Justice on a Budget: The $5,000 Charitable Bail Cap in “Safer” Kentucky
Amanda Lindsey*
Introduction
In March 2021, 17-year-old Madelynn Troutt was killed in a head-on collision in Louisville, Kentucky, by an intoxicated driver days after The Bail Project—a nonprofit that posts bail for individuals who cannot afford it—secured his release.[1] The tragedy drew widespread media attention and quickly became a flashpoint in Kentucky’s broader debate over pretrial release and bail reform.[2] In its wake, the Kentucky General Assembly enacted the Safer Kentucky Act, a sweeping criminal justice bill that, among other provisions, capped the amount charitable organizations may post at $5,000.[3] Supporters framed the measure as a public safety initiative aimed at curbing what they characterized as the indiscriminate release of potentially dangerous defendants.[4]
Madelynn’s death was undeniably tragic. Yet while the impulse to respond swiftly to such incidents is understandable, policymaking driven by singular tragedies risks obscuring systemic realities. The charitable bail cap exemplifies such reactionary legislation: it misallocates blame, reinforces structural inequities, and distracts from the deeper failures of Kentucky’s pretrial detention regime. In a system where defendants are detained not because they pose a demonstrable threat, but because they cannot afford bail, charitable bail organizations play an indispensable role.[5] In a state where pretrial incarceration rates remain high[6] and where poverty, substance abuse disorders, and racial disparities shape the contours of criminal legal outcomes,[7] restricting the capacity of charitable bail organizations will disproportionately harm marginalized communities.[8] It will also deepen the burdens on already overcrowded jails[9] and further erode the foundational presumption of innocence.[10]
This Note argues that the $5,000 charitable bail cap imposed by the Safer Kentucky Act constitutes a regressive and counterproductive policy that undermines pretrial justice without meaningfully enhancing public safety. Part I examines the structural flaws of Kentucky’s pretrial system, focusing on racial, geographic, and economic disparities. Part II traces the rise of charitable bail organizations as community-based interventions to counter wealth-based detention. Finally, Part III proposes alternative reforms that advance both public safety and equitable access to pretrial liberty.
I. Detained by Design: Poverty, Race, and the Pretrial System in Kentucky
Kentucky incarcerates a greater share of its residents than any other independent democratic nation.[11] This staggering rate reflects not merely criminal conduct, but also decades of economic decline, racial inequality, and policy decisions that deploy incarceration as a mechanism for social control.[12]
A. Structural Poverty and Economic Decline
Once competitive with other states, Kentucky’s economy has undergone a sustained and uneven decline.[13] The collapse of coal and manufacturing industries devastated rural and Appalachian regions, displacing thousands of workers.[14] As job opportunities disappeared, many residents were forced to migrate in search of employment.[15] Although the state generated approximately 250,000 new service-sector jobs in recent years, the majority of these jobs emerged in urban and suburban areas.[16] As a result, the regions most affected by industrial decline saw little benefit.[17] The conditions resulted not only in reduced household income but also in declining tax bases, shrinking federal support, and underinvestment in economic redevelopment.[18]
At the same time, the opioid epidemic exacerbated Kentucky’s social and economic instability.[19] Following the 1996 release of OxyContin—a highly addictive Schedule II narcotic[20]—Purdue Pharma launched an aggressive marketing campaign that disproportionately targeted Appalachian regions, including large swaths of eastern Kentucky.[21] Misled by claims about the drug’s safety and effectiveness, physicians overprescribed OxyContin at alarming rates.[22] This saturation of prescription opioids led to a sharp increase in addiction,[23] which in turn drove up drug-related arrests[24] and overdose fatalities.[25] Today, Kentucky continues to report overdose death rates that exceed those seen during the early years of the epidemic.[26]
B. The Growth of Incarceration as an Economic Strategy
Against this backdrop of economic decline and social instability, many local governments in Kentucky turned to incarceration as a fiscal strategy.[27] Through the Class D Felony Program, the state began paying counties a per diem fee to house individuals convicted of low-level felonies who would otherwise be sent to overcrowded state prisons.[28] Initially conceived as a temporary measure, the program soon became a structural feature of Kentucky’s carceral system.[29] Counties grew reliant on per diem payments, which provided a stable source of revenue and incentivized both the expansion of jail capacity and the prosecution of low-level felony charges.[30] In Appalachian counties, for example, Class D felony convictions nearly doubled over a fifteen-year period.[31] Today, these per diem payments account for a substantial portion of local jail budgets, and facilities across the state continue to operate well beyond their intended capacity.[32]
