The Minnesota Freedom Fund announced this week that it will “shift away” from paying pretrial cash bails and immigration bonds.
“This change will mean that more people will be jailed pretrial this year in the areas we serve,” the statement said, according to KSTP. “We are shifting our strategy to become more vocal, more effective, and more impactful.”
The organization reportedly plans to focus more on “advocacy” and “community education.”
The Minneapolis‐based nonprofit has drawn fire for bailing out offenders accused of violent crimes. Alpha News reported that after raising more than $40 million in 2020, the fund posted bail for individuals who went on to be charged with murder, sex offenses and serious assaults.
In one case, a man bailed out for an assault in a bar bathroom was, just three days later, charged with lewd acts in front of children.
One beneficiary, George Howard, was in custody for domestic assault. After being bailed out by the fund, he was subsequently charged with murder. Another, Lionel Timms, was in custody for a violent assault of a passenger on a Metro Transit bus. He subsequently left a Northeast Minneapolis bar manager with a brain injury in a violent assault 11 days after being bailed out by MFF, Crime Watch Minneapolis reported.
1/
We've had requests for a list of offenders @MNFreedomFund has bailed out who've gone on to commit new crimes, including serious assault, sex assault, murder. This list is by no means comprehensive, it's only those we know.Link to this list when contacting your legislators.
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) February 16, 2022
Local corporations Medtronic and Ecolab both matched employee donations to the organization in the past, drawing additional scrutiny to the fund’s bail postings.
Lawmakers attempted to curb the practice. In 2021, the GOP‐led Senate passed a bill barring nonprofits from bailing out repeat violent offenders, and Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, introduced legislation to prohibit organizations from registering in the state for the purpose of providing bail.
The Minnesota Freedom Fund defended its work in a 2022 statement on social media, saying it seeks to “extend the same constitutional right to cash bail to everyone, regardless of their wealth.”
“The cash bail system criminalizes poverty, forcing legally innocent people with less wealth to remain incarcerated while wealthier people accused of the same crime go free,” the statement continued.
The fund exploded with a $40 million windfall during the George Floyd riots of 2020 following social media promotions by celebrities such as former Vice President Kamala Harris, Justin Timberlake, Steve Carell, Seth Rogen and Chrissy Teigen. According to its website, the organization has “freed” 2,978 people from “wealth-based jailing” and has spent more than $20 million on paying cash bails.
The statement from the Minnesota Freedom Fund regarding the shift said that the organization believes it can be more impactful by “investing in the fight to transform the system.”
“For every person whose release we facilitate, another person is arrested and booked into that same cell,” the statement reads. The group vowed to “become more vocal, more effective, and more impactful.”
The Minnesota Freedom Fund says it remains committed to ending “discriminatory, coercive and oppressive jailing,” even as it changes tactics. “We’re not going anywhere, we’re digging in,” the organization declared.
Hayley Feland
Hayley Feland previously worked as a journalist with The Minnesota Sun, The Wisconsin Daily Star, and The College Fix. She is a Minnesota native with a passion for politics and journalism.
