There is no one “right” way to set up a legal defense fund or rapid response bail fund, and these definitions can be fluid depending on the needs of your local community. Historically, legal activists have employed a variety of approaches when creating and operating these funds, often specific to political circumstances and differences in local legal systems. This document, developed by the National Bail Fund Network and the National Lawyers Guild, provides an overview of some of the best practices distilled from decades of legal defense fund experiences.
Read More
There is no one right way to start a bail fund. This document is intended for organizers, legal advocates, and organizations contemplating starting a bail fund as an intervention in the criminal legal and/or immigration detention systems
Read More
As community bail and bond funds, we are fighting to abolish detention in all of its forms and for all individuals. In times of crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, we uplift our call to #FreeThemAll with more urgency than ever. There are local and state-specific responses to the current COVID-19 crisis, many with specific calls to release individuals in local jails, prisons, and ICE detention. We hope this is an additional resource for community bail and bond funds to support and amplify efforts to release as many people as possible.
Read More
The guide provides an analysis on the use of immigration bond as a limited tactical intervention that organizers use to free as many people as possible from detention, but not a solution (nor a system we are trying to improve) to end immigration detention.
Read More
This resource is a collaboration between Community Justice Exchange and Critical Resistance. It provides guidelines for examining pretrial reforms from an abolitionist perspective, as well as specific case studies of recent bail reforms from cities and states across the country.
Read More
For guides and training materials on immigration bond funds, email network@communityjusticeexchange.org.
Read More