Prison forum looks at bail reforms
Participants talk about the ‘injustice system’
New London — When Brett Davidson looks at the criminal justice system in Connecticut, what he sees are 3,400 people who are legally innocent but incarcerated because they can’t pay bail.
What he sees are people pleading out for crimes they didn’t commit because they can’t pay bail. What he sees are judges using bail for people who aren’t at risk of harming the public or of not showing up in court.
“The judges aren’t using bail as it’s intended to be used under the law and the constitution,” he said. “They’re using it to lock people up.”
Davidson is co-director of the Connecticut Bail Fund, which has bailed out 191 people from pre-trial detention since its founding in 2016, by posting bonds under $5,000 in New Haven.
He presented a breakout workshop on reforming the bail system at the 8th Community Prison Awareness & Prevention Gathering, which several dozen people attended at Shiloh Baptist Church on Saturday morning and afternoon. The event was organized by Winston Taylor, facilitator for the church’s prison ministry.
Attendees included church members, prison volunteers, case managers and formerly incarcerated individuals now in halfway houses, some of whom talked about their struggles with opioid addiction.
The theme of the gathering this year was, “How Can We Reform the Bail & Jury Selection Systems?” The focus was largely on the disproportionate incarceration of poor people and black people in what Taylor called the “injustice system.”
In a panel discussion, former probation officer Tamara Lanier criti-
cized the presumption that a black jury will acquit a black defendant because he’s black as “ridiculous.” With a lack of people of color on juries, she sees trials lacking the right to a jury of your peers.
The panel discussion, along with workshops throughout the day, focused on the importance of voting, because legislation is needed to create change in the criminal justice system.
“We have a duty to honor the struggles and sacrifices that our ancestors went through to vote, and we can’t leave it to the schools to teach our kids on this,” Lanier said.
James Jeter, a former inmate and current fellow with the Yale Prison Education Initiative, commented that voting has not been the friend of black people, and that he’s not saying not to vote but that we must move beyond the vote.
But attorney Lonnie Braxton questioned: If the votes of black people don’t matter, why are there so many roadblocks to vote in place?
A skit from the Shiloh Prison Ministry Players served as a public service announcement to vote, and the National Council of Negro Women had a table for people to register. Other organizations present included Safe Futures and Kairos Prison Ministry.
State Rep. Brandon McGee, D-5th District, led a workshop on networking and community activism. It sought to address a problem that Lanier later pointed out: “There are so many resources in the room, but the one thing is we’re not connected, and we’re not working together.”
Also present were kids in the Naval Sea Cadet Corps, which has partnered with Shiloh Baptist Church for more than eight years. They attended workshops on youth empowerment.
The SBC Prison Ministry presented four awards on Saturday — to Lanier, Trinity Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Wade Hyslop, Historically Black College Alumni President Vouise Fonville and Naval Sea Cadet Corps member Imani Davis.