Inside Georgia’s Crusade to Make Bail Unpayable
In early May, Georgia lawmakers
celebrated the passage of the state’s latest weapon to criminalize protest: making bail unpayable.
Community bail funds, which have
served as an important mutual aid strategy for Black communities and racial justice activists, are now functionally
illegal in Georgia. The new law expands the cash bail system by making close to 30 offenses, including protest-related charges like unlawful assembly, bail ineligible. It also makes obtaining bail through anyone other than for-profit bond agents, who turn a profit by
extracting hefty fines and fees from desperate clients, almost impossible. As of July 1, anyone —be it a mother, uncle, church, or nonprofit—who tries to bail more than three people out a year will risk being charged with a misdemeanor.
Rather than address its deadly jail system or predatory bail industry, the state has made mutual aid the enemy.
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