The Bail Project Returns to Atlanta

ATLANTA — The Bail Project, a national nonprofit that helps thousands of low-income people behind bars, announced Monday that it will reopen its Atlanta branch after a judge temporarily blocked part of a Georgia law that prohibits organizations from helping people pay bail.

Last month, the Bail Project said it would no longer be able to help people post bail in Georgia because of a new Republican-backed law limiting people and organizations from posting more than three cash bail bonds per year unless they meet expanded requirements to become bail bond companies.

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The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia and other organizations filed a lawsuit, calling the law “cruel” and “making it illegal for people to exercise their First Amendment rights to help those who are detained solely because they are poor.”

U.S. District Judge Victoria Marie Calvert on July 12 granted a preliminary injunction requested by the plaintiffs, ruling that the three-bail limit is essentially arbitrary.

“Posting bail for others as an act of faith and an expression of the need for reform has a significant history in this country,” Calvert said.

The Bail Project now announces that it is resuming operations in Atlanta.

“Our support for 31,000 people across the country – including 1,600 in Atlanta – who have returned to 91 percent of their court dates provides compelling evidence that cash bail is not necessary and that investing in better pretrial infrastructure and support services provides better solutions,” the organization said in a statement. “We are grateful for this decision and hope it becomes permanent.”

The Georgia Attorney General’s Office appealed. It argued that the law did not violate the plaintiffs’ right to freedom of expression and association because it only regulates nonexpressive behavior. The state argues that the plaintiffs can still criticize Georgia’s cash bail system and that paying bail does not send any message in and of itself.

Supporters of the measure argued that well-meaning organizations should have no problem following the same rules as bail bonds companies. These include passing background checks, paying fees, having a business license, getting approval from the local sheriff and opening an escrow account for cash or other collateral.

The move comes amid conservative efforts to restrict community bail funds, which were used to post bail for people involved in the 2020 protests against racial injustice and, more recently, to free people jailed while protesting a new public safety training center under construction near Atlanta.