Striking Down the Money Bail System in California
Humphrey
In partnership with the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, Civil Rights Corps has filed and won numerous state and federal habeas petitions on behalf of people in jail awaiting trial who were detained solely because they were unable to pay money bail. Our work led the California Attorney General to announce that: “The Department of Justice has determined that it will not defend any application of the bail law that does not take into consideration a person’s ability to pay, or alternative methods of ensuring a person’s appearance at trial.”
In March 2021, the California Supreme Court issued one of the best and most thorough opinions in American history on the subject of bail. The court granted a writ of habeas corpus to our client, 63-year-old Kenneth Humphrey and, in the process, wrote an opinion that revolutionizes bail setting in California: holding that it violates the state and federal Constitutions to jail someone solely because they cannot pay money bail. After decades of unconstitutional detention of the poor, the Humphrey case sets a vital precedent that will go a long way toward ending our unjust money bail system.
After Humphrey, our pretrial habeas project has expanded: providing trainings and partnering, so far, with 16 county public defender offices spanning 5 of California’s 6 intermediate appellate districts and the California Supreme Court. Our team challenges pretrial detention orders that violate Humphrey and raises novel constitutional questions aimed at expanding the right to pretrial release statewide. As of April 2025, the Habeas Project has filed over 100 habeas petitions on behalf of people detained in California. The project continues to push forward the cutting edge of bail law in California and nationally.
In connection with our work in the courts, we are partnering with directly impacted people, community organizers, public defenders, and local officials across California to denormalize pretrial human caging and to change the assembly line culture of the bail setting.
Media Coverage:
‘Gigantic momentous decision’: California Supreme Court shrinks role of cash bail in jailings | The Mercury News | March 25, 2021
Op-Ed: California's high court has the chance to fix our unsafe and unfair money bail system | Los Angeles Times | June 14, 2019
Oral Argument: In re Humphrey | Jan 5, 2021
Op-Ed California Supreme Court must decide fate of state’s unjust money bail system | The Sacramento Bee | Dec 29, 2020
Court Ruling Could Change State's Approach to Bail | SF Gate | Jan 25, 2018
State Appeals Court Ruling Could Change How Bail is Handled in California | CBS News | Jan 1, 2018
Federal judge: Bail that kept SF man behind bars since July ‘unconstitutional’ | SF Gate | Nov 29, 2017
All Hail Bail Reform | SF Weekly | Nov 2, 2017
Partners:
Filings:
California Supreme Court: Respondent's Brief on Merits (Aug 8, 2018)
California Court of Appeals Opinion (Jan 25, 2018)
Humphrey Habeas Petition (Aug 4, 2017)
More from the Bail
Sandoval v. Riverside. In May 2025, individuals detained in Riverside County jails filed a class action lawsuit challenging Riverside County’s cash-based jailing of individuals between their arrest and first court hearing, as well as Riverside County’s unnecessary delay of that hearing. Rabbi David Lazar and Reverend Jane Quandt chose to join this lawsuit because they view cash-based jailing as unconscionable. The lawsuit was filed against Riverside County Superior Court, Riverside County, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, and Sheriff Chad Bianco.
In partnership with public defenders in Oregon, Civil Rights Corps is challenging Oregon’s longstanding practices of jailing people charged with misdemeanors prior to trial and jailing people charged with other crimes without constitutionally required due process.
Butler v. Prince George's County. In 2022, CRC and partners filed a class action lawsuit challenging Prince George’s County's pretrial detention practices. The lawsuit seeks a declaration that PG County and its officials violate Plaintiffs’ rights under the United States and Maryland Constitutions by detaining people pretrial without meeting the substantive and procedural standards required for pretrial detention.
Urquidi v. City of Los Angeles. CRC and co-counsel brought suit in California Superior Court in November 2022 on behalf of several individuals who had been jailed for five days simply because they could not access enough cash to pay for their freedom.
Caliste v. Cantrell. In 2017, Civil Rights Corps filed a landmark federal class action lawsuit challenging the unconstitutional money bail system in New Orleans, Louisiana.
McNeil v. Community Probation Services. In 2018, five named plaintiffs sued Giles County, TN and two private probation companies on behalf of a class of people who were being supervised on for-profit probation.
Guill v. Allen. In November 2019, CRC filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of three people locked in jail cells in Alamance County, North Carolina only because they are too poor to purchase their freedom.
Rodriguez v. Providence Community Corrections. In 2018, Civil Rights Corps announced a landmark settlement in a first-of-its-kind class action case in federal court against Rutherford County and Providence Community Corrections, Inc., a private probation company that made millions of dollars over more than a decade by exploiting the poorest people in Rutherford County.
Walker v. City of Calhoun. In 2015, Civil Rights Corps and the Southern Center for Human Rights filed a crucial lawsuit that alleged that the money bail system in Calhoun, Georgia was unconstitutional.