HOW TO START A BAIL FUND

Abby Henry

May 29, 2020 was a day that changed my life forever. It started off as an ordinary day until I got a text from (my now girlfriend) Curstynn. She texted me about a protest to demand justice for George Floyd in our hometown of Canton, Ohio. We had both moved home in March when our colleges closed at the beginning of the Coronavirus Pandemic. I was a bit hesitant to go because my family and I were quarantining very strictly, but I decided to leave the house and went with Curstynn to the protest.

The protest lasted four hours and there were around 500 people present from our small city. We marched miles around the city and when the sky turned dark, the police started deploying chemical weapons and rubber bullets against us. Thirteen people were arrested, and Curstynn and I witnessed and recorded one of the leaders of the protest being pushed to the ground and escorted by five SWAT Team members to the police station.

We tweeted the video to show our community what had happened in their city and the response was overwhelming. The tweet went viral with tons of people asking us where they could donate bail money and how they could help. I scoured the internet to try and find a bail fund in our area, but the nearest one was in Cleveland, which is an hour away. Not knowing where else to turn, Curstynn and I decided to start our own bail fund. We ended up raising $20,000 in just 2 weeks.

Bail funds are one way that communities can re-distribute money and resources to help their neighbors. Another example of a popular community aid initiative is an abortion fund. These types of initiatives help give folks in need access to the rights they should be entitled to. In the case of the bail fund, it gives people the ability to pay their bail despite their financial situation.

Every community, no matter how big or small, could benefit from a bail fund because there are always people being arrested and having to pay exorbitant amounts of money to become free. But bail funds aren’t easy to start or to make successful, so here are some tips.

First, you need to do some research and measure your community’s need for a bail fund. Figure out if any bail funds already exist in your city or town. You don’t want to start a competing bail fund because the resources will be split. Additionally, you are better suited to start a bail fund during times of protest related arrests because those get the most attention in the media.

Then, start collecting money. I used a PayPal pool to collect money for my bail fund, which worked seamlessly until I had to get the money out of the bank to use it. Because I had raised so much money, PayPal quickly flagged my account and put it under review, freezing my account from accessing any money. Once I got over that hurdle, PayPal worked great, especially since you can withdraw up to $500 of cash from Walmart and you can get a PayPal debit card.

I would strongly suggest that you do not use GoFundMe or any collection site that collects money for an “intended recipient” because bail funds don’t have just one recipient. I haven’t figured out the best platform to raise money yet, but you should definitely do your research and find a platform that has good and quick customer service, has multiple ways to access money, and has limited fees.

Next, you need to learn the bail process in your area. The Bail Bonds Network is a helpful resource to do this. Every jurisdiction has different methods to organize bail, post bail, and pay bail. Make sure to know where the jails in your area are and what jurisdiction they are under. You also need to know where to find the posted bail amount. Some jurisdictions have this information publicly available online, and some you have to call your Clerk of Courts (or respective office) to find. One of the most important things you need to do is to find the bail bondsmen near you.

Bail bondsmen are important resources for when the set bail is too high to pay or when the Clerk of Courts revokes the 10% rate of bail; when they allow the person to pay 10% of the allocated bail amount instead of the entire amount. Bail bondsmen allow you to pay the 10% or a reduced rate to them, and then they pay the bail for you. Usually, the more severe (according to the law) the crime, the higher the bail is. Misdemeanors and Felonies are the two ways crimes are organized. Under each of these, crimes are organized by classes, which determines what kind of punishment people are facing. Misdemeanors almost always have 10% rates included with their bond amounts, but Felonies are more likely to not include a 10% rate for the higher levels of Felonies. The only difference is that bondsmen do not give you your money back when you pay the portion of the bail to them, whereas the courts give you your money back as long as you go to court. So only use bail bondsmen as a last resort and when you have a personal relationship with someone. The reason for this is because using a bail bondsman is like taking out a loan; if the person who you are paying bail for skips court, you are on the hook for the remainder of their bail cost.

Finally, find people who need their bail to be paid. This is easier to do if your bail fund starts in the midst of civil disobedience and protests. If you know of protests happening near you, a helpful tactic is to distribute a private google forum where you collect people’s legal name, emergency contact information, and medical concerns. All of this information will help you pay bail and advocate for them while they are in jail. Additionally, tell people to write down a phone number associated with a bail fund on their arm if they are going to a protest in the case they get arrested. This way they can directly contact you and you don’t have to try to find out if they got arrested or not. If you don’t want to give out your actual phone number you can get a phone number via google that will redirect to your phone.

Not only are these good practices for a bail fund, but they are also good practices for any mutual aid organizing. Bail funds are not just important in times of civil unrest, but they are also needed everyday. People are constantly enduring the criminal justice system and going to jail, and there are many people who cannot afford to pay their bail. Bail funds, no matter how big or small, can make a huge difference in your community. Everyone deserves to be able to pay their bail, no matter their economic status.