Millions of people are detained in local jails across the country -- in tight, cramped quarters. Social distancing is impossible. Hand washing is limited. Healthcare is inaccessible. The current public health crisis has further exposed the racial injustices of this country’s criminal legal system.

Advancement Project National Office and our partners in justice, ArchCity Defenders, Civil Rights Corps, and Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) have taken legal action to protect the rights of community members in St. Louis jails.

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Advancement Project National Office responds to the urgent needs on the ground. When Hurricane Katrina devastated the lives of poor people and Black people in New Orleans, we were there to help protect communities of color. When the legitimacy of presidential elections was threatened in 2000, we were there to make sure votes were counted in communities of color.

In this COVID-19 moment, we are working to protect people locked in jails and prisons, who are disproportionately Black and Brown, and who are at greatest risk during the pandemic. During pandemics, jails are ticking time bombs: people are jailed in cramped quarters, cannot practice social distancing and don’t have regular access to soap or adequate healthcare. Jails and prisons fail to provide sufficient hand soap and alcohol-based sanitizers to the people detained in and working in these settings. Once inside this perfect breeding ground, the virus will rapidly spread, leading to countless illnesses and deaths both in and out of the facility.

The needs on the ground are urgent. Our work and priorities are shifting in real time, much like the communities we support. That’s why we need flexible support to fund it.

We renewed our motion seeking to ensure that detained individuals who cannot afford money bail are not put at risk of contracting COVID-19 while in jail solely because of their poverty. If we win, it will help people who are at elevated risk for contracting the coronavirus; who are detained on misdemeanors or on low-level drug offenses; and who are being detained on warrants, parole, or probation violation holds.

When we won the original June 2019 ruling, a federal judge ruled that cash bail in the city of St. Louis was unconstitutional. As a result, 119 St. Louis residents who were locked in cages because of their poverty were released. 

We want to win again.

Most of the 670,000 people in our nation’s jails right now have not been convicted. Many people are taken away from their families simply because they cannot afford their cash bail.

Eighty-seven percent of the people in St. Louis jails are Black, despite making up less than half of the city’s population, and 20 percent of those in jail are either under 21 or over 60. To protect these community members, we must transform policing and abolish the criminalization of poverty and race.

Global public health experts, medical professionals, and public defenders’ offices in cities like Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Nashville, urge state and local governments to release as many people as possible to avoid the spread of COVID-19. These experts know that jails are the perfect breeding ground for the corona virus, that jails lack the health care required to stop its spread, and that keeping people in jail during the pandemic threatens everyone’s safety, not just those who are locked inside. They urge local and state governments to protect public health by letting them go.

You can do the same by calling on your state government officials to release people today. Share #FreeThemAll until we’re all #FreeAndSafe on your social platforms, and spread the word before jails and prisons spread the virus.

We expect to file similar cases with our partners in Miami, Detroit, and Louisiana. Your support will allow us to be aggressive in real time to get people out of jails and lessen their risk of contracting COVID-19: advancementproject.org/withyoursupport

In other news:

Did you know March 31 is the legendary Cesar Chavez's birthday?

Advancement Project National Office commemorates the life of a fierce leader, organizer, and advocate for justice.

Check out our latest blog post, 9 Greatest Cesar Chavez Quotes.

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