Tell Nashville Judges and Magistrates: Stop Keeping People in Cages Because They Cannot Afford to Buy Their Freedom!
Most people sitting in Davidson County jails are waiting to go to trial; they have been accused but have not yet been convicted of any crime. People who have money and are waiting to go to trial can buy their freedom by paying the bail set for them by a judge, while hundreds of people who can't afford bail must languish behind bars. While Black people make up 27% of Davidson County’s population, they make up over 60% of the Davidson County pre-trial jail population. Today, SONG Nashville and other community members held a press conference to release a report from their observations of bail hearings followed by a march to deliver the report to the chief night court magistrate and presiding general session judge.
Through court-watching and Black Mama’s Bail Out Actions, SONG Nashville members have witnessed firsthand the devastating impacts of the money bail system. We have seen people in the Davidson County jail facilities unable to buy their freedom for amounts as little as $150, including a woman in her seventies who was arrested for trespassing for refusing to leave a hospital. The average stay in a Davidson County jail is over three weeks, but for many it can last much longer. Some who have bails amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars are often detained pre-trial for years.
In response to the crisis of the continued practice of money bail in Nashville, SONG organizers demand that judges and magistrates stop keeping people in cages because they cannot afford to buy their freedom and put an end to the practice of money bail and pretrial detention in their city.
We, the undersigned, demand:
- Presiding General Sessions Judge Lynda Jones and current Chief Night Court Magistrate John Manson work with members of our community who are impacted by this crisis of money bail in order to create bail reform measures that work towards decarceration and an end to pre-trial detention
- Judges and magistrate release the most amount of people possible without paying bail and without restrictions.
- Judges make greater use of community-based alternatives to both bail and pre-trial detention and significantly reduce their reliance on problematic risk assessment tools and costly electronic monitoring devices
- Community members have adequate defense counsel at all bail related hearings
Sign the petition to ensure the judges in Nashville meet SONG's demands which will enable people awaiting trial to go to work, to care for their children, and to prepare for court at home with their families.
Money should not determine a person's freedom, and we need to eliminate the use of money bail in our community.
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