The cash bail system allows people who have never stood trial or been convicted of a crime to be locked away for years at a time, all because they cannot afford to pay bail.

Kalief Browder was held at Riker's Island for three years, much of it in solitary confinement, because his family could not afford to pay his bail after he was accused of stealing a backpack. The state of New York worked for three years to build a case against him and failed. Kalief tragically died by suicide two years after his release. He was 22 years old.

Kalief Browder's detention is not a unique story. Cash bail creates a system of where people across the country are denied freedom of movement, employment, and human rights despite being found guilty of no crime besides poverty.

This system is fundamentally racist and classist. Low-income black and brown people are disproportionately forced into jails away from their families and communities while they await trial--sometimes for several years!

In a criminal justice system that regularly targets and overpolices poor black and brown people, cash bail is inherently racist and must be ended now.

Sign the petition: The U.S. needs cash bail reform now!