Yolanda Johnson had been in the Jefferson County Jail for four months awaiting trial for crimes she did not commit when a Birmingham activist group bailed her out.
Faith & Works, founded by Cara McClure in 2019, paid her $20,000 bond in full and found her placement at an alcohol treatment facility in October 2021. Johnson eventually had her court date in June 2022, where she was found innocent of first-degree assault and third-degree assault.
Faith & Works is a social-justice and civic-engagement collective. Part of its work includes bailing out Black mothers who cannot afford to make bond. Advocates say mothers are integral to the Black community, which is disproportionately impacted by incarceration.
“Black communities really suffer when we lose our mothers,” McClure said.
Johnson said she missed her children when she was in jail and was unable to help them in any way during her time incarcerated.
The Pew Charitable Trusts examined 595 jails across the nation and found that Black people are incarcerated in jails at more than four times the rate of white people and stay in jail 12 more days on average than white people, as of 2022.