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Groups begin bailing out strangers to free poor from jail
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Seattle Times (One of Seattle, WA's leading newspapers)
Posted: February 6th, 2017
http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/groups-begin-bailin...
Activists who say too many poor people are unfairly languishing in U.S. jails because they cant afford to post cash bail are increasingly deploying a new tactic: Bailing out strangers. Community groups are collecting donations from individuals, churches, cities and other organizations in more than a dozen cities, including New York, Chicago, Seattle and Nashville, to bail out indigent prisoners. Theyve freed several thousand people in the last few years, and the number is growing. The overwhelming majority of defendants still show up for court. Once free, the defendants are better able to fight their case, often leading to charges being dropped or reduced. Many, many people are having their lives ruined pre-trial because they cant afford to get out of jail, said Max Suchan, who co-founded the Chicago Community Bond Fund, which had bailed out 50 people as of December. The bail funds are a step toward a larger goal for some legal reform activists: abolishing the cash bail system. Advocates say it creates two unequal tiers of justice: one for people who can afford bail and one for people who cant. In Chicago the anti-cash bail movement has a seemingly unlikely ally in Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. He argues the cash system should be abolished and replaced with more thorough background checks; if a person is considered dangerous, they stay in jail and if theyre not, they go free, with access to services such as drug-addiction counseling if needed.
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