By Stacy M. Brown<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a thoughtless night,\u201d Dasia says. \u201cI was under the influence and
heavily triggered.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former correctional officer had just finished work when police pulled over
the car she was riding in. Officers ran her name. A warrant surfaced for driving
under suspension and a missed court date she says she never knew about because
the notice went to the wrong address.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes the first impression is all you get with somebody, and they get stuck
with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bail was $250.<\/p>\n
She spent 12 days in jail.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of felt violated,\u201d she recalls, describing how two male correctional officers
searched her and unzipped her hoodie despite her objections. Angry and
intoxicated, she flooded a toilet in her pod after being denied a phone call. \u201cIt was
like an out of body situation,\u201d she says. \u201cI was so mad they wouldn\u2019t let me make
a phone call. I could\u2019ve bonded out that night.\u201d<\/p>\n
She could not.<\/p>\n
The jail was the same one where she had once worn a uniform.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re a CO, you\u2019re honored,\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019re important. But being an
inmate \u2013 you go from feeling righteous to feeling like a peasant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside, she says she tried to steady herself by steadying others.
\u201cI spoke life into the other inmates,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019d talk, and I\u2019d try to broaden
people\u2019s perspective about what we were going through. It wasn\u2019t just for them \u2013
it was for me, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
She has lived with mental health challenges for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat people don\u2019t know,\u201d she says, \u201cis that without being under a substance,
sometimes it feels like you are anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
She accepts responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven with mental health, you\u2019ve got to present yourself in a way people can
honor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBroken crayons still color.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also says she challenged a correctional officer who was cursing at detainees.
\u201cI got into it with one of the COs,\u201d she recalls. \u201cShe was calling inmates out their
name, cussing at them. I had to remind her; that\u2019s not part of your job
description. You don\u2019t get paid for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the officer later told her she had \u201cwon,\u201d Dasia responded, \u201cShe told me,
\u2018You won.\u2019 I said, no, I\u2019m behind this cage. I didn\u2019t win anything. I just need you
to stop treating people like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her release came after a counselor connected her with The Bail Project.
\u201cWhen I got to talk to them, it was a breath of fresh air,\u201d she says. \u201cShe told me
she was working to get me out. And sure enough, I got released that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across the United States, hundreds of thousands of legally innocent people sit in
jail awaiting trial. In Oklahoma alone, more than 9,000 people sit in local jails on
any given day, nearly 70 percent legally innocent and awaiting court.
In Fulton County, Georgia, 32 people have died in jail since 2021. Nearly 90
percent of those incarcerated are Black in a county where Black residents make
up 43 percent of the population. More than one-third of detainees faced bonds
under $5,000, amounts that still kept them jailed because they could not afford
upfront payments.<\/p>\n
In Texas, nearly 70 percent of people in jail on any given day are awaiting trial at
a cost of more than $1.1 billion annually. The Bail Project\u2019s report \u201cBehind the
Bill\u201d details how lawmakers pushed constitutional changes that would have
expanded pretrial detention before advocates secured protections requiring clear
and convincing evidence before someone could be jailed pretrial.<\/p>\n
In Florida, the Senate Rules Committee amended SB 600 to preserve nonprofit
bail funds after language that would have blocked nonprofits from reusing
refunded bail money threatened to shut them down. \u201cCharitable bail funds and
faith-based groups reuse refunded bail money to help people a judge has already
cleared for release,\u201d said Josh Mitman, Senior Policy Counsel at The Bail Project.
\u201cShutting them down doesn\u2019t make communities safer \u2013 it just keeps more
people in jail unnecessarily and sticks taxpayers with the bill.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Washington, Congress passed H.R. 5214, legislation mandating expanded cash
bail in the District. The Bail Project warned it would dismantle a system where 88
percent of people released pretrial remained arrest-free and 98 percent remained
free from violent arrest.<\/p>\n
\u201cH.R. 5214 is a dangerous federal intrusion that overrides Washington, D.C.\u2019s
proven pretrial system and the democratic will of District residents,\u201d said Erin
George, National Director of Policy at The Bail Project. \u201cDespite its claims, H.R.
5214 is not about public safety \u2013 it\u2019s about control \u2013 and will have devastating
ripple effects on families, communities, and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
The organization\u2019s national report \u201cDetention by Design\u201d documents that more
than a quarter of states with constitutional rights to bail have proposed or
enacted amendments expanding detention eligibility between 2021 and 2025. \u201cA
quiet constitutional crisis is unfolding in America. State by state, the right to bail
is being rewritten \u2013 expanding preventative detention, deepening reliance on
money bail, and eroding the presumption of innocence,\u201d stated David Gaspar,
chief executive officer of The Bail Project.<\/p>\n
The organization\u2019s \u201cInside Bail Reform\u201d outlines six core components of effective
policy, including eliminating cash bail, strengthening due process, ensuring
counsel at first appearance, timely hearings, voluntary supportive services, and
court reminders.<\/p>\n
Since its founding, The Bail Project reports that it has supported more than
40,000 people, including roughly 35,000 whose release it secured through bail
assistance. With support such as reminders and transportation, 92 percent
returned to court.<\/p>\n
Dasia says freedom after jail was not simple.<\/p>\n
The case kept her from working for nearly a year. The stigma followed her.
\u201cI\u2019m a hard worker,\u201d she says. \u201cAll I\u2019ve ever known is to work. But God\u2019s been
telling me this is a season to be still, to listen, to recenter.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says The Bail Project continues to check on her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve helped me with resources and given me advice when I\u2019m in error. They
challenge me to grow. That\u2019s how you become the best version of yourself \u2013 by
having people who really care.\u201d<\/p>\n
She hopes one day to do similar work.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could, I\u2019d do what they do,\u201d she says. \u201cIt takes patience and purpose. They\u2019re
selfless. They help people restart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps me remember who I am \u2013 and that it\u2019s never too late to start over.\u201d<\/p>\n
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