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[Bounceounce]

Jay Z pens Time Op-Ed and will be bailing out father's for Father's Day.

http://time.com/4821547/jay-z-racism-bail-bonds/

Seventeen years ago I made a song, "Guilty Until Proven Innocent." I flipped the Latin phrase that is considered the bedrock principle of our criminal justice system, ei incumbit probatio qui dicit (the burden of proof is on the one who declares, not on one who denies). If you're from neighborhoods like the Brooklyn one I grew up in, if you're unable to afford a private attorney, then you can be disappeared into our jail system simply because you can't afford bail. Millions of people are separated from their families for months at a time — not because they are convicted of committing a crime, but because they are accused of committing a crime.
Scholars like Ruthie Gilmore, filmmakers like Ava Duvernay, and formerly incarcerated people like Glenn Martin have all done work to expose the many injustices of the industry of our prison system. Gilmore's pioneering book, The Golden Gulag, Duvernay's documentary 13th and Martin's campaign to close Rikers focus on the socioeconomic, constitutional and racially driven practices and polices that make the U.S. the most incarcerated nation in the world.

But when I helped produce this year's docuseries, Time: The Kalief Browder Story, I became obsessed with the injustice of the profitable bail bond industry. Kalief's family was too poor to post bond when he was accused of stealing a backpack. He was sentenced to a kind of purgatory before he ever went to trial. The three years he spent in solitary confinement on Rikers ultimately created irreversible damage that lead to his death at 22. Sandra Bland was also forced to post bail after her minor traffic infraction in Prairie View, Texas, led to a false charge of assaulting a public servant (the officer who arrested her was later charged with perjury regarding the arrest). She was placed in a local jail in a pre-incarcerated state. Again, she was never convicted of a crime. On any given day over 400,000 people, convicted of no crime, are held in jail because they cannot afford to buy their freedom.

When black and brown people are over-policed and arrested and accused of crimes at higher rates than others, and then forced to pay for their freedom before they ever see trial, big bail companies prosper. This pre-incarceration conundrum is devastating to families. One in 9 black children has an incarcerated parent. Families are forced to take on more debt, often in predatory lending schemes created by bail bond insurers. Or their loved ones linger in jails, sometimes for months—a consequence of nationwide backlogs. Every year $9 billion dollars are wasted incarcerating people who've not been convicted of a crime, and insurance companies, who have taken over our bail system, go to the bank. Last month for Mother's Day, organizations like Southerners on New Ground and Color of Change did a major fundraising drive to bail out 100 mothers for Mother's Day. Color of Change's exposè on the for-profit bail industry provides deeper strategy behind this smart and inspiring action. This Father's Day, I'm supporting those same organizations to bail out fathers who can't afford the due process our democracy promises. As a father with a growing family, it's the least I can do, but philanthropy is not a long fix, we have to get rid of these inhumane practices altogether. We can't fix our broken criminal justice system until we take on the exploitative bail industry.

 

[Byakuya769]

Good shit, Hov!

 

[effzee]

GOAT

 

[The Faceless Master]

this is pretty good!

it's a really nice thing to do and to make more people aware of.

however, we should not let this culturally relevant op-ed distract us from the fact that Nas won.

 

[Toa TAK]

Holy shit

That's awesome

 

[Japanmanx3]

Super dope!!

 

[HStallion]

this is pretty good!

it's a really nice thing to do and to make more people aware of.

however, we should not let this culturally relevant op-ed distract us from the fact that Nas won.

In reality Dre is the one who came out on top of them all.

Seriously though, that's putting your money and clout to some good fucking use.

 

[Face it Tiger..]

HOVY BABY

however, we should not let this culturally relevant op-ed distract us from the fact that Nas won.

Not this time, Philanthropically.

 

[Dynomutt]

What more can he say?

 

[Trojita]

Good shit

Not this time, Philanthropically.

Hasn't Nas been working in his community for years/decades?

 

[Toparaman]

Good on Hov. Glad he also acknowledged that philanthropy alone is not enough to fix the problem.

Spoiler

How does OP not have a tag for all his Jay-Z stanning though.

 

[Bounceounce]

Good shit



Hasn't Nas been working in his community for years/decades?

He has and should receive credit for it, this isn't a competition.
Life has just worked out to where Jay's name and reach has extra weight in non-rap related avenues, it's really amazing how he's positioned himself to where he is currently.

 

[Angelus Errare]

Nothing but respect.

 

[Black Republican]

Good on Hov. Glad he also acknowledged that philanthropy alone is not enough to fix the problem.

Spoiler

How does OP not have a tag for all his Jay-Z stanning though.

heh

 

[Dusk Soldier]

I don't understand. Do they keep bail in the US?

