November 23, 2023 • 14 mins
On Thanksgiving Day, we revisit the topic of America's cash bail system and how it unfairly discriminates against poor people and minorities.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Don't. This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast and
I'm your host, ramses Jah, And sometimes the amount of
stories that make their way to us means that we
simply can't cover everything that comes our way. But from
time to time, a story just stays with me and
I feel compelled to share it with you and give
you my thoughts. And now one more thing. If you're
(00:33):
a long time listener of this show, I'm talking long
time listener, I'm talking first second episode that we ever
did here, you might know how we feel about the
cash bail system. Over the past year, we've done two
(00:58):
to three episodes on that topic alone, interviewing a couple
of guests that have a lot to say about that
the cash bail system in this country in short, punishes
the poor, not necessarily the culpable. That is something that
(01:26):
is irrefutable, and I doubt there's anybody that would say
the current system is perfect. The current cash bail system
is perfect, But there are people who feel like the
cash bail system is working well enough, and if we
(01:48):
were to eliminate the cash bail system that things would
get worse around here. We ask the question chest if
it were to get worse it's a big if. Who
would it get worse for? Would it get worse for
(02:14):
the overwhelmingly black and brown people who are unfairly imprisoned
without having seen a judge. Where they lose jobs, they
lose you know, economic opportunities, they lose access, they are
not in a position because of a lack of money
(02:35):
to fight their charges from a position of power. It's
worse for them? Or is it worse for the people
who have been scared into thinking that a bunch of
criminals will then be on the street because we've eliminated
the cash bail system. And I think that's a very
(02:56):
important question today. The reason and I am talking to
you is because of a story that has made headlines
about the Bail Project. The Bail Project is an enterprise
that operates in Las Vegas. They are backed by a
(03:18):
ton of celebrities, John Legend, Danny Glover, and Richard Bronson,
Richard Branson, I believe, to name a few. And the
reason they're in the news is because they bailed out
(03:39):
a suspect who ended up shooting a man, putting the
man in hospital with what are apparently permanent injuries. And
(04:00):
the man in the hospital has now sued the Bail Project,
causing him to go out of business. Now, this is
not about that man suing the Bill Project. Because I
know somebody shot me and I was permanently injured, I'd
probably be doing the same thing. So my issue is
not with him. My issue, however, is with everyone on
(04:27):
in i should say, conservative circles, who has chosen to
weigh in on this story, using this as an example
of why the cash bail system works and why people
should not be able to bail out of jail when
they are accused of a crime. So they're looking at
(04:49):
this instance and saying the cash bail system works, and
I wholly disagree with that. I prefer a system that
does the most good for the most people, not a
system that does the most good for the white people,
(05:11):
not the most good for the rich people, not the
most good for the privileged people, the most good for
the most people without qualifications. That's a more humane way
of looking at things like imprisonment, the criminal justice system.
(05:39):
Think about it. Not all bad people go to jail,
and not all people that are in jail are bad people.
Not all people outside of jail are good people. Right,
what we have is a system that is doing its best,
(05:59):
I suppose, but it's a deeply flawed system, our criminal
justice system, especially if you are black or brown or poor.
In this country, we have a criminal justice system, to
quote Brian Stevenson, that treats you better if you are
(06:21):
rich and guilty then if you are poor and innocent.
And that's exactly what the cash bail system does. So
I'll walk you through. I ramses am accused of a crime.
(06:46):
That crime could be anything, pick tick or pick around here,
we called it being black or nearby black and nearby.
In a lot of instances jokingly we referred to it
as that. But you know, pick your poison, whichever crime
I'm accused of. Right, So I'm arrested and I am confined.
I'm taken to a jail, and this disrupts my entire life.
