Bail fund promoted by Kamala Harris won't share records of alleged criminals it sprung from jail
Amid violent riots, vice president-elect promoted cash fund that helped convicted rapist, accused murderer.
A bail fund promoted by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris that reportedly helped bail out several accused and convicted criminals — at least one with a markedly violent history — is refusing to share the records of the individuals it helped spring from jail in the midst of last year's deadly Black Lives Matter-led riots in Minnesota.
In June 2020, as violent unrest swept the country in the wake of Minneapolis resident George Floyd's death at the hands of city police, Harris — then two months away from being chosen as Joe Biden's running mate — tweeted out a link to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which claims to "pa[y] criminal bail and immigration bonds for those who cannot otherwise afford to."
If you’re able to, chip in now to the @MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota. https://t.co/t8LXowKIbw— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 1, 2020
Harris's support for the organization amid the riots last year was one of the factors that helped the Minnesota Freedom Fund realize a reported windfall of tens of millions of dollars, a gargantuan increase over the group's 2018 returns of around $100,000.
Yet the bail fund was mired in controversy over the summer due to reports that it had helped spring from jail multiple alleged violent criminals, including at least one individual with multiple rape convictions on his rap sheet.
A review by the Washington Post found that MFF helped bail out of jail one individual who allegedly shot at police officers during riots in Minnesota.
Local Fox affiliate KMSP, meanwhile, found that among those who received bail money from the MFF were also "a woman accused of killing a friend [and] a twice convicted sex offender."
Official bail records hard to locate
Yet a full accounting of the individuals bailed out by the fund last year was not available as of press time.
A representative of the Minnesota Freedom Fund told Just the News via email this week that the records of those it has helped bail out "are available via the Hennepin and Ramsey County jail rosters." The group did not respond to repeated inquiries asking if it kept those records in its own files.
The records within the jail rosters, meanwhile, are not easily accessible.
Tom Lyden, a reporter with KMSP who originally broke that station's coverage of the controversies surrounding the bail fund, said that the documentation "is difficult to find and it is not available online."
"You must go through items in the file, which you can only do at a live terminal," he said.
Lyden said the station used a court document known as a "Request to Return Bail to a Third Party" form to confirm many of the bail cases connected to the Minnesota Freedom Fund.
https://justthenews.com/nation/crime/bail-fund-promoted-kamala-harris-allegedly-sprung-violent-criminals-wont-share-records