County suspending arrests for minor offenses so to not crowd jail during public health emergency. No juries for 30 days.
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100% of online donations go into our National Revolving Bail Fund. We pay 100% cash bail, which means when someone goes back to court *all* of that money is returned to us and is used to bail more people out! 🔄 ♥️
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The 3 largest psychiatric facilities in the U.S. aren't hospitals. They're jails in New York, Chicago & LA.
Almost half of the people incarcerated in American jails have been diagnosed w/ a mental illness.
Invest in healthcare & communities, not jails!
#WorldMentalHealthDay
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Cash bail often forces people to pay a for-profit bail bondsman money they don’t have, give up their right to a fair trial & plead guilty just to go home, or stay in jail while waiting for their court date even though they’re legally presumed innocent - but there’s another way!⬇️
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We caught up with our client Sarah who was held in solitary confinement for months at 17, despite its known harms to minors. We paid her bail & now she’s a full-time college student with plans to start her own nonprofit. She shared with us how she celebrates
#WomensHistoryMonth
.
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IF SOMEONE IS ARRESTED AND A JUDGE SETS A BAIL AMOUNT, THE ONLY THING KEEPING THAT PERSON IN JAIL IS THEIR LACK OF MONEY. A JUDGE DECIDES WHETHER OR NOT SOMEONE CAN PAY BAIL TO LEAVE JAIL WHILE AWAITING TRIAL. THE SYSTEM IS BUILT ON MONEY, NOT THE PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE.
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L.A. jail inmates say lack of soap and toilet paper heightens coronavirus fear: ‘Like slow torture’
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Elections have consequences! Last yr, Harris County, TX’s misdemeanor court judges spent $9 mil appealing the landmark lawsuit that struck down their bail system. In Nov, those judges were voted out. Last wk, the newly-elected judges dropped the appeal.
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***Thank you!*** 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾
The outpouring of support this week has been monumental. 100% of your online donations are now in our National Revolving Bail Fund and will bring people home!
#freedomshouldbefree
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Judges in New Orleans collect almost 2% of the amount of every commercial bail bond they set to fund the operations of the court. In 2018. America.
A federal court finally struck that down on Friday. Congrats to
@CivRightsCorps
&
@MacArthrJustice
!
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& this person is tasked w/ – among other things – requesting bail amounts. Requests that judges routinely agree to.
Prosecutors like this are a big reason Black men are 2x more likely to be detained pretrial & why judges typically set their bail 35% higher than for white men.
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It's no wonder people plead guilty once bail has been set in order to avoid incarceration. Pretrial incarceration can literally mean death.
#EndCashBail
#EndPretrial
Jail deaths are horrifyingly common. Whether from suicide, deaths related to drug misuse / withdrawal, deathly jail conditions, inadequate medical care, or assault, ~ 2 people die in America's jails every day. Important piece from
@JessPish
for
@theappeal
:
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@abbijacobson
&
@ilazer
are teaming up to raise money to
#endcashbail
! Donate @ & be entered to WIN a Zoom with Abbi + Ilana! 👭🏻💻
NoPurchNec. Ends 8/17/20. 16 yrs+.US/DC. Entry (free/donation) & Rules:. Void where prohibited.
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Our policing and criminal legal systems criminalize poverty at every step of the way.
Money bail is an egregious example, but criminalization for many – especially the homeless – begins with aggressive and discriminatory policing.
@theappeal
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#EndCashBail
doesn't mean replace it w/ something worse.
The idea that people – primarily PoC – are "risks" who need to be criminalized in order to appear for court is a lie. Almost all our clients appear. Release people & provide community support.
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All across America, people being held pretrial in jails are dying from medical neglect, abuse, or suicide.
In Spokane, where we just opened a site, 8 people have died in the local jail since June 2017 alone.
American jails are not safe! Pretrial detention is deadly!
Back-to-back jail deaths rock a small Utah county. Tanna Jo Fillmore was found hanging her in her cell after being denied her mental health medications. A week later, Madison Jody Jensen died in her cell. She died from dehydration due to opiate withdrawal.