(07:13):
I cannot work when I'm in jail. I cannot take
care of my family when I'm in jail. I can't
get my son from school when I'm in jail, can't
do anything. And if I can't bail out for some reason,
(07:36):
then it stands to reason that I don't have the
fiscal resources to keep any of those other things going
in my life. As well, So my life falls apart,
and then when I get out, my options are limited. Right,
I may have lost my child. I may have now
(07:58):
been looking for a job and not be able to
get a letter of recommendation from my previous job because
as far as they know, I just stop coming to work,
and on and on. Right, it really messes people's lives up,
poor people. And if I never bail out, I'm not
(08:25):
in a position to, as I mentioned, fight these accusations
from a position of strength. Now. The only reason I'm
using me as an example is because I'm someone that
you may be familiar with. You could very easily imagine
yourself in that situation. People get arrested all the time
for stuff as I have anything to do with them.
(08:46):
People get arrested or simply talking to the police. A
lot of times people will talk to the police and
think that they're helping out or they're clearing their name
or whatever, and it doesn't work that way. There are
ten thousand laws that you could potentially break. It is
their job to know them, it is not yours. So
(09:08):
while you think you're clearing your name of whatever wrongdoing
that you think you're being accused of, you could be
incriminating yourself for something entirely different that you didn't even
know was the lead. Happens all the time. And now
you're arrested, and if you don't have any money, you're
in jail, sitting there, caught in that system. Now what
are you going to do? And so this example that's
(09:35):
been reported in the news suggests that, well, the cash
bail system keeps all of the criminals off of the street.
But in our thought experiment, you know, I'm not a criminal.
I've just been accused of a crime. Neither of you.
If you put yourself in that thought experiment, right, just
been accused and you can't get out, continue to live
(09:59):
your life to court, as is your right to defend
yourself in front of a judge and have a judge here,
your story, present your case. You're stuck. Your life falls
apart while you're in there. Okay, Now, this cash bail
(10:22):
system certainly works if people can bail themselves out. Right,
all right, I'm in jail. I get a bail set
by a judge that I can't afford bail out, and
that's that. But a lot of times black and brown
people get higher bails. This is what we talked about
on the show before. So even if you can afford it,
(10:46):
the impact on your life is something that you are
forced to take notice of, right, And maybe that's the point,
But the data shows that it's not equally distributed across
the criminal justice system with respect to race. And then
(11:12):
this is the thing that blows my mind. If I'm
able to bail out, and I happen to be guilty
and a bad person, I can still go and commit
more crimes. The cash bail system only allows people that
have money to get out and do whatever it is
(11:37):
they want to do, commit more crimes or not. But
it doesn't keep people in prison. And this is the
narrative that's being attempted. They're attempting to chronicle this narrative
that the cash bail system keeps criminals off the streets.
How is that true when you can simply bail out
(11:57):
As far as the Bail Project is concerned, they simply
posted the bail for a man, They posted the bill
for tons of people. One person got out and committed
this crime, right, and then they had to shut down operations.
And I don't think that that's entirely fair, because people
bail out of jail all the time and commit crimes.
(12:20):
They post the bail themselves, go out and commit the crimes.
So again, the cash bail system doesn't keep people off
the streets. It just keeps poor people disproportionately from continuing
to live their lives while they are accused of a crime.
(12:40):
So I will revisit the original idea behind this conversation.
