Press Contact: Jeremy Cherson, Director of Communications
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
(ATLANTA, GA) — The Bail Project announced today the closure of its Atlanta site, effective June 10, 2024, in response to the enactment of Georgia Senate Bill 63. For the past four years, The Bail Project’s Atlanta branch has provided essential bail assistance and pretrial support to nearly 1,000 low-income individuals, with the majority being people of color, but will now be forced to end its operations in the region. The Bail Project will continue to provide free bail assistance to jurisdictions outside of Georgia. The organization issued the following statement in response:
“We’re deeply dismayed by Georgia’s lawmakers’ pursuit of this regressive approach to public safety, which flies in the face of evidence showing that cash bail does not enhance safety. Cash bail perpetuates a two-tiered system of justice in Georgia – one for the rich and another for everyone else. Two people accused of the same offense receive drastically different treatment solely based on their financial resources, with those who can afford bail being released while those who cannot remain needlessly incarcerated, many times to wait for months on end between court dates. These egregious case delays have become endemic in Atlanta and are a stain on the American criminal justice system.
As a result of the state’s failures to improve case processing times and ensure speedy trials, people face severe health risks and undue pressure to accept plea deals just to return home. For example, in Fulton County, Lashawn Thompson was held for over three months because he could not afford a $2,500 bail for a misdemeanor offense, before dying covered in lice inside a bedbug-infested cell in the county jail’s psychiatric wing. Tragically, this case underscores the dire consequences of doubling down on cash bail policies.
The Bail Project has always been committed to public safety and equal justice, which are not mutually exclusive. In our time operating in Georgia, we have not only provided free bail assistance to nearly 1,000 Georgians, with the majority being people of color, but also supported them in navigating community-based services that help stabilize lives and address the root causes of justice system involvement. We’ve sent countless court notifications, provided travel assistance to make court attendance more accessible, and referred our clients to in-community services such as addiction treatment, mental health support, job training, and housing assistance. Despite our proven success, having supported 30,000 individuals nationwide who have returned to 91% of their court dates without any of their own money on the line, Georgia’s policy makers have rejected our empirical evidence and practical solutions.
The decision to expand cash bail is a deliberate and misguided choice. Across the nation, more than a dozen jurisdictions have eliminated or minimized cash bail, redirecting funds to services that prevent crime and enhance community safety. Georgia’s lawmakers could have adopted similar evidence-based policies, including speedy trial legislation to address court delays and investments in preventative services to reduce reliance on pretrial incarceration. Instead, they opted for a path that perpetuates more incarceration, racial inequity, trauma, and harm. Shame on them. ”
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