Besides posting bail, Bukit Bail Fund joins Our Streets Collective to distribute food to people being released from Allegheny County Jail on Tuesdays, as seen here on Feb. 25. (Photo by Amaya Lobato Rivas / Next Generation Newsroom)

By Bella Markovitz/PublicSource

It started in 2019 with a PayPal link and less than $5,000. It’s grown into the only community bail fund in the Pittsburgh region. 

Bukit Bail Fund supports people held for trial at the Allegheny County Jail by posting bail at no cost to the defendants. Like similar efforts across the country, the fund’s organizers say their work is a way to address injustices in the criminal justice system.  

“Being an abolitionist organization means being care-oriented when it comes to harm,” said Eli Namay, a volunteer with Bukit. “These institutions [jails and prisons] attempt to prevent us from organizing for a truly democratic, egalitarian society. This is why it is imperative we take bail fund and prisoner support work seriously, not only to reduce harm in the immediate term, but as part of a larger movement ecology aimed at growing a world based on care for both people and planet.”

Unlike companies that specialize in posting bail for people, Bukit doesn’t assess the risk of a person failing to show up for their court date. If a judge deems a person is eligible for bail, Bukit bails people out of jail as funds are available, on a first-come, first-served basis through a revolving fund that’s replenished when people make their court dates.

“We’re not in a position to make those evaluations,” said Edwin Everhart, a volunteer with Bukit. “We’re not interested in making those evaluations.” 

(For the rest of the story, visit https://www.publicsource.org/bukit-bail-fund-allegheny-county-jail-frank-smart-corrections-pittsburgh/)

Bella Markovitz is an editorial intern at PublicSource and can be reached at bella@publicsource.org.

Markovitz reported this story as winner of the 2024 Pittsburgh Pitch, a competition held through the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University that invites people to pitch a story, and win money to report it.

Amaya Lobato Rivas is a photojournalist intern for the Spring 2025 semester at Next Generation Newsroom, a news service operated through the Center for Media Innovation. She is a senior at the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in media and professional communications and minoring in film and media studies. Reach her at amaya.lobato@pointpark.edu