Bail Project In Trouble

 

The Bail Project has been in some hot water for the last few months, after three people in Indianapolis committed crimes after their releases were assisted by the organization.

David Gasper is the national operations director for The Bail Project. He tells IndyPolitics the organization’s goal is to put an end to cash bail, which he claims is another obstacle for people to overcome, when they don’t necessarily have the means to overcome that obstacle.

“Post release, we provide court reminders, transportation assistance, and we connect them with resources to fulfill the needs we’ve identified in our conversations with them,” Gasper tells IndyPolitics.

Those needs could be anything including housing, employment or mental health services. Gasper says there’s more to the process of getting to help people than most realize. He says the organization has to wait for a judge to approve a cash bail release.

“A bail out decision is not based on the charge alone,” Gasper explains, “we take in the presumption of innocence. We know our role is not to determine if the charges are substantiated by evidence – that’s the court’s responsibility to do.”

Three men that have been released with the assistance of The Bail Project went on to commit violent crimes. Two men were charged with murder. Another man was charged with the attempted murder of two Indianapolis police officers.

Gasper responds to those crimes, “unfortunately with these tragic events, they have and will happen. But it shouldn’t overshadow the thousands of other people we’ve been able to assist.”

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