Beyond direct state funding, Kentucky also generates revenue by imposing financial obligations on defendants and incarcerated individuals.[33] Courts routinely impose fines and fees without assessing a person’s ability to pay, even though state law allows for such waivers.[34] More than one thousand provisions in Kentucky law authorize criminal legal fines and fees, many of which directly fund courts, local agencies, and the state’s general fund.[35] As of January 2019, unpaid court debt in Kentucky exceeded $91 million.[36] Even while incarcerated, individuals are charged for basic needs such as phone calls, medical care, and commissary access.[37] Jails may also impose fees for room and board.[38] These cumulative costs often trap individuals in long-term cycles of debt, extending their entanglement with the criminal legal system.[39]
Kentucky’s reliance on incarceration as a source of revenue is not only shortsighted but also fiscally unsustainable.[40] While framed as a cost-saving strategy, this model has driven up public expenditures, as counties expand jail capacity, and the state shoulders the long-term financial burdens of maintaining an overextended carceral system.[41] The result is a system that extracts revenue from individuals entangled in the criminal legal process while draining state and local budgets.[42] This contradiction has helped drive Kentucky’s rise to the sixth-highest incarceration rate in the nation,[43] while its jails and prisons continue to operate beyond safe capacity.[44]
C. A Pretrial System that Punishes Poverty
The fiscal incentives driving Kentucky’s reliance on incarceration have also permeated its pretrial process, producing detention decisions that turn less on risk than on economic status.[45] These burdens fall especially heavily in poorer, rural counties.[46] Although non-financial pretrial release is uncommon across Kentucky,[47] the consequences of poverty vary dramatically by jurisdiction.[48] In 2018, for instance, only 17% of defendants in Boyd County were granted non-financial pretrial release, compared to 65% in neighboring Lawrence County.[49] Even where courts impose financial conditions rather than outright denying release, most defendants remain incarcerated simply because they cannot afford bail.[50]
The consequences of wealth-based detention extend well beyond the period of confinement.[51] Empirical studies demonstrate that individuals held pretrial are more likely to lose employment, plead guilty regardless of actual guilt, and face higher conviction rates if their cases proceed to trial.[52] Moreover, those who remain detained are more likely to receive longer sentences than similarly situated defendants who were released.[53] In effect, pretrial detention imposes the harshest consequences not on those who pose the greatest risk, but on those who are too poor to buy their freedom.
D. Racial Disparities in Kentucky’s Carceral System
The burdens of pretrial detention do not fall evenly. Alongside poverty, race plays a central role in determining who is detained before trial in Kentucky.[54] Although the state employs the Public Safety Assessment (PSA) tool to evaluate pretrial risk,[55] studies have shown that such risk assessment instruments can replicate and reinforce existing racial biases.[56] These tools rely on data points, such as prior arrests, convictions, and failure-to-appear records, that reflect decades of over-policing and disparate treatment in Black communities.[57] As a result, Black defendants are often rated as higher risk than their white counterparts, even when controlling for similar conduct or criminal history.[58]
These disparities are reflected in Kentucky’s incarceration statistics. As of 2021, Kentucky incarcerated 1,088 Black residents per 100,000, compared to only 375 white residents.[59] The Vera Institute attributes this overrepresentation to racially targeted law enforcement practices, prosecutorial discretion, and implicit bias among judges and juries.[60] Policies such as “three strikes” laws and geographically concentrated “hot spots” policing only reinforces these disparities.[61] Together, these dynamics create a pretrial system in which Black Kentuckians are more likely to be detained and to experience worse outcomes, regardless of the offense or risk posed.
II. The Emergence and Impact of Charitable Bail Organizations
A. Origins and Mission
Charitable bail organizations arose as community-based responses to the inequities of the cash bail system.[62] By intervening on behalf of defendants who cannot afford release, these organizations mitigate the disproportionate impact of pretrial detention on the poor.[63] Their operations are sustained primarily through private fundraising and community contributions.[64]
One of the most prominent examples is The Bail Project, which pioneered the “revolving bail fund” model.[65] Under this approach, the organization posts bail on behalf of clients, and upon refund at the conclusion of the case, reinvests those funds to secure the release of additional individuals.[66] Beyond the posting of bail, The Bail Project provides holistic support to its clients. As Bail Disrupter Megan Diebboll explains, the organization offers court reminders, transportation, and other services designed to promote compliance with release conditions.[67] It also engages in broader advocacy, documenting client experiences to highlight the systemic harms of wealth-based detention and to build public awareness of the costs imposed by cash bail.[68]
B. Demonstrated Success
Charitable bail organizations have achieved measurable success in mitigating the disparities of the bail system. Since its founding in 2017, The Bail Project has reunited more than 30,000 individuals with their families and prevented over 1.18 million days of unnecessary incarceration.[69] Its clients appear for court at rates exceeding 90%,[70] which shows that charitable bail does not compromise court compliance.
