Criminal justice reform group creates $50K bailout fund for nonviolent inmates at overcrowded jail

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Low-level offenders with high bonds in the Shelby County Jail now have a new resource to pay for their release.

Criminal justice reform advocates with the group Just City in Memphis launched a $50,000 bail fund on Friday to get those facing nonviolent charges out of the overcrowded jail.

Just City announced the fund in the wake of the death of 33-year-old Rockez McDaniel, who died Monday, July 28.

Protestors outside 201 Poplar this week said McDaniel was experiencing a mental health episode and should not have been held in jail for eight days on a $1,000 bond.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office says he suffered a medical emergency.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into this case. TBI reports that an autopsy is being performed on McDaniel to determine his exact cause of death.

“Mr. McDaniel’s death is not an isolated tragedy — it is a symptom of a collapsing jail system that continues to endanger hundreds of people,” says Laramie Wheeler, Bail Fund & Advocacy coordinator for Just City. “Even when people in the jail are given court dates, weeks may pass before they’re allowed to see a judge - the only person who can assign them an attorney - or before they’re arraigned. The incompetence is staggering and increasingly deadly.”

In Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy’s weekly newsletter Friday, he said the jail is over capacity by about 300 inmates. Shelby County Jail is built to hold up to 2,500.

He attributed some of the overcrowding issues to long wait times from state prison authorities, delays in processing new arrestees, and the presence of nonviolent suspects stuck with unaffordable bail.

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