ATLANTA (AP) — When she was behind bars in Georgia, Nia Thomas would use toothpaste to stick handwritten flyers to the wall and spread the word about community bail funds that could pay inmates’ bonds, no strings attached.
“I was posting the phone numbers in everybody’s rooms, everybody’s dorms, every jail I went to,” Thomas said.
But wide-scale initiatives like the one that paid $50,000 for her pretrial release on drug trafficking charges in May 2022 could be significantly restricted, if not criminalized, under a Georgia bill awaiting Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature. Opponents have called the measure an unprecedented attack on bail funds, churches and other community organizations that post inmates’ bonds as they await trial.
Thomas, a mother of four who is currently awaiting sentencing after reaching a plea deal, s