Recent data further underscores this impact. Between 2023 and 2024, The Bail Project facilitated more than 250,000 court appearances while maintaining appearance rates above 90%.[71] During that period, roughly one-third of the Bail Project’s cases were ultimately dismissed, resulting in over 21,000 individuals freed from detention for charges that did not result in conviction.[72] These outcomes illustrate that charitable bail organizations reduce unnecessary pretrial detention without jeopardizing public safety. Although not a substitute for systemic reform, charitable bail organizations provide a critical safeguard within Kentucky’s pretrial system by ensuring that liberty is not reserved for those with financial means.
C. Misplaced Blame on Charitable Bail Organizations
The national racial justice protests following the killing of George Floyd in 2020 marked a turning point in the visibility and political salience of charitable bail organizations.[73] Within two months, more than 10,000 protestors were arrested nationwide.[74] The wave of arrests generated an outpouring of public support, with millions of dollars raised to secure the release of detained protestors.[75] As a result, bail funds experienced a dramatic resurgence in popularity and became key players in ensuring that individuals, regardless of financial status, could await trial in their communities.[76]
Their prominence, however, drew heightened scrutiny.[77] Media outlets disproportionately emphasized isolated incidents in which defendants released with the support of charitable bail funds reoffended, even though such cases represented a small minority.[78] These narratives fueled public anxiety and provided political cover for legislatures advancing “tough-on-crime” measures.[79] As a result, charitable bail organizations were increasingly cast not as correctives to systemic inequity, but as scapegoats for broader fears about crime and disorder.[80]
This narrative crystallized in the aftermath of the tragic killing of Madelynn Troutt.[81] Her family brought suit against The Bail Project, alleging negligence in securing the release of the driver involved.[82] Both the Jefferson Circuit Court and the Kentucky Court of Appeals rejected these claims, holding that charitable bail organizations have no legal duty to investigate defendants’ backgrounds or supervise their conduct once released.[83] The courts further emphasized that imposing such obligations would constitute unsound public policy by transforming bail funds into supervisory agencies.[84]
Despite these rulings, Kentucky lawmakers seized upon the incident to advance restrictive legislation.[85] In July 2024, Kentucky enacted “Madelynn’s Law” as part of the broader Safer Kentucky Act, prohibiting charitable bail organizations from posting bail above $5,000.[86] The Act’s sponsors cited more than one hundred academic sources to justify a “tough-on-crime” approach.[87] Yet closer examination reveals that many of these authorities were outdated, tangential, or altogether unrelated to the bill’s provisions.[88]
III. Toward a More Equitable Pretrial System: Alternatives to the Bail Cap
To address the ongoing challenges within Kentucky’s pretrial system and ensure fairer treatment of defendants, the legislature should repeal the $5,000 charitable bail cap imposed by the Safer Kentucky Act. That repeal is essential, but not sufficient. Eliminating restrictions on charitable bail organizations would restore a critical safety valve for low-income defendants, but true reform requires broader structural change. Kentucky must also modernize its pretrial decision-making by adopting more accurate risk assessment tools and drawing on lessons from states that have implemented successful bail reform policies. Together, these reforms would reduce the state’s reliance on cash bail, curtail unnecessary pretrial detention, and promote a more equitable balance between public safety and pretrial liberty.
A. Improving Risk Assessment in Pretrial Decisions
As mentioned before, Kentucky currently relies on the Public Safety Assessment (PSA) tool,[89] which has failed to meaningfully reduce pretrial incarceration and has perpetuated racial disparities.[90] The solution is not to abandon risk assessment altogether, but to replace the PSA with a more accurate tool. One promising alternative is Colorado’s CPAT-R, an updated version of the Colorado Pretrial Assessment Tool.[91] Since its creation, CPAT-R has classified a greater share of defendants as low-risk while reducing racial disparities in outcomes.[92] It has also been validated at higher rates than comparable instruments used across the country.[93] Unlike the PSA, which narrowly weighs age, charge severity, and prior record, the CPAT-R incorporates additional factors such as education, employment, and recency of arrests.[94] By adopting a tool such as CPAT-R, Kentucky could better align its pretrial practices with the goals of fairness, efficiency, and public safety.
