Michigan Solidarity Bail Fund

Overview

The Michigan Solidarity Bail Fund is a project developed in the aftermath of the mobilization against white supremacists in Lansing in March 2018, when people from around the country generously donated to support those who had been arrested in defense of their communities. Since the spring of 2020 and the George Floyd Rebellion, we have been operating as a revolving bail fund. As of August 2023, we have bailed out more than 250 people in 14 counties across the Mitten.

In line with the bail fund’s original goals, we stand with those who put their bodies on the line in struggles for liberation and radical change. As much as possible, we also aim to bail out people whose charges may be less obviously political but who are still targeted by an oppressive and racist cash bail system. You can read more about us below, or donate (thank you!) by clicking the button above. We encourage anyone looking for support with pretrial detention to contact us at michigansolidaritybailfund [at] protonmail [dot] com or michbailfund [at] gmail [dot] com.

Bail Assistance

The Michigan Solidarity Bail Fund (MSBF) is a “revolving fund” that is intended to support people who have been arrested, charged with a crime, and held on cash bail. Bail money is returned once a case is concluded as long as the person charged appears at their court dates, which means that ideally the same money can be reused later on to bail someone else out.

Commercial bond companies will charge you a percentage of the bond (usually 10%) as a fee in exchange for posting the full amount. In contrast, we don’t charge a fee and simply post the full amount ourselves. We do this because we aren’t trying to profit from this system, but to end it.

Due to external constraints (like the availability of funds and the turnover time of the legal process), we may find ourselves in a situation where we have to make choices with limited resources. Borrowing from and building on other bail funds around the country, we have developed the following criteria to guide these decisions about who to assist. Although there is no clear formula for making these difficult if not impossible decisions, we will weigh these interactive factors as best we can to determine our capacity to support those who request bail assistance. In developing these criteria, we have borrowed from and built on the foundational work of other similar projects around the country, especially in Chicago, Atlanta, and Oakland.

Logistics

• Amount of bond
• Charges
• Court location/travel needs

Infrastructure/support

• Ability to pay bond, including access to family or community resources
• Support system, such as assistance making court dates
• Willingness to assist with raising money to cover any anticipated court costs, fines, or fees

Vulnerabilities

• Risk of victimization in jail, including but not limited to gender, sexuality, race, disability, age, etc.
• Health needs, such as pregnancy, chronic medical conditions, or ongoing mental health treatment
• Immigration status and potential immigration consequences of detention or criminal conviction
• Dependents or other family members who may be exposed to harm, including risk of custody loss or Children’s Protective Services (CPS) involvement
• Potential impact of detention on applicant’s employment, housing, education, and/or custodial rights

Politics

• Political character of arrest and charges, and possible implications within the broader political context
• Referral from trusted comrades/organizations

 

Our Story

The Michigan Solidarity Bail Fund originated in the aftermath of March 5th, 2018, when an antifascist coalition shut down a planned white nationalist speaking event on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing. Fascists had billed March 5th as their next step forward after the previous summer’s bloodshed in Charlottesville. Instead it marked the decisive end to a wave of public organizing for the alt-right. This community victory over racist street organizing was secured through the hard work and coordination of countless people from around the state, the region, and the country, but it came at the cost of multiple arrests. Following a predictable pattern, police targeted those who had come out to defend themselves and their neighbors, charging several with felonies and detaining them in unsafe conditions for more than 24 hours.

Comrades scrambled to raise the necessary bail funds and to navigate the process of getting the antifascist arrestees out of jail. Generous support, monetary and otherwise, flowed in from many directions and persisted for months until all the legal cases were resolved.

We showed up for each other, and we got through it. As members of the coalition who organized to defend Lansing against a resurgent far right, we continue to draw inspiration from this show of solidarity and collective power. And we want to carry the same spirit forward in resisting structural violence that harms members of our communities every day. We recognize deep connections between the fight against emergent fascism and the struggle to abolish an existing carceral order where pre-trial detention serves to criminalize poverty, to punish vulnerability, and to extend the traumas of white supremacy. The hustling required in the wake of March 5th to raise the necessary funds and to learn how to interface with the unforgiving state bureaucracy also highlights a need for bail infrastructure within our movements and our communities.

Whether arrests take place at public demonstrations or in everyday spaces subject to state surveillance and violence, the same oppressive systems are at work. On March 5th we won an amazing victory against those forces together. Now, by taking small but concrete steps to empty Michigan’s cages, we’ll keep building toward the world we want to see.