Our community members lose many days of their life sitting in both Vermont and immigration jails simply because they cannot pay bail. Help us free them.
The Vermont Freedom Fund works with inarcerated people and their advocates to post bail so they can be released.
“[T]he imposition of bail in an amount that cannot be raised by an accused, in order to obtain his incarceration, is precisely what the law forbids.” Vermont Supreme Court in State v. Pratt.
We are a volunteer run, 501(c)(3) tax-deductible fund that bails out our incarcerated community members in Vermont. Cash bail is an abuse of the criminal justice system, penalizes poverty, and has a disproportionate effect on people with no access to money. We believe that wealth should not determine who is kept in jail.
What’s happening in Vermont?
VERMONT JAILS: Vermont Courts send people to jail for lack of bail money even though they haven’t been convicted of anything. These people have NOT been found guilty or sentenced. The person is stuck in jail indefinitely because courts set bail the person can’t pay. There are so many people in jail for lack of money that VFF has had to limit its efforts to just one of the jails in Vermont. Even though we posted bail in more than 110 cases in 2024, we could not begin to meet the need for bail at just one jail. 60% of the people we’ve bailed out were in jail because they missed a court date. Most of these court dates are proceedings where the accused person isn’t permitted to say anything or participate in any way. People miss court dates because the courts do not notify or remind them. They also miss court because they have no transportation, no phone, no mailing address. We have posted bail for people jailed for as long as 12 months without trial.
IMMIGRATION JAIL: Despite the passage of Vermont state law to stop racial profiling by police, state agencies have provided information enabling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to continue to arrest a disproportionate number of people of color and immigrants in northern Vermont. Furthermore, Black and Brown drivers in VT are twice as likely to be stopped, searched, ticketed, and arrested – though less likely to be found with contraband.
Who is especially at risk of detention and imprisonment?
Approximately 1000-2000 immigrants from Mexico and Central America have been in Vermont since the mid 1990s, working at dairy farms and sustaining Vermont’s agricultural industries, all while risking deportation. In 2020, Migrant Justice was awarded a $100,000 settlement after it was revealed that ICE was surveilling, harassing and detaining Migrant Justice activists in a targeted way.
Vermonters are incarcerated without trial when they have been accused of unlawful behavior but have not had a chance to tell their side of the story. Many are incarcerated because they missed a court hearing, often because they don’t have a phone or a mailing address and didn’t know about the court date. They can be forced to stay in jail for months or even years without trial unless somebody posts their bail. If they have access to wealth, they get out right away. If they don’t have money for bail, Vermont Freedom Fund will post their bail if we can. In 2024, VFF is using its limited resources to post bail only for people incarcerated at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, and for those about to be transported to CRCF.
Why is this happening?
ICE and CPB agents arrest people without judicial warrants (outside doctors’ offices, at supermarkets, at home, walking on farm roads), act abusively and terrorize them on farms, and separate families. These rogue agencies have been allowed to act with impunity for too long.
When a case is closed, the bail funds may be returned to the Vermont Freedom Fund through a complex process, enabling funds to be reused. However, we cannot count on the funds being returned for a variety of reasons. Those who benefit from the fund and stay in Vermont will be encouraged to promote the fund within their communities.
What happens to the money?