B. Learning from Other States’ Bail Reform Models
Kentucky should also draw on the experiences of states that have moved beyond cash bail with demonstrable success. New Jersey’s bipartisan Criminal Justice Reform Act of 2017 reduced the state’s pretrial jail population by more than 20% while maintaining some of the lowest violent crime and gun violence rates in the country.[95] These outcomes were achieved not only by limiting the use of monetary bail, but also by expanding the use of summonses for nonviolent offenses, preventing thousands of individuals from entering the jail pipeline at all.[96]
Illinois provides an even more recent example. As the first state to abolish cash bail outright, Illinois has already reported encouraging results under the Pretrial Fairness Act.[97] In the year following implementation, the state saw reductions in both violent and property crime, decreases in jail populations, and improvements in appearance rates.[98] Crucially, Illinois paired abolition with meaningful investment—$15 million for pretrial support services—to ensure that defendants could comply with court obligations without being detained.[99]
Taken together, these models demonstrate that reducing or eliminating reliance on cash bail need not jeopardize public safety. On the contrary, bail reform can lower jail populations, reduce racial and economic disparities, and improve system efficiency. Kentucky’s continued reliance on cash bail, and now its regressive restrictions on charitable bail organizations, places it increasingly out of step with emerging national consensus.
Conclusion
Kentucky’s pretrial system continues to perpetuate systemic inequities, particularly for low-income and minority defendants. By restricting charitable bail organizations, the Safer Kentucky Act exacerbates these disparities while doing little to promote public safety. Repealing the charitable bail cap is therefore a necessary first step. But repeal must be accompanied by broader reforms: adopting more accurate and equitable risk assessment tools and following the lead of states such as New Jersey and Illinois in reducing reliance on cash bail. These reforms would not only alleviate unnecessary pretrial detention but also move Kentucky toward a more just and effective criminal justice system.
* * J.D. Expected 2026, University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law; B.A. in Political Science, minor in Economics, 2022, Western Kentucky University. I would like to thank the Senior Staff Editors for their thoughtful feedback and careful editing of this Note. I am also deeply grateful to my family and friends for their constant encouragement and support, and to my fellow Volume 114 Editorial Board members for making this experience so meaningful.
[1] Kierstin Foote, Louisville Man Sentenced to More than 20 Years in Prison for Carjacking Leading to Crash That Killed Teen, WAVE (Jan. 27, 2025, at 18:22 EST), https://www.wave3.com/2025/01/27/louisville-man-sentenced-more-than-20-years-prison-carjacking-leading-crash-that-killed-teen [https://perma.cc/F6RL-N5FX]; Natalia Martinez, The Bail Project Once Paid $5,000 Bond for Suspect in Wrong-Way Crash That Killed High School Cheerleader, WAVE (Mar. 2, 2021, at 20:39 PM EST), https://www.wave3.com/2021/03/02/bail-project-once-paid-bond-suspect-wrong-way-crash-that-killed-high-school-cheerleader [https://perma.cc/RY7Y-SEUX].
[2] See, e.g., Mary Ramsey, Butler HS Student Killed in Crash on Dixie Highway; Louisville Man Charged with Murder, Louisville Courier J. (Mar. 3, 2021, at 06:42 ET), https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/traffic/2021/03/01/louisville-traffic-teen-killed-monday-collision-dixie-highway/6880715002 [https://perma.cc/9P6X-69U6]; H.B. 5, 2024 Ky. Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Ky. 2024).
[3] Sylvia Goodman, The Kentucky General Assembly Passes the Safer Kentucky Act, Ky. Pub. Radio (Mar. 28, 2024, at 15:25 EDT), https://www.lpm.org/news/2024-03-28/the-kentucky-general-assembly-adopts-the-safer-ky-act [https://perma.cc/DR6T-6JA8].
[4] See id.
[5] Allie Preston, 3 Reasons Charitable Bail Funds Are Safer, More Just, and More Beneficial to Communities than Commercial Bail Companies, Ctr. for Am. Progress (Apr. 21, 2025), https://www.americanprogress.org/article/3-reasons-charitable-bail-funds-are-safer-more-just-and-more-beneficial-to-communities-than-commercial-bail-companies [https://perma.cc/U95C-KEGW].
