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You are correct. If someone can afford bail, they will likely bail out. If someone is not given bail by a judge, they will not be allowed to bail out or participate with Promise-they will stay in jail until the resolution of their case. If someone has been given a bail, but cannot afford to bail out, this is someone who is eligible to work with Promise. If the court agrees, they will be released from jail and returned to the community (their job, home, family, etc.) without posting bail. Promise will then help support them to 1. Comply with their court mandated obligations and 2. Connect them to services based on a needs assessment conducted by Promise staff. I hope this is clear. We will work to review the website and make sure that it is. Thank you!

Thank you for your thoughts. I wanted to share a couple recent reference points on the topic of bail/pretrial detention. Here is a cite to a recent CA case that came out of SF and discusses what judges must consider to set bail: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-court-of-appeal/1886990.html. In CA, we also have Senate Bill 10 that is pending and deals with changes to the pretrial release system: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml...

There is a chart here that is helpful in understanding the total number of people who are impacted by different parts of the criminal justice system. Approx 70% of people in local jails are there for non-violent offenses, approx 45% of people in state prisons are there for non-violent offenses and approximately 94% of people in the federal system are there for non-violent offenses. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2018.html

Promise would not pay the cash bail. The goal would be that no bail is paid at all. We would work with the government to agree to release certain individuals back into the community without having to post bail. Promise would then remind them of their obligations so that they stay on track with any court mandated obligations and refer them to services based on the needs of each participant. As to who would be eligible-that would depend on the agreement with each county that we work with.

Yes. Our initial target population are those individuals who are currently in jail pre-trial-meaning they have not been convicted of the crime for which they were arrested. Most of these people remain in jail because they cannot afford to bail out. We believe this is a critical population because they often have pressure to plead guilty to a crime they did not commit just to get out of jail. They are often then on probation, which can lead to a cycle of incarceration for probations violations-often that are very minor infractions.

I can speak from experience and the experiences of many defense attorneys. Many of my clients spent time in jail and then the government decided not to file charges, or the charges were later dismissed, or they were acquitted of the charges at trial. This is is a good resource for additional information on the number of people impacted by the criminal justice system: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2018.html and this is a series on netflix that highlights some of these issues: https://www.netflix.com/title/80187052

Promise will be given all court mandated obligations for each participant. The Promise team will help monitor them against that plan. If we see that they are not meeting court obligations, we will work with participants to get them back on track and in compliance so that they are not returned to custody. That is our goal. To get people out of jail and help keep them out.

Some counties have pre-trial departments and some don't. We believe we can perform these services or enhance services that already exist. In either case, making the current system more efficient and effective.

Yes. Our system is based on the premise that people are "innocent until proven guilty" but in practice, people that have money can bail out of jail and people who don't, remain in jail. This is fundamentally unfair. While incarcerated, someone can loose their job, housing, and cause sever disruption to their family. Because of these pressures, people will often plead guilty to a crime just to get out of jail. And to your later point, we agree and we have spoken with potential clients who are also interested in increasing the number of people who are able to serve their sentences outside of physical jails.

Not yet, but we may in the future. Please keep us in mind and check for open positions on our website.

Promise would make these programs more efficient by providing additional support to participants and having the technology take care of many of the routine, time consuming tasks that social workers or case managers currently do.

This is happening in the U.S. too. Some of the counties are under court mandates around overcrowding in the jails. The goal is to have individuals in their communities but without any support, they often miss court dates or other obligations and then they get a warrant and end up back in jail in a worse position. Also, in this situation, the root cause of the arrest is never being addressed.

Thank you! We agree. And we will be working to make positive change.

Our plan is to start working with individuals who are in jail pre-trial, but after many conversations with different stakeholders it became apparent that we should also work with individuals who have been convicted. So it is part of our plan to work with individuals who are on probation, parole and those who could be serving their sentences in the community. There is an opportunity to support these individuals so that they are less likely to violate their conditions of release and end up back in jail.

