Organizers Raise More Than $21,000 for Bailout Campaign

Last week’s fundraising campaign to bail Black mothers out of jail raised $21,813 before it closed in time for the weekend.

Gina Spencer, who organized the fundraiser, said she was able to get one woman released from the Multnomah County Jail, but encountered difficulties at Washington County, where she was told the person she intended to bail out had a warrant in another state.

According to Deputy Jeff Talbot, the public information officer for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the county runs warrant checks for inmates at the time they are incarcerated and at the time they are released. In this case, the woman Spencer attempted to bail out did not have any outstanding warrants in the initial check, but a warrant from Pierce County did turn up during warrant check before release. He also said once bail is placed on an inmate’s books, that money either belongs to the inmate or goes to the courts. In this case, bail went to the latter, which is why the money Spencer posted was not refunded. The Skanner will update this story as more information becomes available.

Most of the money raised hadn’t been released from the fundraiser by Friday, Spencer said, and organizers will keep working to bail women out as funds are released. (It’s common for transactions from crowdfunding sites to take two to five days to appear in the designated bank accounts, as the support guide for Fundly notes.)