Group crafts strategy for taking on money bail system in Shelby County

Wayne Risher | Memphis Commercial Appeal

Frank Johnson spent three days in a Georgia jail for a traffic violation because he couldn’t come up with $2,000 bail. When his case got to court, Johnson said, the judge said he never should have been jailed to begin with and released him without bail.

“People need to understand what is happening to them. We have an unfair system and I’ve been victimized by it. We’re getting arrested for petty things. It’s a predatory system, and it preys on poor, black and brown people,” Johnson said.

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For Johnson, a teacher and member of Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church in Whitehaven, an End Money Bail Community Town Hall Sunday was personal.

He was one of more than 40 advocates of bail system reforms who turned out, including members of the official Black Lives Matter Memphis Chapter, Memphis Community Bail Fund, Just City and Mid-South Peace and Justice Center.

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Erica Perry, an organizer of the meeting at Abyssinian, said it will take a change in Tennessee state law to eliminate money bail for misdemeanors. But the group believes there are steps the Shelby County Commission can take to make the system less punitive for local residents.

The Memphis effort is part of a national campaign to end the practice of jailing people for minor offenses simply because they can’t afford bail.

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“We’re having conversations with people in Nashville and the rest of the state about what we can do in the next phase of this as we go statewide,” Perry said.

“While there isn’t much that we can do to end the use of bail for misdemeanors as far as the law or statute is concerned, what we can do is pressure the district attorney and judges to actually reduce the use of money bail,” Perry said.

A proposed four-point resolution asks the commission and judicial officers to institute policies that reduce the use of money bail. “The district attorney and judges actually have the discretion to do that,” she said. “They do not have to ask for bail in most cases unless the statute mandates it. They also should stop overcharging people.”

Perry said the resolution also asks the commission to form a task force to look at issues including pre-trial services and risk assessment tools that are used to determine whether and how much bail is reasonable; to decriminalize county offenses that carry the possibility of arrest or incarceration, such as traffic offenses, trespassing and vandalism; and to allocate $50,000 a year to the Memphis Community Bail Fund “until meaningful bail reform takes place.”

Perry said an average of 230 people a month are jailed in Shelby County because they can’t afford to pay a $500 bond. She said based on county government’s average daily cost of operating correctional facilities, the county spends about $2 million a year to keep this group in jail.

Perry drew a comparison between separation of families by America’s immigration policies and separation by money bail, which prevents the jailed individuals from supporting their families and raising their children.

“Pre-trial detention and money bail separates our families. It is our work to unite families,” Perry said.

Perry led the group through exercises such as defining safety and describing what a safe community represents to them.

Having a voice in decisions affecting the community, not harming people for the simple fact that they’re different and neighbors looking out for one another, were among the responses.

“I didn’t hear one person mention cages keep them safe,” Perry said. “We’re saying...our people are in cages, we want to get them out.”

Reach reporter Wayne Risher at (901) 529-2874 or wayne.risher@commercialappeal.com.