St. Louis bail disruptor Tracy Stanton penned a powerful op–ed for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sharing her personal experience at the inhumane Workhouse jail.
The Bail Project’s statewide advocacy and policy manager Mike Milton wrote an op–ed for the St. Louis American on the critical need to address the systemic issues of poverty, institutional racism and public health inequities which drive so many into the criminal legal system.
Kentucky was an early adopter of risk assessments in an effort to release more people without bail. But the algorithms are reproducing systemic inequities.
Our state regional coordinator in Michigan writes, “Certain moments define a society and its leaders. And this is one of them. Unless St. Louis city and county officials take action now, this pandemic will create a humanitarian disaster in our jails, putting lives at risk.“
There is a better way: treat people like individuals rather than statistical “risk scores” and focus on disrupting the cycles of poverty and vulnerability that keep so many trapped in the revolving door of mass incarceration.
