Across the United States, local jails held about 660,000 people in custody at midyear 2023 (when the Bureau of Justice collected data for their most recently published statistics). Approximately two-thirds of those people had not been convicted of a crime. Rates of pretrial detention have increased by more than 400% over the past five decades, largely due to the increased use of monetary bail. Because virtually all jurisdictions require cash bail to leave jail after an arrest, freedom typically depends on personal wealth.

Detention while awaiting trial results in worse outcomes for people who are held in jail compared to those who are allowed to remain free until the resolution of their court cases. Studies show that even a brief period of detention is enough to destabilize someone’s life — jeopardizing their employment, housing, and custody of their children — and even a short stay in jail makes them more likely to become involved with the criminal legal system in the future. Detention also leads to worse legal outcomes: those who are detained before trial are more likely to be convicted and to receive harsher sentences. People of color are disproportionately likely to be held in custody pretrial, regardless of the merits of their cases or their likelihood of pretrial success.

All of this is why the Douglas County Community Bail Fund formed in 2022, with a mission to reduce the monetary bail burden imposed on legally innocent Douglas County residents. Ideally, by utilizing a revolving fund supported by individuals and groups, we envision a more equitable justice process, where no one in Douglas County is held in pretrial detention based on the inability to pay. We enable as many people as we can to remain free, fulfilling their personal obligations and remaining active participants in society, because we know that maintaining and strengthening community ties reduces recidivism and leads to better outcomes for everyone involved.

Historically, bail funds have played an important role in sustaining U.S. social movements. In the civil rights era, individuals and organizations established hundreds of funds to bail out protesters across the South. Today, bail funds still provide critical support to activists across social movements and organizations pushing for change. For instance, the Atlanta Solidarity Fund has provided consistent support to protesters who have been arrested during the years-long Stop Cop City movement. Our local bail fund is part of a broader national movement and takes inspiration from the National Bail Fund Network.

Right now, our bail fund and others across the country are facing a serious legislative threat. The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would define bail bonds as insurance products, subjecting them to federal insurance fraud laws and allowing states to enact licensing requirements for entities — including charitable bail funds — that post bail on behalf of defendants. It would also require the employees and agents of charitable bail funds to pass a criminal background check.

H.R. 8205 is an exercise in classism masked by a pithy title: the “Keeping Violent Offenders Off Our Streets Act.” It could more aptly be called the “Keeping the So-Called ‘Justice’ System in the Hands of the Elite Act.” If it passes the Senate, the proposed changes within the bill would serve to significantly raise the initial capital required to start a community bail fund like our own. This would heavily favor for-profit bail bondsmen, who operate for their own benefit in conjunction with the established system, while decimating nonprofit bail funds that seek to uphold the fundamental presumption of innocence.

The idea that community bail funds should be regulated with insurance requirements is an absurd overregulation of what amounts to voluntary mutual aid within a community. We are solely in the business of enabling individuals who are legally innocent to remain in the community, continue to work, maintain personal relationships, and assist in preparing a defense against the charges brought against them. If this legislation is allowed to pass, it will significantly hinder those efforts. Imagine the ramifications for defendants who do not have the ability to put up collateral to a bondsman. And what of those who find themselves indigent in a court that will not accept bondsmen payments, such as the Lawrence Municipal Court?

The committee report for this bill describes community bail funds as a “small part of the larger movement to significantly reform or eliminate the cash bail system” and accuses these funds of “regularly post[ing] bail for individuals who have been charged with violent felonies and have previous convictions.” This is a gross oversimplification. Many small funds like ours have missions of simply reducing financial burdens on legally innocent folks. When bail is offered at all, it means that a court has determined that flight risk or public safety are not implicated. Again, keeping people behind bars solely on an inability to pay serves no one. It is harmful for the individual, expensive for taxpayers, and often leads to higher recidivism.

If you care about equal access to justice in this community, we ask that you contact your U.S. Senator to oppose this harmful bill. For most readers, this is Sen. Jerry Moran, who can be reached at 202-224-6521, or Roger Marshall at 202-224-4774. Call and tell them to vote no on this travesty of justice. Voluntary bail bond support is not an insurance product.

Respectfully submitted by the Douglas County Community Bail Fund Board of Directors:
Kirsten Kuhn, president
Zach Coté, vice president
Brian Thomas, treasurer
Camille Debreczeny, secretary

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