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ABOUT US

Our mission is to reduce the direct harms caused by criminalization, incarceration, and deportation while building power among the people and families in our community who are most impacted by these systems.

We run the following programs:

  • The Pretrial Defense Fund is our bail fund in the criminal legal system, allowing community members to fight their cases in court from a position of freedom instead of remaining in jail due to poverty.

  • The Immigrant Bail Fund is our bail fund in the immigration system. We are revitalizing our Immigrant Bail Fund webpage. Stay tuned for updates! If you would like to donate to the Immigrant Bail Fund, please click here.

  • Our Family Justice Hub is a Participatory Defense space that meets weekly . This is a community organizing space where families fighting criminal and/or immigration cases can come together to build solidarity and create strategies to positively influence their case outcomes. To learn more about this approach, visit https://www.participatorydefense.org/.

  • Our Women’s Group is a mutual aid collective dedicated to building power among women who have been impacted by systems of state violence.

  • Created during the COVID-19 pandemic, our Prison Support Hotline is a volunteer-run program that facilitates support for incarcerated people. To date, we have fielded hotline calls from over 1,000 people in CT DOC and immigration prison.


FULL-TIME S T A F F

Tasha Blanco, Co-Director

Jewu Richardson, Co-Director

Kim Mendez, Operations & Intake Manager

Steve Cotton, Community Organizer

Marcus Lane, Media Coordinator

Matthew Abraham, Re-Entry Coordinator

PART-TIME S T A FF

Norman Clement, Bail Recovery Assistant

Greta Johnson, Bailout Assistant