Statements
Mission
The Nashville Community Bail Fund frees low-income persons from jail, connects with their loved ones, and works to end wealth-based detention through community partnerships.
Background
The fund began in June 2016, using a revolving pot of about $300,000 to bail people out of jail. Today, our fund continues at $200,000. The idea is that as cases are resolved, a portion of our bail money goes back into the fund to help others.
We provide financial support to individuals who cannot afford to post bail. With our help, they can continue their lives pending trial. By showing up for court, they help free the next person. Working together, the NCBF and those it frees create a self-sustaining tool that makes the court system more fair for everyone.
Since our inception, we have freed 1,000 Nashvillians from jail.
Impact
As of 2020, the Nashville Community Bail Fund has bailed out 1,000 Davidson County low-income residents from jail. Fifty-three percent of these cases were dropped by the courts for no crime committed. Each person was given the opportunity to stay their days, presumed innocent, at home and in community awaiting their trial--instead of unfairly being locked up in a cage.
Rahim Buford, Bail Fund Manager shared the following about the program's impact: "We're just doing what's right, because at the end of the day if I can't afford justice - meaning because I don't have the money, I can't get out of jail - then something is wrong with that picture," he says. "And it's real simple. It's criminalizing poverty."
Amid debate about defendants failing to appear in court and whether the bail fund does enough to make sure they show up, Buford argues the bail fund's approach is a better way to keep people from skipping out.
"First of all, we humanize the people who are in jail," says Buford. "We don't just make bonds, we have a listening session. That's what happens when I go into the jail, we have a conversation. I want to know about their lives, what's going on in their lives. Who can we contact to be reinforcements to help with the transitioning process? Who can we stay in communication with?"
He also notes that the NCBF gives out cell phones to people who don't have them so they can receive texts from the fund, and often picks people up to drive them to court.
"There's this idea that people just don't go back to court because they don't want to go back to court," he says. "There are underlying issues. Some are mental issues. Some are socio-economic issues, some are family issues."
The Nashville Community Bail Fund talks with each individual and meets them where they are to help them to get onto a better path beyond jail and having to worry about bail that they cannot afford--an expense that will derail their life.
Getting people out of jail also stands to save taxpayer money. In 2016, 9,066 defendants charged only with misdemeanors stayed in jail until their case was resolved, city data showed. About half of them were charged with lower-level misdemeanors like trespassing or disorderly conduct. The average bail for misdemeanor cases was $4,051. Those defendants spent an average of three days in jail. The cost for those stays adds up to more than $3 million annually.
Needs
The Nashville Community Bail Fund maintains an annual $200,000 pool of funds for bail. We rely on private donations from foundations, companies, individuals, and others who willing to help some of Nashville's most vulnerable low-income residents in their time of desperation when they are faced with the fact that they cannot afford justice and their crime is being impoverished.
The Nashville Community Bail Fund seeks to build community support to share its work and invite others to join this movement to end wealth based detention. Join us with your voice today!
We welcome your support of our overall program which includes outreach to individuals and potential partners to help more people meet their bail. Our overall operating budget is $150,000.
Monthly sustaining donations are welcome and appreciated. Annual gifts at any amount enable this work. Join our cause!
Board Chair Statement
As a long time volunteer reading tutor with young children, I came to understand that the children I was tutoring (and whose innate talents I recognized) might well be on the school-to-prison pipeline if they couldn't read on grade level by end of third grade. Wanting to make a direct impact in my community, I landed on the idea of a community bail fund for those sent to jail upon arrest just because they could not afford bail. With the hard work and coordination of many others, particularly with my friend, the late Martin Brown, the NCBF was formed. Through this work, I remain active as an advocate on criminal justice issues and is hoping to help find a way to end that school-to-prison pipeline.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Crime & Legal - Related - Fund Raising & Fund Distribution |
| Secondary Category: | - |
| Tertiary Category: | - |
Areas Served
| TN - Davidson |