[6] Kentucky profile, Prison Pol’y Initiative, https://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/KY.html [https://perma.cc/5B6P-3KK9] (“Kentucky has an incarceration rate of 889 per 100,000 people . . . meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than any independent democratic country on earth.”) (last visited Mar. 22, 2026).
[7] See Bea Halbach-Singh, Jack Norton, Stephen Jones & Jessica Zhang, Vera Inst. Just., The Criminalization of Poverty in Kentucky 11–18 (2023), https://www.vera.org/publications/the-criminalization-of-poverty-in-kentucky [https://perma.cc/96UM-SM8M].
[8] See HB 5 - “Safer” Kentucky Act, ACLU (Jan. 17, 2024), https://www.aclu-ky.org/en/legislation/hb-5-safer-kentucky-act [https://perma.cc/9L8B-S3YF].
[9] See Jeremy Cherson, Bail Funds Are Better than Bail Bond Agents, Bail Project (May 29, 2025), https://bailproject.org/learn/bail-funds-are-better-than-bail-bond-agents [https://perma.cc/X4WB-D7SJ]; The Safer Kentucky Act Makes Jails and Prisons More Dangerous Under ‘Tough-on-Crime’ Guise, Louisville Courier J. (June 20, 2024 at 04:17 ET), https://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/2024/06/20/safer-kentucky-act-worsens-jail-and-prison-conditions/74136339007 [https://perma.cc/269A-Q4QX] (“Twenty-eight jails have 120%, or more, people than beds and ten of those jails are more than 150% overcrowded.”).
[10] See Monika Graham, It Is Time for Bail Reform in America: How Nonprofits Can Join the Fight for Pretrial Justice, All. for Just. (Apr. 18, 2023), https://afj.org/article/it-is-time-for-bail-reform-in-america-how-nonprofits-can-join-the-fight-for-pretrial-justice [https://perma.cc/5SZK-Z2E2]
[11] Prison Pol’y Initiative, supra note 6.
[12] See Halbach-Singh, supra note 7, at 15–18.
[13] See Andrew McNeill, The Lost Decades: Kentucky’s Economic Underperformance 1980-2020 9–11 (2020), https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/content/files/2025/09/LostDecades.pdf [https://perma.cc/H5FN-R2MJ].
[14] Halbach-Singh, supra note 7, at 15.
[15] See Lyman Stone, Kentucky's Migration Story, Medium (Nov. 24, 2014), https://medium.com/migration-issues/kentuckys-migration-story-begins-in-the-bluegrass-d16606dad696 [https://perma.cc/Y7V5-GTX2].
[16] Halbach-Singh, supra note 7, at 15.
[17] See Bill Estep & Liz Moomey, ‘Trying to Hold On.’ Rural Kentucky Losing People as Urban Areas Grow., Lexington Herald Leader (Aug. 13, 2021, at 19:14 ET), https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article253466344.html [https://perma.cc/B6NQ-N5DH].
[18] Id.
[19] Joanna Walters, America’s Opioid Crisis: How Prescription Drugs Sparked a National Trauma, Guardian (Oct. 25, 2017, at 13:00 EDT), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/25/americas-opioid-crisis-how-prescription-drugs-sparked-a-national-trauma [https://perma.cc/2QAF-TGZC].
[20] Kenneth D. Tunnell, The OxyContin Epidemic and Crime Panic in Rural Kentucky, 32 Contemp. Drug Probs. 225, 226 (2005).
[21] See Art Van Zee, The Promotion and Marketing of OxyContin: Commercial Triumph, Public Health Tragedy, 99 Am. J. Pub. Health 221, 221–23 (2009).
[22] See Press Release, H. Comm. on Oversight and Gov’t Reform, Comer: Purdue Pharma and Sackler Family Hold Tremendous Responsibility for Growing Opioid Epidemic (Dec. 17, 2020), https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-purdue-pharma-and-sackler-family-hold-tremendous-responsibility-for-growing-opioid-epidemic [https://perma.cc/N7N5-UUWX].
[23] See Van Zee, supra note 21, at 223.
[24] Just. Pol’y Inst., Due South: Kentucky: Overhauling the Criminal Justice System 1 (2011), https://justicepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/due_south_-_kentucky.pdf [https://perma.cc/G5AT-43WU] (“Between 2000 and 2009, the percentage of all admissions to prison that were for drug offenses rose from 30 percent to 38 percent.”).
