By Sonali Kolhatkar for Yes!Magazine.
Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Minnesota News Connection reporting for the YES! Media-Public News Service Collaboration

The United States incarcerates more people than nearly any other country in the world. Among the millions in detention at any given time are hundreds of thousands being held in jails. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, “More than 400,000 people in the U.S. are currently being detained pretrial – in other words, they are awaiting trial and still legally innocent.” A significant portion of these people are “jailed pretrial simply because they can’t afford money bail.” Increasingly, nonprofit bail funds, such as the Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF), are stepping in to offer an alternative to the predatory bail bonds industry.

Elizer Darris, MFF’s co-executive director, explains, “Historically, people have been released on what’s called their own recognizance—meaning their word that they will come back.” But, he says, the reality is that “there has not been any type of causal connection between bail and someone’s reappearance.”

Yet there is one causal connection that deeply concerns Darris: the link between the skin color of people who are arrested, and an assumption of their guilt. High on the list of issues that MFF tackles is “the criminalization of Black and Brown people” and “the automatic determination that because of how I look I must be guilty.”

“Something that a lot of people don’t know, and it actually may shock people,” Darris says, is that “jails actually have worse living conditions than prisons.” He says the criminal justice system essentially holds poor people hostage to “terrible jail conditions.” 

“Our organization exists so that [prosecutors] aren’t able to use coercive practices like jailing in order to get people to plead guilty to offenses that they otherwise would not be guilty to,” Darris says. MFF makes bail payments on behalf of people who are jailed and who otherwise would be unable to afford the bail that buys them their freedom while they await trial or formal charges.

The organization, which was the focus of news coverage and donations during the racial justice uprisings of 2020, is now facing a Republican-led state bill that would make it illegal to operate a nonprofit bail fund in Minnesota.

Darris, who views the entirety of the criminal justice system as problematic, says, “What we have decided to do as an organization was to have a historical view to recognize that many of the policies and practices that we see today have their roots in slavery in the United States.” Given such a framing, he sees it as “an obligation to disrupt those practices, and that’s precisely what we are doing.”

“Our organization isn’t just focused on bail funds,” Darris says. “It’s called the ‘Freedom Fund,’” because that name reflects a “broader definition that takes on the criminal justice system.”

“We are trying to disrupt some of the predatory practices that are happening within bail,” Darris says. “But what we’ve seen is that’s just not enough.”

As a nonprofit, MFF is prohibited from participating in political activism—so it has recently expanded its work into a second organization, a 501(c)(4) organization called MFF Action, whose function will be to “actually take action to put boots on the ground to door-knock within our community to not just support legislation, but to craft legislation.”

“If you can’t change the policies, you change the policymakers, you change the people who will put community at the center of their decision-making,” Darris says.

High on MFF Action’s list of priorities is gaining access to better data. Currently, district courts have limited public access data about who is required to pay bail, which makes it harder for activists to make their case against predatory bail practices.

Additionally, Darris says MFF Action will work to “make sure that bails aren’t being issued on some of the exceedingly low-level offenses that, quite frankly, do not impact public safety in the least bit.”

He says, “Part of the U.S. Constitution is that you cannot be given the bail that is excessive. You have to take into account the person’s ability to pay. [Prosecutors are] not doing that here in Minnesota. And so, we are fighting to make sure that bails aren’t just frivolously being given out.”


Sonali Kolhatkar wrote this article for YES! Magazine.


get more stories like this via email

Mississippi prisons often lack resources to treat people who are incarcerated with substance-use disorders adequately but a nonprofit organization is offering alternative programs focused on treatment instead of incarceration.

The Magnolia State has one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation, with more than 1,000 people per 100,000 residents behind bars.

Christina Dent, founder and president of End It For Good, said they invite people to support approaches to drugs prioritizing life, preserving families and promoting public safety.

"We do education out in the community - with citizens, with advocates, with policymakers - to help them understand why a punitive criminal justice approach to drugs and addiction has not produced good results and why a health-centered approach would produce much better results," Dent explained.

It is estimated more than 578,000 people in state and federal prisons in 2022 had a substance-use disorder in the year prior to their admission, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.

Dent emphasized they recommend lawmakers look at other alternatives to stop reactionary approaches resulting in Mississippians paying harsher penalties for crimes such as drug possession.

"Shift away from increasing penalties," Dent urged. "Another thing that we could do would be to reduce penalties or recategorize penalties for something like drug possession. We would love to see a shift from treating drug possession as potentially a felony to drug possession being a misdemeanor. "

Dent noted such an alternative approach would allow individuals impacted to more easily regain employment, support their families and reintegrate into society. She added felony convictions create lifelong barriers to employment and self-sufficiency.


get more stories like this via email

April is Second Chance Month and many Nebraskans are celebrating passage of a bipartisan voting rights restoration bill and its focus on second chances.

Legislative Bill 20 restores voting rights to those convicted of a felony upon completion of their sentence, eliminating the two-year waiting period.

Jason Witmer, policy fellow at the ACLU of Nebraska, said the change will promote success for formerly incarcerated Nebraskans. He pointed out it also will increase the likelihood of the state meeting the objectives Gov. Jim Pillen and the Department of Corrections have committed to.

Nebraska became the fourth state to join "Reentry 2030," a national initiative of the Council of State Governments focused on strengthening programs and removing obstacles for those reentering society after incarceration.

"The more somebody can have their rights in place for them, the more invested they are in the society," Witmer contended. "The more invested you are in your community and your society, the more likely you are to succeed. And the right to vote is fundamentally part of reintegrating into society. It's your civil voice."

Reentry 2030 aims to have all 50 states commit to improving outcomes for formerly incarcerated people. Nebraska's goals include increasing GED completion and college coursework by those in Nebraska prisons, and reducing recidivism 50% by 2030.

Pillen allowed the measure to become law but stated it contains "potential constitutional issues" which could lead to a legal challenge.

Nebraska's recidivism rate for those who left prison between 2019 and 2022 was nearly 30%.

Witmer noted it is at least partly attributable to the challenges people face upon leaving incarceration.

"You did the time, and then you come out and find out, 'Oh, I can't vote. Oh, housing is almost impossible to get. Oh, I can't work here,'" Witmer outlined. "Suddenly you don't feel like you're a part of any of this."

Across the country, 37 other states restore voting rights to those charged with a felony either immediately after incarceration or after completing parole or probation. Two states and the District of Columbia allow people to vote while incarcerated.

A new website aims to help Kentuckians just out of prison re-enter their communities and find job training, employment and recovery services.

April is Second Chance Month - and according to the Prison Policy Initiative, about 60% of formerly incarcerated individuals are jobless.

Gov. Andy Beshear said the website - secondchance.ky.gov - is meant to cut bureaucracy around job searching, and tie resources together in one spot to make it easier for people to get back on their feet.

"We are not our worst day," said Beshear. "When we look at how many people have a criminal record in Kentucky, this is the right thing to do. But it's also necessary from a workforce standpoint."

In 2021, lawmakers passed legislation that tasked the Kentucky Department of Corrections with issuing certificates of employability to people who successfully complete programs while incarcerated.

It also helps increase access to state-issued IDs for those leaving prison.

The website includes information on resume help, job searches and local reentry services.

Beshear said eventually, the site will contain a comprehensive list of employers - such as Kentucky State Parks, which is a participant in second chance employment.

"If they need to find resources on how to get that next level of education or workforce training," said Beshear, "and then ultimately be able to see a list of employers that are willing to look at them for second chance employment."

Businesses in the Commonwealth can also find information about programs that can aid in hiring and retaining more second-chance employees - including the Fair Chance Academy, Kentucky Transformational Employment program, Prison-to-Work Pipeline, and Jobs on Day One programs.