Recently, I attended a community event hosted by several grassroots groups in Albany about criminal justice reform. The event focused on the need for statewide reform to bail, discovery and speedy trial. Criminal justice reform issues have been discussed throughout this current state legislative session. Particularly, the issue of the eliminating or reforming the cash bail system has come up throughout the nation (i.e., New York, California, New Jersey, Texas). Hopefully, there will be no need for this post in a few months. With advocacy efforts ramping up to bring about the elimination of the cash bail system, there are still many legally innocent individuals sitting in the Albany County jail. When I say “legally innocent”, I mean those individuals who have not been convicted of a crime but are detained in jails because they cannot afford to pay for their release while awaiting trial. Earlier this week, the New York Civil Liberties Union released a report called “Presumed Innocent for a Price” which looked at some counties across New York, including Albany, to show how many legally innocent individuals remain detained for prolonged periods of time while awaiting their trials. Rather than go into full detail of the report, I will just highlight some key statistics about Albany. From 2010 to 2014, 46% of pre-trial detainees spent more than 7 days in jail. In that same time period, white detainees were nearly twice as likely to be released the same day their bail was set compared to black detainees. Additionally, the bail for two-thirds of individuals detained for days and weeks was less than $2,500. Communities across the Capital Region have the capability to work together to help free their legally innocent neighbors from detention. Again, I reiterate that the only solution to the issue of cash bail is to completely eliminate the system. For those communities and legally innocent individuals sitting in Albany County jail who cannot wait for change, your collective efforts can help free your neighbors from bondage.
Community bail funds provide a means for communities to band their resources and free legally innocent people from pre-trial detention so that these individuals have a fair chance to prepare for their own defense. Communities in Brooklyn, Bronx, Philadelphia, and other cities have created community bail funds, and there is also a national network that has resources for communities who want to create their own community bail fund. In 2012, New York passed a law allowing for charitable organizations to pay for the bail of individuals who cannot afford to pay bail on their own. However, the law places restrictions on the amount of bail (only bail set at less than $2,000) and the types of offenses. Even with these restrictions, there are thousands of low-income individuals sitting in Albany County Jail for prolonged periods on low-level offenses or infractions due to their inability to pay a bail of a few hundred dollars. Thus, the community bail funds can make an impact and there are examples of how other community bail funds have impacted their communities. If communities decide to take on the initiative of creating their own fund, they should keep the following matters in mind:
- Have an exit strategy from the beginning of the community bail fund. As mentioned before, I hope there will not be a need for this post in a few months so long as state government takes action to eliminate the cash bail system. If communities decide to create charitable bail funds or another nonprofit decides to take on the initiative, the organization has to be aware of New York’s Not-for-Profit Corporation laws which govern New York nonprofits and what happens with the assets of the organization. When the purpose of the community bail fund comes to an end, the community bail fund would need to make sure that the assets (in this case the funds) are either put to another charitable purpose that aligns with the organization’s original intent or distributed to another nonprofit organization with a similar purpose.
- Be careful not to engage in any substantial lobbying or any electioneering activities or share a substantial amount of your resources with an organization engaged in lobbying or electioneering activities. Under New York’s Charitable Bail Bonds statute, charitable groups registered as 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations are allowed to create bail funds. The Internal Revenue Code restricts the amount of lobbying (seeking to influence a public official on an issue) activities a 501(c)(3) organization can conduct and completely bars an organization from electioneering (taking a position on a particular candidate). While it can be an effective strategy for a community bail fund to partner up with an advocacy organization in getting out the message about eliminating the cash bail system, it is important to not devote a substantial portion of your activities or resources to the advocacy efforts. With the midterm elections nearing, it is also important to be mindful for a community bail fund or 501(c)(3) organization to not conduct any communications that can be deemed to be taking a position on a particular candidate.
- Partner with organizations who work with indigent individuals to ensure those in need are the ones getting help. Charitable bail funds must be charitable in nature. Thus, they must serve the poor, the distressed, or the underprivileged. By creating referral systems and partnerships with organizations that are already providing services to the indigent (i.e., Center for Law & Justice, Community Fathers, Inc., Albany County Public Defender), the bail fund will ensure that it is providing services to the ones in most need and create a network to connect individuals with services offered by other organizations.