Is the current cash bail system perfect? No? Then, I
don't think anybody would say that it is. In fact,
most people who would say it's far from perfect. But
(13:02):
some people would say that it does work. And I disagree,
holy because I think it works only for people who
have the fiscal resources and for the people who are
scared often enough by conservatives who falsely purport law and
(13:30):
order to be at the center of their party. So
what do you think. Reach out to me, let's talk
about it. They can find me on all social media
at Rams's Jah and of course you can use the
red microphone talk by feature on the iHeartRadio app. I
(13:52):
doubt I'm tripping, but if I am, here's your chance
to let me know. And until you do. This has
been a production of the Black Information Network. Today's show
is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts you'd like
to share, use the red microphone talkback feature on the
iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe
and download all of our episodes. I'm your host ramses
(14:15):
Jah on all social media. Join us tomorrow as we
share our news with our voice from our perspective right
here on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
Don't. This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast and
I'm your host, ramses Jah, And sometimes the amount of
stories that make their way to us means that we
simply can't cover everything that comes our way. But from
time to time, a story just stays with me and
I feel compelled to share it with you and give
you my thoughts. And now one more thing. If you're
(00:33):
a long time listener of this show, I'm talking long
time listener, I'm talking first second episode that we ever
did here, you might know how we feel about the
cash bail system. Over the past year, we've done two
(00:58):
to three episodes on that topic alone, interviewing a couple
of guests that have a lot to say about that
the cash bail system in this country in short, punishes
the poor, not necessarily the culpable. That is something that
(01:26):
is irrefutable, and I doubt there's anybody that would say
the current system is perfect. The current cash bail system
is perfect, But there are people who feel like the
cash bail system is working well enough, and if we
(01:48):
were to eliminate the cash bail system that things would
get worse around here. We ask the question chest if
it were to get worse it's a big if. Who
would it get worse for? Would it get worse for
(02:14):
the overwhelmingly black and brown people who are unfairly imprisoned
without having seen a judge. Where they lose jobs, they
lose you know, economic opportunities, they lose access, they are
not in a position because of a lack of money
(02:35):
to fight their charges from a position of power. It's
worse for them? Or is it worse for the people
who have been scared into thinking that a bunch of
criminals will then be on the street because we've eliminated
the cash bail system. And I think that's a very
(02:56):
important question today. The reason and I am talking to
you is because of a story that has made headlines
about the Bail Project. The Bail Project is an enterprise
that operates in Las Vegas. They are backed by a
(03:18):
ton of celebrities, John Legend, Danny Glover, and Richard Bronson,
Richard Branson, I believe, to name a few. And the
reason they're in the news is because they bailed out
(03:39):
a suspect who ended up shooting a man, putting the
man in hospital with what are apparently permanent injuries. And
(04:00):
the man in the hospital has now sued the Bail Project,
causing him to go out of business. Now, this is
not about that man suing the Bill Project. Because I
know somebody shot me and I was permanently injured, I'd
probably be doing the same thing. So my issue is
not with him. My issue, however, is with everyone on
(04:27):
in i should say, conservative circles, who has chosen to
weigh in on this story, using this as an example
of why the cash bail system works and why people
should not be able to bail out of jail when
they are accused of a crime. So they're looking at
(04:49):
this instance and saying the cash bail system works, and
I wholly disagree with that. I prefer a system that
does the most good for the most people, not a
system that does the most good for the white people,
(05:11):
not the most good for the rich people, not the
most good for the privileged people, the most good for
the most people without qualifications. That's a more humane way
of looking at things like imprisonment, the criminal justice system.
(05:39):
Think about it. Not all bad people go to jail,
and not all people that are in jail are bad people.
Not all people outside of jail are good people. Right,
what we have is a system that is doing its best,
(05:59):
I suppose, but it's a deeply flawed system, our criminal
justice system, especially if you are black or brown or poor.
In this country, we have a criminal justice system, to
quote Brian Stevenson, that treats you better if you are
(06:21):
rich and guilty then if you are poor and innocent.
And that's exactly what the cash bail system does. So
I'll walk you through. I ramses am accused of a crime.
(06:46):
That crime could be anything, pick tick or pick around here,
we called it being black or nearby black and nearby.
In a lot of instances jokingly we referred to it
as that. But you know, pick your poison, whichever crime
I'm accused of. Right, So I'm arrested and I am confined.
I'm taken to a jail, and this disrupts my entire life.
