It’s that time of the year when I, along with the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, work to liberate as many Black mothers out of jail as we can for Mother’s Day. Black women and mamas often serve as anchors for Black families, neighborhoods, and communities. When Black caregivers of any gender are caught up in mass incarceration, they are removed from the people who need them most.

Mass incarceration does not make our communities safer. I want to invest in a Philadelphia that is safe for everyone, including Black mamas and caregivers of any gender. Together we can demonstrate the collective power of pooling our resources and destabilizing the cash bail system’s impact on Black people. I want to live in a city that uplifts Black mamas and caregivers with resources and support for families, including free and affordable housing, education, food security, universal childcare, and fair wages. Eighty percent of people in local women’s jails are parents, most are parents of minor children, and most are the primary caregivers for their children. Being held in jail for any amount of time places parents at risk of temporary or permanent loss of custody and parental rights to their children.

The Criminal Justice System is designed to keep a revolving door open for predominantly people of color to cycle in and out of prison. Michelle Alexander vividly paints the horror of our criminal justice system in her classic book, The New Jim Crow. She writes, “The cyclical rebirth of caste in America is a recurring racial nightmare.” This nightmare has lasting effects that impact communities of color in ways that words can’t capture. The Bail Fund’s website has this to say:

Research shows that just three days in jail makes people more likely to lose their jobs and housing, be separated from their families, and commit crimes in the future. Inability to pay bail forces people to plead guilty to get out of jail, even if they are innocent and the evidence against them is weak. Defendants are nine times more likely to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge if they cannot pay bail. People who are held on bail receive longer sentences than those who can afford to post bail for the same crimes. In Philadelphia, more than 70% of the 5,198 inmates detained in the city’s jails as of May 31, 2018 have not been convicted; they are merely awaiting trial. The annual cost of detaining the jail population has, in previous years, amounted to roughly $126 million to the City of Philadelphia.

This needs to stop! God is doing something about this injustice, and the church has an invitation and a responsibility to join God in the mission of liberation. Click here to join God in setting the captive free.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed” (Luke 4:18, CEB).