PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A troop of women in red took over the City Hall courtyard Tuesday afternoon to rally for an end to Philadelphia's cash bail system, and for some, it was a day of celebration.
Veronica Rex says she sat in prison for 90 days because she couldn't afford 10% of her $50,000 bond.
"Had my daughter not made contact with the
Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, I would've actually been still incarcerated at the time my son was murdered," Rex said.
BREAKING: So far, we’ve freed 90 mamas in 34 cities and we’re not finished!Black love has been getting our people out of cages all week!Please continue to contribute as we free more mamas and provide supportive services https://t.co/m0ObHO2pPL #FreeBlackMamas
— #FreeBlackMamas (@NationalBailOut)
May 12, 2019 Rex says she got to bury her son, but the time lost couldn't be replaced.
"If they were rich, they would automatically be out anyway. Really, you're saying you don't want these poor people to be out," said Devren Washington, an organizer with the Fund.
Washington says Philadelphia's cash bail system is unfair and further disadvantages poor families and communities, which is why they're fighting to end it as part of the National Bail Out movement, an effort to end pretrial detention and ultimately, mass incarceration.
"And its been working. We've gone from 8,500 people that were held pretrial down to 4,500," Washington added.