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Watch as Dominic Fike returns to Naples, Florida with
@bailproject
for a mission close to his heart. Dive deep into the issue of cash bail and how we're fighting for change.
#DancingInTheCourthouse
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Our model:
First, we pay someone's full bail.
Next, we provide clients with rides, referrals to social services, & court reminders.
When a client completes their case, the court returns their bail money to us. We then use it to pay bail for others as part of a revolving fund.
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America guarantees equal justice – but cash bail doesn’t follow up on this promise. Bail reform is a bipartisan issue we can all agree on, just look at Ohio.
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Profiting off of people who cannot afford their bail is not a global issue – it’s an American issue.
We’re working towards making sure our justice system lives up to its promise. Pretrial detention should be used only when necessary and should be based on evidence, not money.
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Jail deaths are horrifyingly common. Whether from suicide, deaths related to drug misuse / withdrawal, deathly jail conditions, inadequate medical care, or assault, ~ 2 people die in America's jails every day. Important piece from
@JessPish
for
@theappeal
:
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The number of people incarcerated pretrial in local jails fills over six
#SuperBowl
stadiums. That’s nearly half a million people. Nearly half a million people are trapped behind bars, not because they’re guilty, but because they can’t afford their bail.
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Community Organizers: If you're in a city where we don't have a local TBP team and need support with bailouts, please contact partnerships
@bailproject
.org
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This
#TransDayOfRemembrance
, we're thinking of trans folks detained pretrial, many in jails that do not match their gender identity.
We're thinking of trans immigrants in detention centers, who are 97x more likely to be abused by ICE officers.
#TDOR
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Across the country, bail funds are upending myths about bail.
92% of the New Orleans Safety & Freedom Fund's clients have returned to court.
Cash bail is not an incentive to return to court. Just a tool used to coerce people into pleading guilty.
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NEW: We've created a tool for anybody to quickly find the phone numbers of your local elected officials to call and urge *immediate decarceration* in light of COVID19 spread.
Call the Mayor, Sheriff, District Attorney, Councilors, Commissioners, etc!
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Marie and Sarah have very different experiences with bail. Guess whose story has a happier ending...
#endcashbail
#blacklivesmatter
#freedomshouldbefree
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"I believe no one should be sitting behind bars before trial, away from their family and community, simply because they don't have enough money to pay bail." -
@mrdannyglover
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THREAD. We're thrilled people are suddenly interested in the presumption of innocence!
Since everyone's finally talking about what was intended to be a bedrock of the American legal system, let's set some facts straight!
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Cash bail reform will be most effective when coupled with larger pretrial reforms that protect due process rights and meaningful investments in alternatives to incarceration.
Read how we've pushed for pretrial reform beyond cash bail:
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🚨San Diego!🚨
YOU can directly support the
#MigrantCaravan
& get people out of detention. By serving as a “custodian” for someone charged under the Trump admin’s “zero-tolerance” policy, you can ensure someone’s release & give them a fighting chance at asylum. Here’s how: /1
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No one deserves jail time because they can't afford bail before trial. 100% of the proceeds from this tee (or hoodie) goes to free a person from jail for Christmas
@bonfire
#endmoneybail
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A message from Danny Glover about our mission to end cash bail, re-unite families and restore the presumption of innocence.
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Until the criminalization of poverty & women’s choices regarding their reproductive health ends, we’ll be here to pay your bail. If you know someone who was arrested protesting & is being held on bail in a city where we operate, fill out a request at .
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*Thank you so much* for your generous support this month! Here's exactly how your donations are being used to
#FreeThemAll
and
#EndCashBail
. 🚫💵
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At 51 years old and suffering from PTSD, Mr. Sanford was at risk of contracting COVID-19 in Twin Towers jail in Los Angeles. Luckily we were able to bail him out after only 2 days and he is awaiting his delayed court date safely at home. 🏠
#freedomshouldbefree
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“It’s like a tax on the very poorest members of our community, people who have not been found guilty of anything.”
In NYC, if you pay bail at a jail, you're charged a 7.9% fee by for-profit firm JPay. Almost everywhere we pay bail, there are hidden fees.
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In 2018, Philly DA Larry Krasner stopped requesting $ bail for alleged offenses that make up 61% of all cases, including felonies.
In 2018, Philly also had the highest court appearance rate in a decade.
$ bail isn't an incentive to return to court!
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ICYMI
@ShaunKing
explored pretrial plea deals, the source of 94% of all state convictions nationally. When we paid bail via
@BronxFreedom
for 10 years, we learned that 50% of our cases were dismissed with less than 2% receiving jail time.
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"When Nicholas Colbert, a 36-yr-old National Guard veteran, died last Friday in the Cuyahoga County jail in Cleveland, he became the 9th person to die in the jail system over the last yr—& the 5th by suicide."
Pretrial detention is a public health crisis.
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The Bail Project Denounces Police Violence Against Protesters:
#BlackLivesMatter
#GeorgeFloyd
#JusticeForGeorgeFloyd
#Freedomshouldbefree
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"I was going to set a few people free when the police took my freedom from me."
Cleveland Bail Disruptor Anthony was just going about his regular day bailing protesters out of jail, when 15 cops decided he shouldn't be riding his bike to The Justice Center.
#FreedomShouldBeFree
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More than
#Beto
going on in TX: 15 of the 16 misd court judges in Harris County were ousted by progressive challengers. These judges were fighting against new bail practices after a federal judge ruled Houston's bail system unconstitutional. This is huge!
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A quarter of all women incarcerated in the U.S. haven't even been convicted of a crime.
They're being detained pretrial, many because they can't afford bail.
@PrisonPolicy
's new report on women's mass incarceration in America:
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In one of the most inhumane jails in America –
#TheWorkhouse
– over 95% of people are incarcerated pretrial. 90% of the people detained are Black.
We can
#CloseTheWorkhouse
. Read the movement's report on how.
@ArchCityDefense
@organizemo
@ActionSTL
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WARNING: News article contains graphic, heartbreaking descriptions and photos.
Larry Eugene Price Jr. didn’t have $100 to pay his bail. For over a year he languished in solitary confinement, was routinely ignored, and was denied his medication. 🧵(1/4)
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As always, a vital resource from
@PrisonPolicy
.
Right now in America, 76% of people in local jails are being detained pretrial.
540,000 people. More than the entire incarcerated populations of Indonesia, Canada, Mexico, France & Germany combined.
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Thanks to
@TEDTalks
,
@TheAudaciousPrj
, and your continued support, we’ve bailed out over 30,000 people and prevented over 1 million days of incarceration for people across the country!
Hear from our client, Sie, and our CEO David Gaspar on how we’re building a better justice
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To the thousands who contributed: Thank you for powering this movement and helping us fight for racial & economic justice. With this support, we will continue helping thousands of people who can't afford bail each year, while working for systemic reform.
Thanks to your generosity, we disbursed $600K to
@bailproject
@PolicingEquity
@NAACP_LDF
. Each org received $200K for their fight toward racial justice, reform, & equality. This will be the first round of several grants as donations continue to come in.
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Cash bail should never be a death sentence. People incarcerated pretrial are legally presumed innocent and haven't been convicted of anything. Why does money grant you safety and due process when our legal system is supposed to guarantee equal justice for everyone?
#EndCashBail
Rikers is a PRETRIAL detention center that was declared a human rights crisis when 16 people died last year—18 people have already died in Rikers this year. Despite what the copaganda tells you, Rikers is not understaffed—there are about 7000 officers to 5000 incarcerated people.
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@reason
Nobody should be forced to stay in jail *pretrial* just because they can't afford their bail.
#freedomshouldbefree
✊
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Call 1-833-425-6TBP for free bail assistance in any of the cities we operate. Here's to the road ahead! ✊🏿
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Impactful & sustainable
#BailReform
is impossible without creating rigorous PUBLIC oversight for prosecutors (& judges!), who almost always ask for unaffordable money bail. Vital work from
@ShaunKing
!
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Huge shoutout to
@newinquiry
, who used data from our pilot program
@BronxFreedom
to build Bail Bloc. It's now live!
All you have to do is download the app + keep it running. Your excess computing power = bail money.
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It is time to re-envision a more just and equitable system, one that protects our right to a fair trial and does not put a price-tag on freedom. One that treats everyone with respect and dignity.
The Bail Project is our dream to reimagine just that.
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Here’s our hot take for the day that isn’t really a hot take, just a list of what it actually takes to keep a community safe.
#endcashbail
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We stand with Anthony, who was arrested while doing his job: Posting bail and disrupting the two-tiered system of justice we are fighting everyday.
At his request, we'll be releasing a video soon of Anthony's account in his own words.
🚨This is UNACCEPTABLE.
@antjb1986
of the
@bailproject
was arrested & jailed for violating CLE's curfew order-even though he lives Downtown and was heading *back to work* at the Justice Center to help other protesters. We stand w/ Anthony & demand answers.
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#KaliefBrowder
should be alive today. His mother,
#VenidaBrowder
, who died of a "broken heart" after Kalief's death, should be alive.
Cash bail destroys families and literally kills people, including children. The time to
#EndCashBail
is yesterday.
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Lyons' suicide was the second just this month at
#HarrisCounty
jail – which houses more people with mental illnesses than all the state's mental hospitals combined.
She was accused of stealing $155 worth of items from Walmart
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In the same wk as
#MentalHealthAwarenessDay
, Deborah Lyons, a 58yo woman who struggled w/ mental illness killed herself while incarcerated at
#HarrisCounty
jail on $1,500 bail.
These tragedies are unfortunately not uncommon. But they are avoidable.
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So, how exactly do we work❓ We call this model Community Release with Support. 🙌🏾
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“There’s no such thing as ‘just a few days in jail,’” – Ezra Ritchin of The Bail Project. Even one night in jail on bail can cause people to lose jobs, their homes, immigrations status, and even custody of their children.
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As people take to the streets to exercise their rights in
#BreonnaTaylor
's name and in defense of Black lives, our team of Bail Disruptors stands ready to help those met by arrests and the imposition of cash bail.
#sayhername
#blackwomenslivesmatter
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In Baton Rouge our local team has bailed out nearly 200 people since last year, including Tashira, who is now pursuing her degree in criminal justice.
#freedomshouldbefree
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Jails aren’t overcrowded because public safety requires it, jails are overcrowded because people who are legally presumed innocent cannot afford to pay to leave.
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“Algorithms are designed by humans, run on computers that humans built, trained on data that humans collect, & evaluated based on how well they reflect human priorities & values."
Nothing about algorithms – pretrial or otherwise – are neutral.
@theappeal
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If someone thinks people are missing their court dates on purpose, they’re missing the big picture. Our clients make over 90% of their court dates with no financial obligation to us or the courts. Free rides, court date reminders, phones, and childcare work.
#PovertyIsNotACrime
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Welcome to The Bail Project. With your help and in partnership with a broad, multi-faceted movement to end unaffordable cash bail, we will disrupt a system that criminalizes race and poverty. Join us:
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Did it hurt? When you found out we incarcerate people and only let them out if they pay money?
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Tonight, countless legally innocent people in America's jails will face an impossible choice...
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Prosecutors talk of "risk to public safety" when justifying locking people up pretrial. But that's not how bail's supposed to be used – and ignores the very high risk of violence people face when incarcerated pretrial.
A must-read from
@JohnFPfaff
.
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Yesterday, over 100 advocacy orgs sent
@NYGovCuomo
a letter outlining their vision for moving towards the end of unaffordable cash bail in NYS. We share the demand: bail “reform” must be about decarceration, +significantly+immediately decreasing the # of ppl under state control.
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Its not EGOT, it's EGOT+, because John Legend achieved this while working full time fighting mass incarceration.
Congratulations to our advisory boardmember
@johnlegend
.
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"A vast population of women, largely invisible in public discussions of bail reform, is brought into the system through the co-signing process. Handing over hundreds or thousands of dollars, these women may drain their savings or go into debt."
