The Alamance Community Bail Fund is a revolving bond fund that raises money from people across the country to help people who can’t afford to post bond in Alamance County.

The Alamance Community Bail Fund, established in Fall 2019 under the roof of our partner — Down Home NC — is centered on the belief that everybody should be presumed innocent until proven guilty, no matter how much money they have. Under the current system of bail, you can be released pre-trial if you are rich. If you do not have the funds, you will remain in jail until your case is resolved, which can be months, if not years of waiting. This reality can result in mental health crises, lost jobs and income, and, in some cases, loss of the custody of children.

Alamance County’s poverty rate is higher than the North Carolina state average. It’s one of the reasons that we organize against discriminatory pretrial incarceration based on income. Folks are more likely to win cases when they’re fighting from a place of freedom — that’s the driver behind our bail fund.

The Alamance County Bail Fund supports people in the Alamance County Detention Center by posting bail, free of charge, for amounts less than $2,000. If a bond is less than $2,000, many professional bail funds will not touch it as it’s not a profitable amount for the labor involved.