Cash Bail by the Numbers

We are Fighting for the Lives of People Criminalized for Poverty and Minor Offenses Advancement Project National Office and other national civil rights and racial justice organizations are taking legal action to protect people in jails and prisons. We need your help to pressure local and state governments to do the right thing and release people from jails and prisons, allowing them to safely quarantine and social distance in their homes. Call your local public officials (sheriff’s offices, state’s attorneys, governors, etc.) and demand that they take action before it’s too late! USE…

Media Contacts: Gina Physic, 202-505-4659, [email protected] Joshua Garner, 240-326-3874, [email protected] At the height of the coronavirus pandemic one of the most dangerous places to be is in jail ST. LOUIS, MO – Today in federal court, Advancement Project National Office, ArchCity Defenders, Civil Rights Corps, and Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) renewed a motion to reinstate a preliminary injunction against the City of St. Louis, Sheriff Vernon Betts, the judges of the 22nd Judicial Circuit, and Commissioner of Corrections Dale Glass to highlight the important and devastating changes brought…

By Vanessa Reis After her last stint in jail which led to losing 18 job offers, impacted advocate-turned-heroine Marilynn Winn helped close a jail. It wasn’t all in a day’s work, but she got the job done. Marilynn Winn and other formerly incarcerated women at the advocacy organization Winn founded, Women on the Rise, succeeded in their battle to close the Atlanta City Detention Center. In May 2019, these women made history along with Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who signed legislation to close the jail and repurpose it as a center for services and resources…

Grassroots activist group, Ferguson Collaborative, rallies against Jeffrey Blume despite City Council turning up its nose FERGUSON, MO – The Ferguson Collaborative is leading a group of civil rights organizations in calling for the City of Ferguson to rescind and remove its current city manager over his policies that disproportionately impact people of color. In partnership with Advancement Project National Office and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Ferguson Collaborative is also calling for a more transparent and inclusive governance process for the City of Ferguson. The demands come after a tense protest during a Feb. 25…

DETROIT — Today, Michigan Liberation, Color Of Change, Advancement Project National Office, The Mass Liberation Project, BYP100 Detroit, We the People – MI, and Detroit Action announced the creation of a joint coalition to demand accountability and transparency from Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and the Detroit Police Department. The coalition was formed in response to the Detroit Police Department’s internal investigation into its own narcotics unit, which uncovered widespread corruption including planting evidence, lying to prosecutors, robbery, and embezzlement. “We are calling for a full, independent investigation into the Detroit Police Department’s  narcotics unit. We are also demanding the…

FERGUSON, MO – As the nation marks five years since the police killing of teenager Mike Brown and the series of protests known as the Ferguson Uprising, a report released today by Advancement Project National Office points to how a hyperlocal group of Ferguson activists have been changing the City’s unconstitutional policing and criminal legal system practices. This group of residents and allies, now known as the Ferguson Collaborative, have spent the past five years putting the pressure on local and federal policymakers and courts, ousting a court-appointed official, rallying for the dismissal of thousands of municipal court cases and…

  6–10 p.m. EST* THIS IS NOT A GALA—It’s a movement! We put together the racial justice event of the year! Advancement Project National Office celebrated 20 years of progressive racial justice movement work with an event beyond any gala. Hundreds came out and joined our attorneys, organizers, grassroots partners and influencers in racial justice sports, culture, arts, and entertainment as we celebrated with great food, performances, and more. This was for the people! If you missed it, or just want to relive the night’s moments, check out the gallery below. *By taking part in this event you grant the event organizers full…

Did you know St. Louis jails Black people eight times more than white people in a city that is only 47 percent Black?

On the 154th anniversary of Juneteenth, a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives will hold the first hearing on the topic of reparations for slavery since 2007. The hearing, which is the second in history, will focus in part on H.R. 40. H.R. 40, a piece of legislation that would employ a commission to study the legacy of slavery and consider reparations proposals.[1] While the fight for reparations gained prominence in recent years, the issue has been waged for centuries, championed by Black women.[2] However, media surrounding the upcoming hearing largely erases this history…

The ruling of a federal judge in St. Louis confirms that the City has violated the rights of hundreds of people, who have been detained before trial at one of the City’s two jails--the Justice Center and the Medium Security Institution, also known as the Workhouse--solely because they are unable to pay money bail.