Building the Revolving Fund
After organizing a Mama’s Day Bail Out in May 2018, Roanoke Jail Solidarity decided to launch a wider-ranging and continuous project: the Roanoke Community Bail Fund (RCBF). The idea with this project is to raise a large fund open to anyone locked up in a local jail who can’t afford to pay their bail, and keep it revolving by paying peoples’ bonds in full (instead of using bondspersons who charge less but keep the money) so we get that money back when they go to court.
We started the RCBF in August 2018. A big part of the work was just raising funds, and it took the past 7-8 months to raise close to $3,000. During that time we were also working to let the community know that it’s a thing and to refer incarcerated workers who need bail support to us. We did outreach @ Roanoke City Jail a few times/month during visitation days & times, posted RCBF flyers up in corner stores, and promoted online. Our first referrals weren’t until December 2018 and they were 3 persons locked up in Western Regional who contacted our phone # but whose bonds were all $5,000+, which we didn’t have the funds to help. In May 2019 we did a full search on RCJ’s inmate database looking for persons who had bonds less than $2,500, and though we found around 20 people we unfortunately ended up not being able to connect with them in a timely fashion due to our small capacity of organizers, whom are involved in a number of other projects.
Freeing the First Person!
In mid-June 2019 we were contacted by organizers with the Virginia Harm Reduction Coalition who referred the partner (S) of someone locked up (B) with a $2,500 bond in RCJ. We reached out to the partner and she confirmed that he would like to be bailed out and they can’t afford to pay his bond. Since we didn’t have other bail fund requests we decided to move forward with it, and on Friday (6.21.19) around 4pm one of us met her @ RCJ and paid his bond there in full. About 15 minutes after paying a deputy came outside and told us that B had a 2nd bond for $2,000 that was revoked (originally paid by a bondsperson then that bondsperson took their money back) in Roanoke County Jail, and as such wouldn’t be released but transferred there unless we paid it. So we called friends to see if anyone could kick in, and S ended up even having to return some household items to a store she recently purchased to round up at least 10% of that to pay a bondsperson for that 2nd bond so he could get out of jail. So after a few hours of that, around 8pm we called a bondsperson who came to RCJ to pay B’s 2nd bond. And around 9pm B finally walked out the doors of the city jail!
Once free, B gave S a big hug and thanked the 2 of us from RJS who were there. He told us he’s homeless and didn’t have a phone, and S was staying in a motel at the time. He was charged with “receiving stolen property” and his court date was on 7.8.19. We told him the main thing we ask of folks who use the RCBF is to make it to their court date so that we get the bond money back for someone else to use, and to let us know somehow if he needs a ride to it. Due to his circumstances we weren’t able to stay in touch. The day after his court date we called the court clerk and asked about getting the bond money back. After being put on hold for about 10 minutes they told us his case had been dismissed and asked where we wanted our $2,500 mailed back to!
Reflections
So our first bail out was a success and the Roanoke Community Bail Fund is now officially revolving! The main things we learned from this first experience, which we’ll do in future bail outs, are:
- Communicate directly with the person who needs bail support at least once, not just their loved one
- Ask the magistrate if a person has other bonds elsewhere before paying bond
Join Us!
The biggest lesson, though, is that the bail fund works! We are now operational and want to turn our focus to increasing our capacity so we can free more people. If you or someone you know is locked up in a Roanoke area jail and can’t afford to pay their bond reach out to us: roajailsol@protonmail.com. As of right now our funds are still very limited so please share the RCBF fundraiser page and kick in if you can! And most importantly we always need more volunteers and organizers in Roanoke Jail Solidarity, as our power is in numbers. Catch y’all on the next revolution.
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