00:00Your options are maintain your innocence and stay on Rikers Island or plead guilty and go home.
00:06She couldn't pay $500 at that time and because of a $500 bail, her life was taken.
00:14Life was literally over for me because like, where am I going to get this money from?
00:30That is one of the great injustices we're trying to solve here, where bail is set, someone who's poor sits in jail, they sit there long enough, and yes, bail is, as you pointed out, then used as leverage to elicit a guilty plea, which then follows that young person around for the rest of their lives.
00:56I think bail is supposed to take into consideration a person's ability to pay, and it hasn't done that over time.
01:02And what we've seen in our sort of like an arraignment and what's going on in courts is that sometimes folks sneak on a train because they don't have $2.75.
01:12So once they get into court, they're given a bail of $500.
01:15So if you don't have $2.75, there's no way you're even going to have $250 to get out.
01:20And in that context, the person just languishes on Riga's Island with an inability to get out because of this wealth-based detention.
01:28It was life. Life was awesome. To me, we didn't have it all, but together we had everything.
01:52I wish I could go back and relive those moments, so I wish I could rewind time and just have her here with me.
02:01My sister, Lailene Polanco, she was arrested on a misdemeanor charge, and she was held at Riga's Island on a $500 bell.
02:09She was placed in solitary confinement despite her medical condition. She was epileptic.
02:15They held her there knowing that she had a medical condition. They were very aware of it, and my sister was found unresponsive in her cell.
02:26June 7th was when they told us what happened to—well, that my sister was found unresponsive.
02:31We didn't find out until two months later what happened, how she passed away.
02:37They went silent on us completely.
02:39I just remember my whole world feeling like it was collapsing around me, and I felt like I was in a twilight zone.
02:57It's not right that because they can't pay $500, they send them to these prisons where now they have to fight for their lives.
03:07For instance, my sister obviously didn't have it because she would have bailed herself out, and she wasn't going to tell us because she was very protective of us and just very independent and wanted to do things herself, which is okay.
03:20But like her, she couldn't pay $500 at that time, and because of a $500 bail, her life was taken.
03:30She's not here today.
03:31She was sent to Rikers, and she was placed in the solitary confinement, and boy, she died because of a $500 bail.
03:40To me and my family, it's very important that bail, cash bail ends, and solitary confinement ends.
03:48And the re-informed litigation should go into effect.
03:52Why do we have to wait until January of 2020?
03:56My sister would have been alive, and I'm pretty sure from here to 2020, there will be other families in my situation, sad to say.
04:06I was almost speechless because of the handcuffs on my baby.
04:35I said, why would they have to bring her out there with handcuffs on her?
04:39And so when I'm sitting here watching her standing there with the handcuffs on her, and I'm saying to the office, can't they take their handcuffs off of her?
04:48And he said, not until they call her up to the judge.
04:51When she went up for the judge, the judge set her bail for $2,500, and that was a cash bail.
04:59It was like after $5,000, but we had to come up with $2,500, like, within hours.
05:05I knew it was time for bills.
05:06It was time for my mortgage to be paid.
05:09I didn't care.
05:10So I said, no, I just went to the bank, and I drew the money out.
05:13I said, because she is not getting on the bus to go to the records dollar.
05:17So I just, like, you know, I forget about the bill.
05:20So if they send me a letter, whatever, but no, no, she's not going in that system.
05:23So I had to make a decision, which I did.
05:33I got more involved with bail reform because young girls coming out, they had handcuffs on myself.
05:39I just wanted to cry for them.
05:41Now, I have an organization called NYCC.
05:45So, yes, that's what made me get involved.
05:48I would love to see free bail for everyone, and I will continue to fight.
05:53Until something is happening.
05:55The communities by which 85% of the people who are contributing to mask incarceration comes from,
06:01it's low-level communities.
06:02It's the low-hanging fruit.
06:04We want a total re-analysis of that.
06:06We want to critique that, and we want those sort of, like, practices to stop in those impacted communities.
06:12Robert's birthday is May 13th, so it was early May.
06:15So, June 2nd, I was bringing Robert home from school, and there were two white men at my door.
06:25So, they were like, are you throwing shivers?
06:32I was like, yes, I am.
06:34They was like, well, you know what we're here for?
06:37I was like, no.
06:40He was like, well, you're under arrest.
06:43In front of my son, we just coming home from the charter school.
06:47Arrest for what?
06:49Assault.
06:50Who did I assault?
06:52You know?
06:53So, they handcuffed me in front of my son.
06:57Thank God my sister lived in the building, because they just handcuffed me and took me to their car.
07:04Here it is, only 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
07:08My son's just getting home from school.
07:11Now, you got me here at this precinct, and I got to stay till tomorrow?
07:15What?
07:16So, I get in front of the judge, and the judge is like, well, this is just for bond now.
07:21You know, it's nothing about the incident.
07:25So, the judge says, do you work?
07:28I was like, no.
07:29They was like, do you have any income coming in?
07:32I said, yes, sir.
07:34I get $695 a month.
07:37The judge said, your bond is $1,000.
07:40They usually want 20%, but they charge me $300 to get out on that $1,000.
07:45Life was over.
07:47Life was literally over for me, because like, where am I going to get this money from?
07:52And before I knew it, the landlord had called the sheriff's office and said, well, we want her out of here.
08:06And the sheriff came to my house to put me out.
08:09Even throughout the 80s and the 90s, not only the drug laws, but bail.
08:20Bail has been the number one driving force of mass incarceration.
08:23For instance, if you're languishing on Rikers Island, your options are maintain your innocence and stay on Rikers Island, or plead guilty and go home.
08:32The majority of the people will plead guilty just to go home.
08:37So we've been interrupting that process.
08:39So the first thing to do is just to get involved.
08:41Get involved with some of your local legislation.
08:43Get involved with some of your community members.
08:46I think we need to hold our elected officials accountable, and that's something that even citizens can do.
08:51I was wrong, and I have a lot of anger inside of me.
08:55But I'm just going to take this anger and make it work for me.
08:59I'm going to make sure this doesn't happen to nobody else.
09:02It's not going to happen to nobody else.
09:04We can't.
09:05I have a son, and I vow with all of this community service that I do for my community, there's a need.
09:12People need me here.
09:13I have a purpose.
09:15I want to be a part of this fight.
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