Black people are dying in jail because they are too poor to afford bail.
Dear friend,
Another Black woman has died in police custody because she couldn’t afford to post bail.
Janice Dotson-Stephens was a 61-year old Black woman being held in a Bexar County jail since July because she couldn’t afford to pay a $300 bond.1 While the details of the case are developing, it is clear that Dotson-Stephens died in custody while being wrongfully held in jail for 6 months. This story sounds all too familiar.Too many Black men and women are dying in police custody simply because they are poor, but this time we have an opportunity to speak out on this issue.
The recently elected District Attorney of Bexar County, Joe Gonzales, has already been a vocal advocate of ending money bail, describing it as a waste of county resources that criminalizes Bexar Country’s poorest residents.2 Upon taking office in January, we call on District Attorney-Elect Gonzales to commit to reforms that might have saved Janice Dotson-Stephens's life.
Texas has one of the largest jail populations in the country.3 We can help bring an end to this exploitative practice of holding millions of Black people pre-trial by urging DA-Elect Gonzales to definitively end money bail in his county.
Black people all across the country are literally dying in jail cells even though they are presumed innocent. Everyday an average of 700,000 people are condemned to local jails and separated from their families. A majority of them are detained simply because they cannot afford to pay bail. In Texas, pretrial policies, such as those held in jail on bond, have driven recent jail population growth. Black people are 12 percent of the total population in Texas but comprise 32 percent of the prison population.4 For Black people, the cost of bail is almost certainly out of reach. As a result, many remain stuck in jail, losing their ability to work, access to their families, and the freedom to live on the notion of presumed innocence. These same individuals will often suffer the consequences of a criminal record by assuming guilt, just to get out of jail. If the system was fair this would not be the case.This corrupt system has led many desperate to get their loved ones out of jail, and trapped in a scheme of debt and poverty.
Local prosecutors have untapped discretionary power and have historically faced little to no accountability when it comes to the mass criminalization of Black people. Money bail remains one of the main levers that entrap Black people in a web of state violence that includes incarceration, barriers to employment and predatory loan practices that cause insurmountable amounts of debt. DA-Elect Gonzales already acknowledged the ineffectiveness of pre-trial detention for low-level offenses, but his promises alone will not be enough to bring forth change. We need District Attorney-Elect Gonzales to create a concrete plan to implement reform that brings about tangible results. Now is our opportunity to call Gonzales to follow through on his promises to end the criminalization of the poorest and most vulnerable members of our community.
Jails do not keep our communities safe. Sandra Bland was a young Black woman jailed for three days because she couldn’t afford to pay a $500 bail bond. Sandra was later found dead—hanging from a trash bag in her cell.5 Kaleif Browder was arrested and jailed in Rikers Island at sixteen, and then he spent more than one thousand days waiting for a trial that never happened.6 Targeting District Attorneys to end money bail can bring us one step closer to winning justice for Black people. We can hold District Attorney-Elect Gonzales uniquely accountable in a way that we weren’t able to after Sandra, Kalief, and Janice died.
District Attorney-Elect Gonzales has laid out his belief that the current bail system needs change, and it's up to us to hold him to that truth.
Until justice is real,
Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Erika, Clarise, Marybeth, Madison, Leonard, Siera, Anay, Kristen, Marena, Tamar and the rest of the Color Of Change team
References :
- https://act.colorofchange.org/go/110405?t=8&akid=22728%2E1942551%2EQAcyUZ
- https://act.colorofchange.org/go/110400?t=10&akid=22728%2E1942551%2EQAcyUZ
- https://act.colorofchange.org/go/110406?t=12&akid=22728%2E1942551%2EQAcyUZ
- https://act.colorofchange.org/go/110407?t=14&akid=22728%2E1942551%2EQAcyUZ
- https://act.colorofchange.org/go/110404?t=16&akid=22728%2E1942551%2EQAcyUZ
- https://act.colorofchange.org/go/110408?t=18&akid=22728%2E1942551%2EQAcyUZ
Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.
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