Toby Sells
Shahida Jones (left), and Erica Perry (right) speak about the Mama’s Day Bail Out campaign ahead of Mother’s Day.
Six Memphis mothers will get a trip just in time for this Mother’s Day weekend, a trip out of jail.
The Official Black Lives Matter Memphis Chapter (BLMMC) group has sprung 30 people from jails here since 2017, posting bail for them when they couldn’t afford it. In those years, they’ve hosted two “Mama’s Day Bail Out” events, making bail payments for local, black mothers and caregivers.
“We wanted to make sure they can be home with their families for Mother’s Day so they can be celebrated and loved on,” said Erica Perry, an organizer with BLMMC, said during a news conference Thursday. “We also wanted to bring awareness to the true injustice of money bail and pre-trial detention.”
BLMMC limited bail payments for the Mama’s Day event up to $10,000 each. The group raised money and awareness over the last month for the campaign. (Donate here.) Shahida Jones, a BLMMC organizer, said they have about $30,000 they can spend during this year’s Mother’s Day event.
‘Mama’s Day Bail Out’ Part of Strategy to End Money Bail, Pre-Trial Detention
The group paid bail for mothers Wednesday, Perry said. It was $100. But last year, Jones said, they had a special case outside the Mother’s Day Event. A 16-year-old girl was being held and the group raised an additional $60,000 to get her out of jail.
But Jones said her group provides help even outside the jail.
“(Our donations) go to help pay bail but they also go to provide supportive services,” Jones said. “That includes things like housing and transportation, food, whatever they need to make sure they are healthy and whole and that they can move forward.”
“We also wanted to bring awareness to the true injustice of money bail and pre-trial detention.”
Perry said the move was a part of an overall strategy to end money bail and pre-trial detention here. Perry said about 2,800 people sit in Shelby County jails now, many of them waiting for their trials and can’t get out “simply because they cannot afford to pay their bail.” Nearly $80 million is spent annually to hold people in jail here and “that’s just far too much money.” She suggested that $80 million be invested in community programs like education, housing, and more.
“That’s what our Mama’s Day Bail Out is about,” Perry said. “It’s about highlighting how many people are in jail. These people are our mothers, our sisters, our family members, people who take care of us, people who take their children to school. When they’re held in jail because they can’t afford to pay bail, they’re children miss school, they miss doctor’s appointments, they get fired from their jobs because they can’t call into or out of work.”
Perry said BLMMC is now working with members of the Shelby County Commission to create a task force to review local policies on bail and pre-trial detention.