[25] See David Akers, Peter Rock, Svetla Slavova & Terry L. Bunn, Ky. Inj. Prevention Rsch. Ctr., Drug Overdose Deaths in Kentucky, 2000-2015 3 (2016).
[26] Id.; Mental Health and Substance Use State Fact Sheets, KFF (Mar. 20, 2023), https://www.kff.org/statedata/mental-health-and-substance-use-state-fact-sheets/kentucky [https://perma.cc/J2V5-4GSR].
[27] See Halbach-Singh, supra note 7, at 22–27.
[28] Id. at 23.
[29] Id. at 25.
[30] Id. at 24–27.
[31] Id. at 25.
[32] Id. at 25–26.
[33] Ashley Spalding, Pam Thomas, Patience Martin, Scott West & Kaylee Raymer, The Hidden Web of Criminal Legal System Fines and Fees in Kentucky, Ky. Ctr. for Econ. Pol’y 3 (2025), https://kypolicy.org/the-hidden-web-of-criminal-legal-system-fines-and-fees-in-kentucky [https://perma.cc/DU67-45NG].
[34] Id.
[35] Id. at 8.
[36] Id. at 3.
[37] Kaylee Raymer, Report: Criminal Fines and Fees Drive up Incarceration, Push Kentuckians Deeper Into Poverty, Ky. Ctr. for Econ. Pol’y (2023), https://kypolicy.org/kentucky-criminal-legal-system-fines-and-fees [https://perma.cc/PBL5-Y8WZ].
[38] Id.
[39] Spalding, supra note 33, at 1.
[40] See id. at 18.
[41] See Ashley Spalding, Pam Thomas & Dustin Pugel, The Golden Key: How State-Local Financial Incentives to Lock up Kentuckians Are Perpetuating Mass Incarceration, Ky. Ctr. for Econ. Pol’y 2 (2021), https://kypolicy.org/the-golden-key-how-state-local-financial-incentives-to-lock-up-kentuckians-are-perpetuating-mass-incarceration [https://perma.cc/C7EN-RMWS].
[42] See Vera Inst. Just., What Jails Cost Kentucky, https://www.vera.org/publications/what-jails-cost-statewide/kentucky [https://perma.cc/F946-ZZXN] (last visited Mar. 28, 2026).
[43] See Emily Widra, States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2024, Prison Pol’y Initiative (June 2024), https://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2024.html [https://perma.cc/448Q-6XSD].
[44] Taylor Six, 234 People Have Died in Kentucky Jails Since 2020. Critics Call It a ‘Systemic Failure’, Lexington Herald Leader (Mar. 6, 2025 at 13:19 ET), https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/crime/article294662219.html [https://perma.cc/3A3E-XXWW].
[45] Ky. Advisory Comm. to the U.S. Comm’n on C.R., Locked Up for Being Poor: The Need for Bail Reform in Kentucky 9 (2021).
[46] See Vera Inst. Just., supra note 42; See Halbach-Singh, supra note 7, at 8.
[47] Ashley Spalding, Ky. Ctr. for Econ. Pol’y, Disparate Justice: Where Kentuckians Live Determines Whether They Stay in Jail Because They Can’t Afford Cash Bail, 3 (2019), https://kypolicy.org/disparate-justice-where-kentuckians-live-determines-whether-they-stay-in-jail [https://perma.cc/ZG42-YXG5].
[48] Id. at 4.
[49] Id.
[50] Id. at 5 (“At the county level, in Hopkins County 99% of cases subject to financial conditions resulted in pretrial release, while in Wolfe County, only 17% did.”).
[51] Léon Digard & Elizabeth Swavola, Vera Inst. Just., Justice Denied: The Harmful and Lasting Effects of Pretrial Detention, 2–6 (2019), https://vera-institute.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/publications/Justice-Denied-Evidence-Brief.pdf [https://perma.cc/KZ9C-4N9D].
[52] Id.
[53] Diana D’Abruzzo, The Harmful Ripples of Pretrial Detention, Advancing Pretrial Pol’y & Rsch. (Apr. 13, 2022), https://www.advancingpretrial.org/story/the-harmful-ripples-of-pretrial-detention-2 [https://perma.cc/EH5C-2CA8].
[54] Wendy Sawyer, How Race Impacts Who Is Detained Pretrial, Prison Pol’y Initiative (Oct. 9, 2019), https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2019/10/09/pretrial_race [https://perma.cc/3TUA-C4MM].
