Minnesota Freedom Fund is a community bail fund that pays cash bails and immigration bonds for those who can’t afford it, because wealth alone should never decide who is kept in detention and who goes free. Your gift helps us reduce the harms of racist wealth-based jailing and build a justice system that restores the humanity and dignity of all involved. 

The Problem with Wealth-Based Jailing 

When a person is arrested or detained by I.C.E., they are sometimes assigned an amount of money they can pay to be released pending the outcome of their case. If they can afford to pay, they go free. If they cannot, they remain incarcerated for months or years – often losing access to housing, employment, family support, and other stabilizing resources. 

Because the stakes are so high, families are often forced to choose between paying a cash bail or immigration bond for a loved one, and paying for food, rent, and healthcare. 

Wealth-based jailing is an economic issue, but it is also a racial justice issue. Judges are more likely to assign bail to Black defendants, and Black defendants have higher amounts for similar crimes when compared to their white peers.  

The racial wealth gap makes it more likely that defendants of color will not have immediate access to the cash needed to post bail — and the numbers show it. In Minnesota, Black people comprise 7% of the state population, but 31% of the prison and jail population.  

Minnesota Freedom Fund Offers a Lifeline 

Minnesota Freedom Fund is a community-based, community-funded resource for people who are incarcerated simply because they are poor. And we are a lifeline to families who are desperate and have few other options to get their loved ones released. 

We do this work because we believe that no one should be incarcerated based on wealth alone, and we believe that communities are stronger and safer when resources are kept in families – not extracted by the criminal legal system or the for-profit bail industry. 

What Your Gift Means 

Since going viral in 2020, Minnesota Freedom Fund has spent $25.3 million to free 3,198 people from pre-trial jailing and immigration detention. 

Your gift means that we can continue to reduce the harms of wealth-based jailing for as many neighbors as possible – neighbors like Jeremiah, who was released from pre-trial jailing to fight his case, and eventually won an acquittal at trial. 

But here’s the thing. When we pay cash bails and immigration bonds, it makes a huge difference in the lives of the people we help. But it doesn’t stop the cash bail and immigration detention systems from churning out more and more people who are jailed because of their wealth and need our support. 

To end those harms, we must end the cash bail and immigration detention systems altogether. To that end, we’ve launched a 501(c)(4) arm to lobby lawmakers for change, and we’re building a strong coalition of community partners to work alongside us. Learn more about our political work here.