Poverty Is Not a Crime.
A Path to Freedom
from the
Cash Bail Nightmare
The NWA Hummingbird Project
Offers a Way Out of Jail
In Service of Justice
Fayetteville, Arkansas | 6 November 2024
Innocent until proven guilty is a bedrock of USA criminal justice — our Ozark Highlands community included.
Advantages afforded the well-to-do — citizens all — rattle our bedrock of Justice, breaking-out some who have the cash to walk away free until trial date
while The Others
are locked away
in county jail
because they’re cash-poor and can't buy their way out.
Criminal Justice, especially as it relates to Arkansas's cash-bond requirements, inspired a dozen activists and advocates to gather
on a mild Thursday evening [ 24 October ]
under guidance of the
Arkansas Justice Reform Coaliton.
They gathered in a friendly space
at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church
— not far from the County Courthouse —
to learn about:
The NWA Hummingbird Project
:
a liberating,
fresh and precious embrace
of an essential
&
utterly civic Social Contract:
Equality Under the Law.
NOTE:
Hence we shall refer to the
Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition
with the initials
A J R C.
The Other OZ
is an independent entity
and enthusiastic advocate
of The Coalition's good work for The Other.
In the hands of a predatory system, presumed innocence becomes virtually meaningless to a citizen without available cash to bond out of jail before their day in court.
So,
in flies The Hummingbird,
a resident Better Angel
of the A J R C
— ready 'n able to Pay Cash Bail
and wipe away onerous pretrial detention
for The Oppressed Others
&
to quote Fernando Garcia,
the Pretrial Release Advocate at the Coalition:
“Those who are free to fight their case out of jail have better case outcomes. Their lives continue with their jobs and back with their families.”
While waiting for all to arrive at Saint Paul's, four friends sat ’round a table, crafting Christmas cards to be delivered to the Washington County Jail when the season arrives — and chatting about solutions to Criminal Justice issues in Northwest Arkansas.
Projected on a wall of the room:
an image of Lady Justice with text overlaid:
The Impact of Cash Bail.
One advocate told about how correspondence from the outside to men and women behind bars is first scanned, then shared electronically for the prisoner to view on a little flat screen.
“People who are incarcerated cannot hold with their hands either paper or envelope,” one said. The one-dimensional universe prevails.
Coalition Executive Director Sarah Moore, Program Director Gracie Furman, and activist Kat Williams helped Mr. Garcia inform the handful of curious visitors about options for loved ones now in jail and unable to bail-out.
“Every day that a person is stuck in jail deepens inequality and poverty,” Mr. Garcia said.
A J R C 's Hummingbird Project has paid bail for 16 people previously trapped behind bars in either the Washington County Jail or the Benton County Jail.
These fellow travelers, some mothers, some fathers, are now able to nurture their family and make a living in the free world while they deal with their legal problems.
Money raised from the community support Hummingbird & allow A J R C to pay 100 percent of the bail bond directly to the court at no cost to the defendant.
When the defendant satisfies their obligations to the court, the money is returned to the Hummingbird account. Then another of The Innocent Until Proven Guilty can be set free.
Administrative costs to help the free flying & resilient Hummingbird stay airborne and ready to serve? Zero.
END NOTE:
Our text mentions The Oppressed Others.
To further amplify the term, we quote a statement from a Hummingbird Project info card:
“ Pretrial detention and cash bail punish poor people, especially people from oppressed groups such as Black, Brown, Native, and LGBTQ+ people. ”
In Solidarity
The Other OZ Stands
We invite you to The Other OZ landing page on the World Wide Web.
Woven throughout & ending with The Hand Of Glory is the ever-changing draft of a Manifesto for Universal Justice
& also
text and graphics about Social Justice issues, activists, and coalitions.
As forever, we are a work in progress. Here is the hyperlink: