28,230 Minutes of phone time
36 Community Members Released
$42,800 total raised in 2020
Formed as an emergency response to the police brutality enacted upon peaceful protesters, Huntsville Bail Fund has come to understand the need to address the extreme inequities in pretrial detention. From our inception on June 3rd and through the year, we facilitated release for over 30 community members held hostage by cash bail. In every case, the only thing keeping them in jail was poverty. Direct action, in the form of cash bail assistance and facilitating release, has formed the backbone of our advocacy to end cash bail.
The pretrial System is not Equal
The pretrial system is not equal. We have seen firsthand the remarkable racial disparities in who gets released, and who stays in detention. We see how this system responds, avoiding accountability or even acknowledgement of major policy failures. We do this work to care for the community, but it is also an interrupt on a culture that treats structural racism and poverty as business-as-usual. Cash bail creates a two-tiered justice system: one kind of justice for people who have money, and another kind of justice for people who don’t. We believe our work can help stop that economic violence.
Work Worth Doing
Though it may be hard work, we believe it’s work worth doing. There is sorrow, but there are opportunities for healing too. Our Hello for the Holidays fundraising campaign raised over $16,000, fulfilling our goal to reunite several families for the holidays and provide phone time to every inmate at Madison County Jail. 941 people were able to call someone they care about, and feel connected to our community. We got to witness families reunited, and weights lifted. We are strengthened by these bonds we form. We are able to envision a system of justice that is restorative and compassionate because of these experiences.
Working Together
We are honored to be supported directly by the community. Your dollars, your hours, and your partnership makes our work possible. Together we are building the kind of collective power that effects real change. We hope this is just the beginning.
Grant thank you's (Check them out!)

$15,000 - Montgomery bail Out
The Montgomery Bail Out Fund is an effort by Montgomery community members to bail our neighbors out of the county jail so they can practice appropriate public health and safety measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

$1,000 - Black Voters matter
Black Voters Matter goal is to increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities. Effective voting allows a community to determine its own destiny.