You are correct. Needs of those in the criminal justice system vary widely. This will depend on the government partners in each jurisdiction that we are in. Some clients will assign us participants and some will give us guidelines on who we are able to work with. In any case, once we get individuals into the program, our intake is what really tells us what services would be beneficial to them. We will then work to connect the with the best services in their area given their specific needs.

We believe that is necessary. There are many organizations and individuals working on this issue. We support change to the culture of mass incarceration. We believe getting people out of jail and helping to support them while they are out is part of that change.

Thank you. Every jurisdiction has their own protocol. Bail is usually set based on a bail schedule. In CA, every county has their own bail schedule. The judge can then listen to arguments to either increase or decrease the bail amount based on different factors around whether they will be a flight risk and whether they will be a danger to the community. Once a bail is set, most people who have money bail out. Those that don't sit in jail until their case is resolved. In many counties, courts do have the option of releasing someone on their own recognizance or with some type of supervision. New laws like In re Humprey (a recent decision out of SF) is changing the way that courts can set bail.

Agreed bail must go. We are working in Kentucky, where bail is gone. However, it has not solved the problem.

When you are in jail or someone you love is in jail the choice to get out with a smartphone app and support is pretty clear. It is interesting feedback about monitoring but when it is you or your family, you want out. The most folks reaching out to us, have families who are trying to help their loved ones.

We agree. It is also really troublesome to make the case that poor people who cannot afford bail should be kept incarcerated for public safety, but people who have the money to bail out, can await trial at home.

We spent most of our professional lives in non profits and the last 6 years in for profit. We believe the business will better serve people with the structure for many reasons, such as hiring, not having to deal with foundations or individual donors, etc. We believe good people can run and create good companies.

That would be great. We very much appreciate it. You can email us at founders@joinpromise.com

We have introduced recidivism as part of our performance metrics. Currently, contractors are paid per day, per person. We believe it creates the wrong incentive. The best way to correct is to incentivize companies to have people not reenter the system.

Thank you. Our main goals are to keep individuals on track for completing all court mandated obligations and to connect them to services. When we do our detailed intake with participants we evaluate their needs and work to connect them to the appropriate services. That can include drug treatment, mental health treatment, eduction, job training/placement, etc.

Many people who are in the day to day see the value. Public defenders who we have spoken with understand the chaos that is created when their clients miss court and they see the value of our product. Sheriff staff who we have spoken with would like to release more people into the community to serve their sentences but want them to have additional support and resources to feel comfortable doing so. Elected official also seem to understand that this is a problem and want solutions. So overall there has been a positive response.

This is a tough question. I have been a criminal defense attorney and was the co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights that has worked hard to bring change to the criminal justice system-initially for juveniles but now for adults as well. We understand the concerns and there is no magic answer but we come from a place of wanting to get people out of jail and keeping them out. That is our goal and that is what we will work towards. As we said, we will go for the least restrictive means possible, but if the court requires an ankle monitor for them to get out of jail, we will provide that. If we don't, companies who care nothing about the individuals being incarcerated will continue to get these contracts.

Thank you for your support! We agree that a big part of the solution is changing mindsets.

Thank you for opening and sharing your thoughts! We have been speaking with sheriff departments, district attorneys, public defenders, probation departments, judges and other parts of the criminal justice system. They have slightly different motivations but most agree that Promise could benefit individuals going through the system. Thank you for your idea. We will definitely look into that.

Our current plan is to do contracts with government agencies. There is no plan to charge the participants directly. Our plan was to start with pre-trial individuals but in speaking with potential clients, we do have interest in working with individuals who are on probation, parole and those who can serve their sentence in the community.

They will not be performing any service or labor for Promise. They will work with our team. Our team with get them set up on the app, do an intake to refer them to appropriate support services, work with them to make sure they know about court dates and other obligations, etc.