Cash bail is an entrenched part of the criminal legal system. It enables prosecutors to coerce guilty pleas and discriminate. Fines and fees deducted from bail often supplement municipal budgets. And the $2 billion bail bond industry, backed by large insurance companies, uses its influence to preserve the status quo. To drive momentum for change and take on these entrenched interests, The Bail Project’s Policy Team works at the federal, state, and local levels to amplify calls for bail reform, counter the influence of entrenched interests, and equip decision-makers with evidence.
Our efforts to enact systemic change include program and policy design, community education, and engagement with lawmakers and system actors. Learn more about our vision for policy change here.
To book a Bail Project policy expert, fill out this contact form.
Today, The Bail Project announced the appointment of Erin George as its new National Director of Policy.
“We are excited to welcome Erin George to The Bail Project. Over the past five years, through our direct services in more than two dozen jurisdictions across America, we have built a powerful body of evidence that cash bail is not necessary. We have also begun codifying a model of community release that offers a viable alternative to cash bail,” said The Bail Project’s CEO Robin Steinberg.
Today, Ohioans vote on a ballot measure that would amend the state’s constitution and change how bail is set for people awaiting trial. This measure, Issue 1, seeks to reverse the Ohio Supreme Court ruling in Dubose v. McGuffey, which emphasized the prohibition against excessive bail that is enshrined in both the U.S. Constitution and the Ohio Constitution.
Proposed state constitutional amendment is misguided. Bipartisan bail reform bills offer a better alternative.
The Bail Project opposes the use of pretrial algorithms to help decide whether an individual is incarcerated pretrial. Together, with data scientists and legal scholars, we argue that pretrial algorithms, also known as risk assessment tools, disproportionately harm people of color, oversimplify complex individual and case outcomes, undermine standards of procedural justice, and rely on data that is inaccurate, outdated, and unreliable.
Michigan’s largest district court and bail reform advocates have agreed to settle a federal class-action lawsuit over cash bail practices, which activists say routinely and unconstitutionally jail poor and working class defendants despite evidence of their inability to pay.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana is suing the state of Indiana over the constitutionality of a new law targeting The Bail Project.
Indianapolis has become a fighting ground for bail reform, as Republicans and the bail bonds industry join forces to launch unconstitutional laws targeted at The Bail Project.
A Kentucky state representative discusses why The Bail Project’s work has been a force for good in Louisville, and how Kentucky HB 313 threatens it.
Thousands of single black mothers are unjustly held in jails across the country, simply because they cannot afford to pay bail. This article surveys various efforts to fight this unfair system including The Bail Project, and includes the voice of TBP’s National Director of Legal and Policy, Twyla Carter.
TBP’s Senior Policy Counsel Nicole Zayas-Fortier and past intern Gabriel Henriquez write about the desperate need for bipartisan efforts to aid ongoing crisis in Michigan’s jails. If the proposed legislature were successful, jails would become less crowded and marginalized populations would be better protected.
The Bail Project condemns Senate Bill 6 which expands the use of cash bail in Texas.
The Bail Project’s National Policy Director Twyla Carter responded to an op-ed by Sacramento Councilman Jeff Harris making it clear that efforts to eliminate cash bail do not undermine homeless intervention and prevention efforts.
We responded to an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle that discusses the need to address violent crime with bad bail bills.
The proposed legislation establishes a presumption of release and restricts wealth-based detention.
The Bail Project’s National Policy Director Twyla Carter and ACLU of Texas’ Policy and Advocacy Strategist Nick Hudson wrote an op-ed for the Austin American-Statesman on Senate Bill 21 and House Bill 20, and the approximately $2.2 billion that Texas taxpayers spend each year to run the state’s overcrowded jails.
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Our services are free of charge. If you receive an inquiry from someone claiming to be from The Bail Project and asking for money to pay bail for you or your loved one, please do not send any money. Instead reach out to us directly using this form or by giving us a call at (323) 366-0799.
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The Bail Project’s website is a resource to raise awareness about the need for bail reform, and a portal for people who need bail assistance to reach our local teams. We are committed to communicating with you about your privacy when on our website, whether you are on our site browsing for information or requesting help. Our privacy policy is linked below and explains how we use and protect your information we collect on https://bailproject.org/ (“
For more information on the above, including what we collect and your “opt out” choices, you can find our full Privacy Policy at bailproject.org/privacy-
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