That's crazy if so.

Or is he just saying they post it at unreasonably high rates?

 

[Bounceounce]

Good on Hov. Glad he also acknowledged that philanthropy alone is not enough to fix the problem.

Spoiler

How does OP not have a tag for all his Jay-Z stanning though.

A lot of people have this misconception that celebrities can just pour money into areas of trouble and that it'll repair the structure issues when in reality that ends up being a money drain, movement from the people and politicians is required, like with the long and now successful fight to close Rikers which Jay was involved in after his first meeting with Kalief Browder, that wouldn't have been solved by any wealthy celebrity just jumping in to advocate for something, its a long process.
Same as when Jay went and bailed out all of those protesters/rioters, it's just a small safety net to a larger issue.

 

[IrishNinja]

Hov has kinda lowkey (if you're not paying attention) been a charitable dude for a while now, but i haven't known him to be the type to flaunt that - him coming front & center on an important issue like this (especially now) is really dope as fuck of him.

 

[Face it Tiger..]

Good shit



Hasn't Nas been working in his community for years/decades?

is he bailing out folks for father's day?

this ain't a competition, it's just what Hov is doin' today.

 

[shoelacer]

Hov has kinda lowkey (if you're not paying attention) been a charitable dude for a while now, but i haven't known him to be the type to flaunt that - him coming front & center on an important issue like this (especially now) is really dope as fuck of him.

Dream Hampton has said that he specifically tries to keep his name out of causes he donates to. I think it was mentioned in the same interview where she talks about him bailing out protesters.

 

[Hackworth]

Nice work.

 

[cameron]

I don't understand. Do they keep bail in the US?

That's crazy if so.

Or is he just saying they post it at unreasonably high rates?

They don't keep the bail amount, but the premium / compensation charged by the bail bond company can be high, like 10% of the bail amount + fees. Those living in poverty can't always afford that, so they sit in jail waiting for their trial.

 

[Apt101]

When I was 18 I got put in the "drunk tank". Luckily I was the only one in there that night. I had the money I needed in the bank (they set a really, really low bail - miraculously) but I wasn't allowed to pay it myself. So I had to wait all night and most of the next day while a friend accessed my money for me.

So that's another way they screw you. And it was never made clear to why I couldn't just be escorted to my car which was nearby (we were partying downtown, less than a 5 min walk from the jail) and write them a check.

 

[siddx]

Hov has kinda lowkey (if you're not paying attention) been a charitable dude for a while now, but i haven't known him to be the type to flaunt that - him coming front & center on an important issue like this (especially now) is really dope as fuck of him.

Yeah I always appreciated the fact he didn't flaunt it, he is happy to stay low key and just do his thing. Hov won in the end.

 

[LQX]

Lets hope he does some thorough vetting of these men he plan on bailing out so he does not bail out women beaters and other individuals where their family and the general public are far better off with them not being able to meet bail. Not all these guys will be a Kalief Browder.

 

[DiscoJer]

I don't understand. Do they keep bail in the US?

That's crazy if so.

Or is he just saying they post it at unreasonably high rates?

There are basically three problems.

Firstly, both the poor and the blacks are usually given higher bail amounts. if you have a business, good job, ties to the community, etc, etc etc, you get a low (or sometimes no) bail. If you have a low paying job or are unemployed, you are deemed to have no ties and are a flight risk, so you get a higher bail.

Secondly, most people don't have much in the way of savings in the US, so they have to go to bail bonds companies. They charge 10% of the bail and they keep that 10%

Thirdly, it can take a long time, years even, for a case to go to trial.

So essentially you have a system where people either have to spend years in jail waiting for trial (and if they are acquitted, they don't get any restitution for being jailed) or pay a bail bond company a lot of money (which again, isn't refunded if the person is acquitted).

In theory, the right to a speedy trial is in the constitution, but in practice, prosecutors have way too much power, they just ask to delay a trail and the judge always agrees. Though often when years go by, no one (except the person jailed) even remembers or cares anymore and it ends up an acquittal.

 

[Don Draper's Hat]

Jay Z's a good egg.

I've never heard of this Kalief Browder story before. So he got arrested for apparently stealing a bag, was never properly charged but had to spend 3 years in police custody?

Would you even get that long if you were convicted of such a crime?

What the fuck is this?

 

[DiscoJer]

Lets hope he does some thorough vetting of these men he plan on bailing out so he does not bail out women beaters and other individuals where their family and the general public are far better off with them not being able to meet bail. Not all these guys will be a Kalief Browder.

The thing is though, that's the whole point of having a trial in the first place. To determine if a person is guilty or not.

