Every night, there are 450,000 human beings awaiting trial in U.S. jail cells solely because they cannot make a payment. We challenge wealth-based detention and promote anti-carceral alternatives to human caging that are less restrictive, more effective, and grounded in holistic community engagement and empowerment. Our work has freed tens of thousands of people from jail cells, helped to elevate the issue of money bail into the popular consciousness, and is setting precedent that will forever change the bail-setting process in the United States
In February 2018, the Atlanta City Council voted to end wealth-based detention in Atlanta's Municipal Court as a result of a campaign we led in partnership with Southern Center for Human Rights and Southerners on New Ground.
We are litigating a landmark challenge to the unconstitutional money bail system in Calhoun, Georgia. Our client, Maurice Walker, was jailed for six days solely because he could not pay money bail after arrest for being a pedestrian under the influence.
In January 2018, the California Court of Appeal granted a writ of habeas corpus to our client, 63-year-old Kenneth Humphrey and, in the process, wrote a thorough opinion that revolutionizes bail setting in California.
We filed a lawsuit challenging the unconstitutional money bail system in Cook County, Illinois. As a result of this litigation, there are, on average, 1500 fewer people in the Cook County Jail each night.
In August 2017, Civil Rights Corps moved to intervene in a federal class action lawsuit against officials in Cullman County, Alabama who operate an unconstitutional bail system.
In January 2018, Civil Rights Corps sued Dallas County, challenging their policy of detaining impoverished individuals charged with misdemeanors and felonies for days and weeks without ever seeing a judge.
Our challenge to the money bail system in Harris County is the seminal challenge to the assembly line wealth-based detention that pervades local American courts.
We filed two class-action lawsuits against the City of Houston and Harris County, Texas, for illegally detaining thousands of people every year for extended time periods after arrest in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
In June 2017, Civil Rights Corps filed a federal class action lawsuit challenging the unconstitutional money bail system in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. Our client, Edward Little, lives on a farm with his family in Carencro, Louisiana.
Working closely with the Clark County Public Defender’s Office, Civil Rights Corps is challenging Nevada’s use of money bail without consideration of a person’s ability to pay.
Civil Rights Corps is supporting partners in Ohio to pursue bail reform, starting with a court rule that could change how Ohio sets bail.
In 2017, Civil Rights Corps filed a landmark federal class action lawsuit challenging the unconstitutional money bail system in New Orleans. Each of our clients was jailed because she could not afford to pay a money bond after her arrest.
In May 2017, Civil Rights Corps filed a federal class action lawsuit challenging the unconstitutional money bail system in Randolph County, Alabama.
In January 2019, Civil Rights Corps joined a lawsuit challenging the unconstitutional money bail system in St. Louis, Missouri. This lawsuit was filed in partnership with ArchCity Defenders, the Advancement Project, and the Georgetown Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP).