Thread by @DrRJKavanagh

At the heart of being a public defender is getting people free - it's also the mission of bail funds like @BKBailFund.

If you follow me here, you know @BKBailFund is my heart.

So they're gonna still be getting people free, but the mechanism is changing. Here's how and why.

https://twitter.com/BKBailFund/status/1177590368864526337

@BKBailFund The ultimate goal has never been for @BKBailFund to be a huge philanthropic organization that pays cash bail for as many people as possible, but to end cash bail altogether. And that's happening in New York. Next year, it will end for most misdemeanors and non-violent felonies.

@BKBailFund At the same time that @BKBailFund was getting thousands of people free, NYC and the court system were also starting to co-opt the purpose of the fund.

Judges would set bail where they may have released people, knowing the bail fund may pay it - which wasn't always possible.

@BKBailFund When Layleen Polanco, a young Black trans woman, died after spending 2 months on Rikers Island on $500 bail, Mayor Bill de Blasio tried to blame bail funds for not paying her bail, rather than accepting responsibility for her death.
theappeal.org/spotlight-de-b…

@BKBailFund So @BKBailFund has decided they will no longer pay bail in criminal cases. They will continue to pay bail for people held in immigrant detention, as they did for Jose Bello, a student and farm worker arrested after reading his poem, Dear America.

https://twitter.com/votolatino/status/1161329715233226752?s=20

@BKBailFund And they are going to continue to fight to end money bail and to make sure it's not replaced with equally repressive mass supervision or surveillance.

@BKBailFund This is such a principled brave decision on their part. It's just another example of why I admire and love them so much.

@BKBailFund Please make sure to follow them here: @BKBailFund.

And support them here: brooklynbailfund.org/donate