[55] Laura & John Arnold Found., Results from the First Six Months of the Public Safety Assessment – Court in Kentucky 1 (2014), https://nmcourts.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Arnold-Foundation-Public-Safety-Assessment-Court-Kentucky-6-Month-Report.pdf [https://perma.cc/28FU-2SU5].
[56] Beth Schwartzapfel, Can Racist Algorithms Be Fixed?, Marshall Project (July 1, 2019, at 06:00 EDT), https://www.themarshallproject.org/2019/07/01/can-racist-algorithms-be-fixed [https://perma.cc/4V9H-EB98].
[57] See Megan Stevenson, Assessing Risk Assessment in Action, 103 Minn. L. Rev. 303, 328 (2018).
[58] See Ky. Advisory Comm. to the U.S. Comm’n on C. R., supra note 45, at 1.
[59] Prison Pol’y Initiative, supra note 6.
[60] Elizabeth Hinton, LeShae Henderson & Cindy Reed, Vera Inst. Just., An Unjust Burden: The Disparate Treatment of Black Americans in the Criminal Justice System 7–9 (2018), https://vera-institute.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/publications/for-the-record-unjust-burden-racial-disparities.pdf [https://perma.cc/J52L-FPHH].
[61] Id. at 3, 5.
[62] Preston, supra note 5.
[63] Id.
[64] Casey Mosley, Legislative Response to the Rapid Growth of Charitable Bail Organizations, 16 Tenn. J. L. & Pol’y 68, 70 (2023).
[65] Model, Bail Project, https://bailproject.org/model [https://perma.cc/XW6U-HSRY] (last visited Mar. 29, 2026).
[66] Id.
[67] Rachel Goldman, Megan Diebboll & Asia Johnson, Freedom Should Be Free: An Interview with the Bail Project, 24 CUNY L. Rev. 62, 62 (2021).
[68] Id. at 63.
[69] The Bail Project, Annual Report 10–11 (2023), https://bailproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/the_bail_project_annual_report_2023.pdf [https://perma.cc/45YX-5ENQ].
[70] Id.
[71] See id.; The Bail Project, Annual Report 14–15 (2024), https://bailproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/bail_project_annual_report_2024_web.pdf [https://perma.cc/7M58-FZCS].
[72] The Bail Project, supra note 69, at 10–11; The Bail Project, supra note 71, at 14–15.
[73] Kay Dervishi, Nonprofit Bail Funds, Fueled by a Surge of Funds After George Floyd Protests, Face New Challenges, Chron. Philanthropy (June 6, 2023), https://www.philanthropy.com/article/nonprofit-bail-funds-fueled-by-a-surge-of-funds-after-george-floyd-protests-face-new-challenges [https://perma.cc/8QBD-SWQC].
[74] Anita Snow, AP Tally: Arrests at Widespread US Protests Hit 10,000, AP News (June 4, 2020, at 03:23 EDT), https://apnews.com/article/american-protests-us-news-arrests-minnesota-burglary-bb2404f9b13c8b53b94c73f818f6a0b7 [https://perma.cc/R2MC-EYZN].
[75] Nicholas Kulish, Bail Funds, Flush with Cash, Learn to ‘Grind Through This Horrible Process’, N.Y. Times (June 26, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/business/bail-funds.html [https://perma.cc/KH6Q-6G7N].
[76] See Dervishi, supra note 73.
[77] Mosley, supra note 64, at 71.
[78] Lawrence Andrea, The Bail Project Sues Indiana over Restricting Law, Citing Constitutional Infringements, IndyStar (May 5, 2022, at 13:01 ET), https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2022/05/04/bail-project-sues-indiana-over-law-restricting-who-they-bail-out-of-jail/9632177002 [https://perma.cc/6UB9-FTL8].
[79] Jamiles Lartey, These States Are Once Again Embracing ‘Tough-on-Crime’ Laws, Marshall Project (Mar. 9, 2024, at 12:00 EST), https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/03/09/louisiana-georgia-kentucky-tough-on-crime [https://perma.cc/2N9R-SX4V].
[80] “[Republican Representative John Blanton] warned that the organizations had ‘no guardrails’ and were ‘indiscriminately going and bailing people out.’” Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Kentucky House OKs Bill to Limit Bail Organizations, AP News (Mar. 1, 2022, at 16:46 EDT), https://apnews.com/article/shootings-kentucky-philanthropy-archive-louisville-a715ab1f0e0971cbaee8d5eb386c7328 [https://perma.cc/CD2V-F46Q].
