What is The Dollar Bail Brigade?

Due to the NYC criminal system’s dehumanizing bureaucracy, people are incarcerated all the time in New York for just $1. Even if the accused person can afford it, they are not given the opportunity to pay their own bail and may not even know about it until they've waited days or weeks for their court date..



That's how harmful the money bail system is.



The Dollar Bail Brigade is a coalition of volunteers who pay their fellow New Yorkers' $1 bails in their spare time. The DBB advocates for the abolition of money bail, pretrial detention, and the prison-industrial complex.

How does The Dollar Bail Brigade work?

1. Every month, you sign up for on-duty hours on our shift calendar,

based on your availability.

2. When we learn that a person is in jail for a $1 bail during your shift, we email you.

3. If you’re free to help out, we give you the required information about the person you’re bailing out and our guide on how to post bail.

4. You commute to whichever NYC jail is closest to you, fill out that information, and pay the $1 bail. After you post bail, you submit this form to help us gather data from your experience and hear your $1 bail story.

5. A human being is released from a cage.