Celebrating the Anniversary of the Humphrey Decision

Eight months after he was released from his own Humphrey hearing, Mr. Kenneth Humphrey sits in his home with his longtime partner Judy. They live a quiet life - walks on the lake, family gatherings.

Pausing in front of the hallway mirror before he heads to court, Mr. Humphrey is relieved to wear his own clothes as he attends court.

While Mr. Humphrey is grateful to be out on his own recognizance, the thought of facing a life sentence still wears heavy on his mind. Mr. Humphrey is accused of stealing $5 and a bottle of cologne from a neighbor. And because of his prior strikes from years ago, he is facing his 3rd strike.

Ms. Judy watches the news as Mr. Humphrey sits with his morning breakfast of tea, egg and toast. In about half an hour, he will be leaving home to go to court to hear about whether his case is set for trial or dismissed.

Morning peaks as Mr. Humphrey and Ms. Judy head out to court. To make the 9AM court appearance in San Francisco, they leave home by 7AM and sit in traffic.

Ms. Judy has made all of Mr. Humphrey's court appearances to support him, and today is no different. This time, they head inside to court together, rather than she waiting from the pews and he walking out of the locked doors in an orange jumpsuit.

About a year ago, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi and community organizations with the Participatory Defense Network like Young Women's Freedom Center stood outside the steps of this courthouse to celebrate the historic Humphrey ruling that changed money bail in California as we know it. Today, a year later, Mr. Humphrey stands outside those same steps, carving a space in history for those courageous enough to change it.

For the full article visit here

On January 25, 2018, the California appellate court published a groundbreaking decision — In Re: Kenneth Humphrey — that challenged California’s broken bail system as unlawful and discriminatory. The case, brought by Civil Rights Corps and the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, was filed on behalf of Mr. Kenneth Humphrey — to date the most significant figure in the struggle for bail reform in California history. Mr. Humphrey, a retiree residing in San Francisco, was accused of following a neighbor into his residential hotel room and stealing $5 and a bottle of cologne. He was originally detained on a $600,000 bail amount. His attorneys filed a habeas appeal challenging not only his detention, but also the bail system itself that forced him and thousands of others across the state to be priced out of their liberty and stripped of their freedom. The 2018 January appellate ruling declared Mr. Humphrey’s detention as unconstitutional, and created a new pathway to ending pretrial detention and a parasitic bail bond industry that capitalized on the criminal court system’s targeting of communities of color.

One year later, we honor the courage of Mr. Humphrey, the vigilance of his legal team, and the movement of communities impacted by money bail and pretrial detention who are using the Humphrey decision to free their loved ones. The anniversary though comes at an extremely tenuous time in California’s moment of changes in bail law. Rather than building off of the Humphrey decision to further the states’ need for pretrial freedom while eliminating money bail — in the end of 2018 legislators voted in an expansive pretrial detention system masquerading as bail reform called SB10 which gives unfettered power to judges, and relies on racist risk assessment tools, to incarcerate those accused of a crime.

Continue reading here.