[81] See Noelle Friel, ‘Madelynn’s Law’ in Honor of Madelynn Troutt passes as Part of Safer Kentucky Act, WAVE (Mar. 28, 2024, at 22:53 EDT), https://www.wave3.com/2024/03/29/madelynns-law-honor-madelynn-troutt-passes-part-safer-kentucky-act [https://perma.cc/FPA6-Z963].
[82] Troutt v. The Bail Project, No. 2023-CA-0171-MR, 2024 Ky. App. Unpub. LEXIS 225, at *3 (Ky. Ct. App. Apr. 19, 2024).
[83] Id. at *9–10.
[84] Id.
[85] Jack Karp, Do New Laws Seek to Regulate Charitable Bail, or End It?, LAW360 (April 5, 2024, at 19:04 EDT), https://www.law360.com/articles/1820106 [https://perma.cc/X3PG-JXNZ].
[86] Id.
[87] Sylvia Goodman, Criminologists Cited in Support of Safer Kentucky Act Wonder Why, Louisville Pub. Media: Ky. Pub. Radio (Feb. 22, 2024, at 06:00 EST), https://www.lpm.org/news/2024-02-22/criminologists-cited-in-support-of-safer-kentucky-act-wonder-why [https://perma.cc/7MXN-PHSL].
[88] Id.
[89] Laura & John Arnold Found., supra note 55, at 1.
[90] See Jeff Clayton, Kentucky Pretrial Release System – Ineffective Waste of Resources, Am. Bail Coalition (Jan. 18, 2018), https://ambailcoalition.org/kentucky-pretrial-release-system-ineffective-waste-resources [https://perma.cc/4PDQ-YQHE]; Savannah Molyneaux, Are Algorithms Increasing Bias? A Discussion of the Use of Risk Assessment Tools in Kentucky’s Criminal Courts, Ky. L.J. Online: Blogs (Apr. 23, 2024), https://www.kentuckylawjournal.org/blog/are-algorithms-increasing-bias-a-discussion-of-the-use-of-risk-assessment-tools-in-kentuckys-criminal-courts [https://perma.cc/HX5F-3AKE].
[91] Sydney Kern, Collaboration to Improve Pretrial Risk Assessment Earns National Recognition, U. of N. Colo. (July 29, 2024), https://www.unco.edu/news/articles/cpat-r-award-24.aspx#:~:text=Overall%2C%20the%20new%20tool%20worked,they%20helped%20make%20something%20meaningful [https://perma.cc/978R-8T7X].
[92] Id.
[93] Id.
[94] Lisel Petis, Tools for Safe and Smart Bail System Changes: Pretrial Assessments, R Street (July 19, 2023), https://www.rstreet.org/commentary/tools-for-safe-and-smart-bail-system-changes-pretrial-assessments [https://perma.cc/B4JX-RN4T].
[95] Thomas Hanna, The Facts on New Jersey Bail Reform, Arnold Ventures (Mar. 1, 2023), https://www.arnoldventures.org/stories/the-facts-on-new-jersey-bail-reform [https://perma.cc/FU9B-KNPG]; Chip Brownlee, New Jersey Ditched Cash Bail. Research Shows the Reform Didn’t Increase Violence, Trace (June 4, 2024), https://www.thetrace.org/2024/06/new-jersey-bail-reform-crime-data-study [https://perma.cc/WY3T-LQQ7].
[96] Tremendous Positive Change, Advancing Pretrial Pol’y & Rsch. (Nov. 10, 2020), https://advancingpretrial.org/story/tremendous-positive-change [https://perma.cc/EY8E-T5GQ].
[97] See Lisel Petis, Illinois Shows How Bail Can Work Better, R Street (Sept. 25, 2024), https://www.rstreet.org/commentary/illinois-shows-how-bail-can-work-better [https://perma.cc/QC98-M6R4].
[98] Id.
[99] Bella Lubelchek, Reinvention Through Reinvestment: How Illinois’s Pretrial Success Act Changes the Way We Should Look at Bail Reform, Columbia Pol. Rev. (Aug. 12, 2024), https://www.cpreview.org/articles/2024/8/reinvention-through-reinvestment-how-illinoiss-pretrial-success-act-changes-the-way-we-should-look-at-bail-reform [https://perma.cc/3JZB-G8ZC].