From Essie Justice Group:
Executive Summery
In partnership with the National Bail Out (NBO) Collective, Essie Justice Group (Essie) is a primary leader of the Black Mama’s Bail Out campaign in California. Black Mama’s Bail Out emerged as a collective response to the specific, disproportionate impact of pretrial detention and the bail system
on Black mothers.
Among women in jail, approximately 61% are held pretrial without a conviction1—meaning they are presumed “legally innocent”—and among them, a significant number are Black. An estimated 80% of women in jail are mothers.2 And among people incarcerated pretrial, approximately 60% are unable to afford bail.3 This is even more pronounced in California, where median bail amounts reach
$50,000—more than five times the national average.4
The existing pretrial and money bail system means that Black women must choose between life-altering debt and incarceration. To address this, Essie’s annual Black Mama’s Bail Out campaign secures the release of Black mamas5 from pretrial detention to reunite them with their children and families before Mother’s Day. Beyond immediate release, Essie takes a unique approach that both makes visible and leverages the often-unseen expertise of its membership base—women with
incarcerated loved ones.
Read the full report here.
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