THE HIDDEN COSTS OF MAKING BAIL

FROM AN early age, I saw with my own eyes how money bail could hurt Black communities. I remember when I was growing up, a call would come about my uncle John, who had been arrested for something or other, and my parents would have to decide how to put together the money for bail and figure out how to support and get food to my uncle’s partner and my cousins, who at that time were living in a house that did not have electricity.

But my parents also had their own bills,