A teenager in the Bronx was accused of stealing a backpack. The police arrested him.

Couldn't make bail. Would spend 2 years on Riker's island awaiting a trial.

-only for the charges to be dropped. Many were appalled, they set it up for him to go to community college. That's where I met him once- my electronics club. Made an LED Christmas tree-he seemed... so so so sad.

He took his own life later that year.

Anyways. Uh, Sam Bankman-Fried to be released on $250 million bail. #cw

our "justice" system!

We should all be so ashamed.

@futurebird and it’s nothing new. Ken Lay died in July 2006 while vacationing in his house near Aspen, Colorado, three months before his scheduled sentencing and 5 years after he and others stole over $1 billion from 20,700 employees’ retirement savings plans. We keep letting it happen because we keep believing greed is good.
@futurebird Let’s not get it twisted. The justice system is not broken.
It’s doing EXACTLY what it was designed to do.
@futurebird 😡🤬 They might as well have pulled the trigger. I am so so sad for this young man and his family.
@futurebird Money/cash bail should be abolished.

@abartlet

either they are so dangerous or such a flight risk they need holding ... or not ...bunch a game

And what doe prison have to do with a teenager (maybe) stealing a backpack?

@futurebird @abartlet garnish his wages for a month and have him pay it back. Then when it’s found he didn’t do it, reimburse him with interest. Being poor shouldn’t be a crime.
@abartlet @futurebird I think it is happening. Denver eliminated it. The woman who did it ran for the local state legislature won !!
@abartlet exactly what we're trying to pass in Illinois right now for exactly this reason.
@abartlet @futurebird 100% the current bail system makes it so rich can literally be free on murder charges and innocent poor people can sit in jail for years for the crime of being poor.
@futurebird
Sounds like Kalief Browder?
I met his brother at an activist event and protest. We have modified bail to eliminate some of that horror. It's not a 'justice' system, it's a criminal legal system.

@kevix

Yeah it was him.

He just came to the club that one time. I was excited to have a new member and set him up with one of the top students at the soldering station. It was a fun day for the club, just making things. I looked for him in the spring and he was gone. The school had a memorial and the student who was his partner kept blaming himself for years.

Well I did too if I'm honest.

@kevix @futurebird sure. Criminal justice implies that if you are convicted of a crime you make penance with time or resources. Innocent until proven guilty means just that. Being unable to pay bail shouldn’t be a crime.
@futurebird what a tragic story. I'd very much appreciated a content warning for suicide.

@Kiki @futurebird

Please do not tone police other people's grief. Please. I'm begging you.

@Kiki @futurebird that’s all you took from this??
@futurebird One system for them, another for the rest of us plebeians.

@futurebird

"I felt like something needed to be done about this.
I felt like something needs to be said.
If I just cop out and say that I did it, nothing's going to be done about it.
I didn't do it.
No justice is served."
- Kalief Browder

He was so brave.

@futurebird it’s so tragic that so many people who can never imagine themselves in a position of ever having to raise bail money care so little about reforming a system that penalizes the most at risk people in the prison system.
@futurebird Your article is so shocking. I really didn't realise this still happens in the 21st Century. I hope that this site galvanises people and you get connections to bring about positive change. #blacklivesmatter
@futurebird
For-profit prisons need to be abolished.
@liroso @futurebird they do. It makes no sense to have a system that encourages incarceration!
@futurebird Worse than that he has 250m bond but is not in jail - the bail is only what he will owe if he doesn't show for court.
@futurebird
My fury at the disparities in the “justice” system has grown exponentially over the past decade.
@futurebird I guess that’s a perk od having $250 million at hand to post bail with

@futurebird

words cannot describe how utterly pissed I am about SBF getting off easy while Pertsev sits in a cold cell for the holidays. I still dearly hope that Sam's punished to the fullest extent of the law and that he rots in jail for the rest of his life, but for now I am absolutely pissed.

@futurebird #cryptocurrency is a monumental scam. Get your money out before its total collapse. There is no happy ending to this. The rich will still be rich.
@futurebird #CashBail should be illegal and abolished!
@futurebird disgusting story on how one's freedom depends upon money.
@futurebird but if all the investors have lost their money because it went bust, where did this 250 million come from
@futurebird Gensler is guilty as hell!
@futurebird You steal a backpack (allegedly) and you go to jail, become a victim. You steal billions and you get to go home to Mom and Dad in Palo Alto. Sickening.

@futurebird Kalief Browder - say his name. 😢

#bailreform NOW!

@futurebird I thought he said he was down to $100,000. Where did the money come from

@JessicaPerthWA

I suspect it's a loan bail most often is a loan. Who loaned him money? why?

@futurebird An absolute slap in the face to people everywhere doing serious time waiting for trial.

@futurebird
The enraging tragedy of our terrible justice system.

Our country is addicted to punishment and cruelty -- especially when directed at poor black folks.

@futurebird

Wow. So sad...so..avoidable

@futurebird How awful. So sorry about your friend. Our racist unequal justice system needs a total overhaul.

@JimRI I would have really liked to be a friend.

But I only met him that one time that he came to the club.

I remember, though, because the student I paired him with that day was upset about it for a long time. Everyone on campus was.

@futurebird Truly heart breaking.
@futurebird I learned
Kalief Browder's story a few years ago and it stays with me, so very tragic and nothing absolutely nothing has changed or anyone help responsible.
@futurebird no words, none, for what was done to that child.💔 May his memory be for a blessing.
@futurebird I think about that poor kid and the injustice of it so often. Especially when I listen to stories about things like the misrepresentive ways crime is reported/cited in terms of what is considered a crime and what doesn’t count in statistics and the idea of rising crime. White collar embezzling or wage theft? Not counted like stealing diapers and formula are. Sigh.
@futurebird What if bail for rich people was just getting a real job for a few days.
@futurebird this is absolutely unconscionable. Wyte collar crime, even of this magnitude, is treated with kid gloves.
@futurebird
Oh, terrible story. Close Rikers now!! Horrible place!! Impeach the NYC mayor and the Governor!! Nobody should be there. Nobody!!
@futurebird Because of the influence of Lobbyists, PACS, and Opposition Research Groups that has permeated into every facet of law and govt. That's why. That's power.

@futurebird

Horrifying. Our legal system needs to remember this -

#Deuteronomy 16:18-20

You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that the Lord is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice.

You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just.

#Justice, justice shall you pursue.

@futurebird

700 days in solitary is 700 days of soul destroying loneliness.

He was subjected to that and more. It is well known that solitary imprisonment is a very inhumane punishment.

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/federal-agenda-criminal-justice-reform

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalief_Browder
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angola_Three

A Federal Agenda for Criminal Justice Reform

From policing to prisons, the Biden administration and Congress must act to make our systems of public safety less punitive and more equitable.

Brennan Center for Justice
@futurebird Tragic...that's why I'm in favor of jurisdictions dropping bail requirements for non-violent offenses
@futurebird There are some moments that really grind into us that we just aren't valued in society. This is one of them. Stay strong.