What we have now is a person's tentative guilt is being judged by how much money he has. If he can post bail, he can walk the streets. If he can't, he's a dangerous criminal and must be locked up.

Does that make even a lick of sense?

 

[Bounceounce]

Jay Z's a good egg.

I've never heard of this Kalief Browder story before. So he got arrested for apparently stealing a bag, was never properly charged but had to spend 3 years in police custody?

Would you even get that long if you were convicted of such a crime?

What the fuck is this?

I recommend watching the docu-series produced on his story, it's very sad but necessary and incredible.

 

[LQX]

The thing is though, that's the whole point of having a trial in the first place. To determine if a person is guilty or not.

What we have now is a person's tentative guilt is being judged by how much money he has. If he can post bail, he can walk the streets. If he can't, he's a dangerous criminal and must be locked up.

Does that make even a lick of sense?

No, not really in this case. If you are going to start some goodwill initiative to bail out men across the country you better be damn sure it is not for a violent crime like domestic violence. The optics on that is not good, no matter how try to frame it. If he cant make bail so be it. Let it play out. Do not put that man back in house with the people that most likley called to have him taken out of it in the first place.

 

[Acorn]

Good shit Jay, I like this more socially conscious Jigga. Keep it up.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Lets hope he does some thorough vetting of these men he plan on bailing out so he does not bail out women beaters and other individuals where their family and the general public are far better off with them not being able to meet bail. Not all these guys will be a Kalief Browder.

Do you honestly think they're just going to post bail for 100 random people? Get a grip. Read the organization's manifesto and tell me if they sound like they're about to unleash 100 domestic abusers back into the world.

 

[IrishNinja]

Yeah I always appreciated the fact he didn't flaunt it, he is happy to stay low key and just do his thing. Hov won in the end.

he definitely won at life, great dude

Spoiler

nas won the battle and those are the facts forever

No, not really in this case. If you are going to start some goodwill initiative to bail out men across the country you better be damn sure it is not for a violent crime like domestic violence. The optics on that is not good, no matter how try to frame it. If he cant make bail so be it. Let it play out. Do not put that man back in house with the people that most likley called to have him taken out of it in the first place.

yeah they prolly just picked the first 100 dudes they found, no doubt

 

[theignoramus]

RNS.

 

[theignoramus]

Lets hope he does some thorough vetting of these men he plan on bailing out so he does not bail out women beaters and other individuals where their family and the general public are far better off with them not being able to meet bail. Not all these guys will be a Kalief Browder.

I don't give two shits about the type of person he bails out. The justice system locks up all kinds of brothers who don't deserve it, don't talk to me about who deserves what and how shit might be unfair.

 

[Dusk Soldier]

There are basically three problems.

Firstly, both the poor and the blacks are usually given higher bail amounts. if you have a business, good job, ties to the community, etc, etc etc, you get a low (or sometimes no) bail. If you have a low paying job or are unemployed, you are deemed to have no ties and are a flight risk, so you get a higher bail.

Secondly, most people don't have much in the way of savings in the US, so they have to go to bail bonds companies. They charge 10% of the bail and they keep that 10%

Thirdly, it can take a long time, years even, for a case to go to trial.

So essentially you have a system where people either have to spend years in jail waiting for trial (and if they are acquitted, they don't get any restitution for being jailed) or pay a bail bond company a lot of money (which again, isn't refunded if the person is acquitted).

In theory, the right to a speedy trial is in the constitution, but in practice, prosecutors have way too much power, they just ask to delay a trail and the judge always agrees. Though often when years go by, no one (except the person jailed) even remembers or cares anymore and it ends up an acquittal.

Oh so there are companies that will pay bail on behalf of the accused. That makes sense thank you. I confused why he was using the word industry since bail is just collateral.

I wonder if it's caused a chicken/egg situation where courts know they can use bail bond companies so they set the bail amounts higher and higher over time to factor that in.

 

[Fuchsdh]

The thing is though, that's the whole point of having a trial in the first place. To determine if a person is guilty or not.

What we have now is a person's tentative guilt is being judged by how much money he has. If he can post bail, he can walk the streets. If he can't, he's a dangerous criminal and must be locked up.

Does that make even a lick of sense?

It makes sense given the current situation. You have to have some sort of method of ensuring defendants show up, lockup or an amount of money they forfeit by running are effective methods. There's obviously very few ways of "knowing" whether someone should be released from custody or not in many circumstances, because guilt has not been established.

If there's a problem to focus on here, I don't think it's bail at all, but the fact that courts are not funded and staffed appropriately so that speedy trials are possible in most instances where they are desired.

 

[StrangeRoboMemory]

Interesting and thoughtful...introduced me to a few things that I hadn't thought about before.