@theappeal
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After experiencing the unimaginable conditions in The Workhouse jail, Jocelyn took action. Read about how she is speaking out and working to
#CloseTheWorkhouse
!
#BlackHistoryMonth
🙌🏾
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1.
@LilNasX
has some of the best fans in the game.
2. We raised over $275k for the
#BailXFund
! 👏
To date we've raised over $275k and we're still accepting donations. 100% of donations go directly towards paying bail and bringing people home. More at .
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Hey,
@SenatorCollins
, 65% of the people in your home state of Maine's jails are awaiting trial and presumed innocent!
#SusanCollins
.
@SenatorCollins
: "Certain fundamental legal principles about due process the presumption of innocence and fairness do bear on my thinking and I cannot abandon them."
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The presumption of innocence for powerful white men applying for jobs.
A presumption of indefinite detention for people fleeing violence, poverty, and persecution for a better life.
Pretrial detention is wrong – for citizens and non-citizens alike.
#Kavanaugh
So today
#Kavanaugh
pretty much said the federal govt. can detain immigrants indefinitely w/o bail hearings, that their power to do so is unfettered & in fact intended to be harsh in its application.
Even fellow Trump appointee,
#Gorsuch
, seemed troubled.
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The
#Illinois
court’s decision affirms what we’ve always known – that cash bail is un-American; it betrays the promise of equality under the law and the presumption of innocence, and it should play no role in the administration of justice.
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Welcome to
@MissUSA
Asya Branch, our newest
@bailproject
ambassador!
@asyadanielle
knows the injustices of the criminal legal system firsthand from growing up with her father incarcerated. We look forward to partnering with her in our work to
#endcashbail
! 🇺🇸
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Kyra is not only a Bail Disruptor for
@bailproject
, but she’s been a leader in the Indianapolis
#BlackLivesMatter
movement for years. Read about how she’s making Black history every day!
#BlackHistoryMonth
🎉
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Another example of how the process of bail is punishment.
People often times can't even locate their incarcerated loved ones, or are not even notified they have a loved one incarcerated pretrial.
"She had family who would have easily paid." Tragic and infuriating.
Family of Janice Dotson-Stephens, who died at TX jail while held on $300 bail in trespass case, say they didn't know she was jailed. "She had...family who would have easily paid...to get her out of jail if that’s what we had to do to take the next step.”
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Amazing! 😍 In Los Angeles the new D.A. *eliminates bail* on his first day! We are proud to have worked with
@GeorgeGascon
as part of his transition team on bail policy.
In first day as L.A. County D.A., George Gascón eliminates bail, remakes sentencing rules
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Over 90% of the people (not inmates!) we've posted bail for in Louisville have returned to court, despite having no money on the line!
As impacted communities have long known, people aren't "flight risks" & money isn't an incentive to show up to court.
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"Out of the 383 bails we've paid since May to help our community members, nearly 100 have been returned to us. What we're doing is directly impacting Louisville's jail overcrowding & most of all the lives of whole families." -Shameka, Louisville site manager.
#FreedomShouldBeFree
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Thank you for your generous support in 2020. Because of you, we’ve been able to bail out more than 14,000 people and counting!
With gratitude for this past year and hope for the year ahead, we wish you and your loved ones a very happy holiday season. ❤️
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The Bail Project is committed to a future where no human being is ever forced to deteriorate in a jail cell. Pretrial reform is one step in that direction.
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Imagine being stuck in a jail cell, while innocent, for over 2 years just because you don’t have money to pay your bail. This is the reality for hundreds of thousands of Americans every night who go to bed not knowing if they’ll ever go home because of unaffordable cash bail.
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We posted our first Compton bail this wk.
Compton has such high bail that no one at court knew how to process the payment. It was the first of its kind in 30 yrs.
Our client was separated from their family for 35 days. When released, they walked through this brown metal cage.
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The moment a person is accused, arrested & jailed without $ for bail, a cascade of impacts begins. They often lose custody of children, lose their homes on mortgage, their apartments for rent, their jobs and even immigration status - all before even a trial
#EndCashBail
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