#225 Chicago Community Bond Fund: Hacking Cook County Jail

This week, we’ll be hearing about a different kind of civic hacking.

In Cook County Jail, more than 95% of the 8,000 people incarcerated on any given day are awaiting trial and have not been convicted of a crime. More than two-thirds of those people have money bonds that they simply cannot pay. We are keeping people in cages simply because they are poor.

In the last 10 months, the Chicago Community Bond Fund has posted more than $180,000 in bonds to free 35 people from Cook County Jail, whose charges ranged from retail theft to first degree murder.

Chicago Community Bond Fund collective members Micah Gates and Sharlyn Grace will discuss how they are working to end pre-trial detention by posting bond for people who cannot pay it themselves, and advocating for the abolition of monetary bonds entirely. They’ll also talk about how technology has played a crucial role in their work and some of the people they’ve helped get out of jail.