What if we ended the injustices of bail?

Injustice means violation of the rights or the right of another. In layman’s term injustices means that the oppress were unable to express their perspective

Robin Steinberg’s vision started when she first visited a client in a jail cell, Her experience led to a fulfilling mission.

“I will never forget the first time I visited a client in jail. The heavy, metal door slammed behind me, and I heard the key turn in the lock. The cement floor underneath me had a sticky film on it that made a ripping sound, like tape being pulled off a box, every time I moved my foot. The only connection to the outside world was a small window placed too high to see. There was a small, square table bolted to the floor and two metal chairs, one on either side. That was the first time I understood viscerally -- just for a fleeting moment -- what incarceration might feel like.” 

 - Robin Steinberg, TED Talk

Steinberg vowed to herself that what she felt during those times made it possible for her to act upon everyone’s right for freedom. She quoted, “And I promised myself all those years ago as a young, public defender that I would never, ever forget that feeling. And I never have. It inspired me to fight for each and every one of my clients' freedom as if it was my own.”

Freedom. A concept so fundamental to the American psyche that it is enshrined in our constitution. The United States incarcerates more people per capita than almost any nation on the planet.. These mothers and fathers and sons and daughters are there for one reason and one reason only: they cannot afford to pay the price of their freedom. And that price is called bail.

What is a bail?

Now, bail was actually created as a form of conditional release. The theory was simple: set bail at an amount that somebody could afford to pay -- they would pay it -- it would give them an incentive to come back to court; it would give them some skin in the game. Bail was never intended to be used as punishment. Bail was never intended to hold people in jail cells. And bail was never, ever intended to create a two-tier system of justice: one for the rich and one for everybody else. But that is precisely what it has done.

 

Upon meeting Ramel

 

Seventy-five percent of people in American local jails are there because they cannot pay bail. People like Ramel. He was taken to court, where a judge set 500 dollars bail. But Ramel -- he didn't have 500 dollars. So this 32-year-old father was sent to "The Boat" -- a floating jail barge that sits on the East River between a sewage plant and a fish market. That's right, you heard me. In New York City, in 2018, we have a floating prison barge that sits out there and houses primarily black and brown men who cannot pay their bail.

 

Jail in USA

 

Let's talk for a moment about what it means to be in jail even for a few days. Well, it can mean losing your job, losing your home, jeopardizing your immigration status. It may even mean losing custody of your children. A third of sexual victimization by jail staff happens in the first three days in jail, and almost half of all jail deaths, including suicides, happen in that first week. What's more, if you're held in jail on bail, you're four times more likely to get a jail sentence than if you had been free, and that jail sentence will be three times longer. And if you are black or Latino and cash bail has been set, you are two times more likely to remain stuck in that jail cell than if you were white.

 

Jail in America is a terrifying, dehumanizing and violent experience. Now imagine for just one moment that it's you stuck in that jail cell, and you don't have the 500 dollars to get out. And someone comes along and offers you a way out. 

Jailing people because they don't have enough money to pay bail is one of the most unfair, immoral things we do as a society.

 Research is clear that holding somebody in jail makes you significantly more likely to commit a crime when you get out than if you had been free all along.

 

.Freedom makes all the difference, and freedom should be free.

 

 

Steinberg’s mission blended well with her husband’s vision,David, who is also a public defender. It happened in a Chinese restaurant one time, quoting David "Why don't we just start a bail fund, and just start bailing our clients out of jail?" And in that unexpected moment, the idea for the Bronx Freedom Fund was born.”

 

The birth of Bronx Freedom Fund

 

We knew that bail money comes back at the end of a criminal case, so it could come back into the fund, and we could use it over and over again for more and more bail. That was our big bet, and that bet paid off.

 

One happy client was all it takes for her mission to pull-off, for Robin it was Ramel who made the difference.

 

Over the past 10 years, we have been paying bails for low-income residents of New York City, and what we have learned has exploded our ideas of why people come back to court and how the criminal legal system itself is operated.

 

We simply need court reminders -- simple court reminders about when to come back to court.

 

Next, we learned that if you're held in jail on a misdemeanor, 90 percent of people will plead guilty. But when the fund pays bail, over half the cases are dismissed. 

 

Ramel, a week later -- he was still on the boat, locked in that jail cell. He was on the cusp of losing everything, and he was about to plead guilty, and the Bronx Freedom Fund intervened and paid his bail. Now, reunited with his daughter, he was able to fight his case from outside. Look, it took some time -- two years, to be exact -- but at the end of that, his case was dismissed in its entirety. For Ramel –

 

For Ramel, the Bronx Freedom Fund was a lifeline, but for countless other Americans locked in jail cells, there is no freedom fund coming. It's time to do something about that. It's time to do something big. 

 

 

 

Robin Steinberg’s next course of action

 

• To create a proven, revolving bail-fund model like the one they had in Bronx and spread it across America, attacking the front end of the legal system before incarceration begins.

 

• To  to bail out as many people as quickly as they can. Over the next five years, partnering with public defenders and local community organizations,they plan to set up 40 sites in high-need jurisdictions. The goal is to bail out 160,000 people. Steinberg’s strategy leverages the fact that bail money comes back at the end of a case. Data from the Bronx shows that a dollar can be used two or three times a year, creating a massive force multiplier. So a dollar donated today can be used to pay bail for up to 15 people over the next five years. 

 

• Each bail project site will be staffed by a team of bail disrupters. These are passionate, dedicated advocates from local communities, many of whom were formerly incarcerated themselves, who will pay bails and support clients while their cases are going through the legal system, providing them with whatever resources and support they may need. 

 

• The next three sites are ready to launch in Dallas, Detroit and Louisville, Kentucky. The Bail Project will attack the money bail system on an unprecedented scale. Steinberg also plans to listen, collect and elevate and honor the stories of our clients so that we can change hearts and minds, and we will collect critical, national data that we need so we can chart a better path forward so that we do not recreate this system of oppression in just another form. 

 

 

For David and Robin, they believed that the people, sitting in America, in those jail cells, in every corner of the country, who are held in jail on bail bondage, right now, needed a lifeline today. That's where The Bail Project comes in. They want to create a proven model, a plan of action, and a growing network of bail disrupters who are audacious enough to dream big and fight hard, one bail at a time, for as long it takes, until true freedom and equal justice are a reality in America.

 

 

I love David and Robin’s mission. Their vision blended well with each turned into a mission which then turned into a legacy. Who could have known that a simple visit in a jail cell could lead to something big. I have always believed that it’s always been the little things that can make a great difference. If Robin and David can do it, I believe that each one of us can do something bigger like then. Who knows that what you may have been doing today can make a great impact into everyone’s life. A simple act can make a great difference.

 

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