(07:13):
I cannot work when I'm in jail. I cannot take
care of my family when I'm in jail. I can't
get my son from school when I'm in jail, can't
do anything. And if I can't bail out for some reason,
(07:36):
then it stands to reason that I don't have the
fiscal resources to keep any of those other things going
in my life. As well, So my life falls apart,
and then when I get out, my options are limited. Right,
I may have lost my child. I may have now
(07:58):
been looking for a job and not be able to
get a letter of recommendation from my previous job because
as far as they know, I just stop coming to work,
and on and on. Right, it really messes people's lives up,
poor people. And if I never bail out, I'm not
(08:25):
in a position to, as I mentioned, fight these accusations
from a position of strength. Now. The only reason I'm
using me as an example is because I'm someone that
you may be familiar with. You could very easily imagine
yourself in that situation. People get arrested all the time
for stuff as I have anything to do with them.
(08:46):
People get arrested or simply talking to the police. A
lot of times people will talk to the police and
think that they're helping out or they're clearing their name
or whatever, and it doesn't work that way. There are
ten thousand laws that you could potentially break. It is
their job to know them, it is not yours. So
(09:08):
while you think you're clearing your name of whatever wrongdoing
that you think you're being accused of, you could be
incriminating yourself for something entirely different that you didn't even
know was the lead. Happens all the time. And now
you're arrested, and if you don't have any money, you're
in jail, sitting there, caught in that system. Now what
are you going to do? And so this example that's
(09:35):
been reported in the news suggests that, well, the cash
bail system keeps all of the criminals off of the street.
But in our thought experiment, you know, I'm not a criminal.
I've just been accused of a crime. Neither of you.
If you put yourself in that thought experiment, right, just
been accused and you can't get out, continue to live
(09:59):
your life to court, as is your right to defend
yourself in front of a judge and have a judge here,
your story, present your case. You're stuck. Your life falls
apart while you're in there. Okay, Now, this cash bail
(10:22):
system certainly works if people can bail themselves out. Right,
all right, I'm in jail. I get a bail set
by a judge that I can't afford bail out, and
that's that. But a lot of times black and brown
people get higher bails. This is what we talked about
on the show before. So even if you can afford it,
(10:46):
the impact on your life is something that you are
forced to take notice of, right, And maybe that's the point,
But the data shows that it's not equally distributed across
the criminal justice system with respect to race. And then
(11:12):
this is the thing that blows my mind. If I'm
able to bail out, and I happen to be guilty
and a bad person, I can still go and commit
more crimes. The cash bail system only allows people that
have money to get out and do whatever it is
(11:37):
they want to do, commit more crimes or not. But
it doesn't keep people in prison. And this is the
narrative that's being attempted. They're attempting to chronicle this narrative
that the cash bail system keeps criminals off the streets.
How is that true when you can simply bail out
(11:57):
As far as the Bail Project is concerned, they simply
posted the bail for a man, They posted the bill
for tons of people. One person got out and committed
this crime, right, and then they had to shut down operations.
And I don't think that that's entirely fair, because people
bail out of jail all the time and commit crimes.
(12:20):
They post the bail themselves, go out and commit the crimes.
So again, the cash bail system doesn't keep people off
the streets. It just keeps poor people disproportionately from continuing
to live their lives while they are accused of a crime.
(12:40):
So I will revisit the original idea behind this conversation.
Is the current cash bail system perfect? No? Then, I
don't think anybody would say that it is. In fact,
most people who would say it's far from perfect. But
(13:02):
some people would say that it does work. And I disagree,
holy because I think it works only for people who
have the fiscal resources and for the people who are
scared often enough by conservatives who falsely purport law and
(13:30):
order to be at the center of their party. So
what do you think. Reach out to me, let's talk
about it. They can find me on all social media
at Rams's Jah and of course you can use the
red microphone talk by feature on the iHeartRadio app. I
(13:52):
doubt I'm tripping, but if I am, here's your chance
to let me know. And until you do. This has
been a production of the Black Information Network. Today's show
is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts you'd like
to share, use the red microphone talkback feature on the
iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe
and download all of our episodes. I'm your host ramses
(14:15):
Jah on all social media. Join us tomorrow as we
share our news with our voice from our perspective right
here on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
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