Philadelphia Community Bail Fund

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Media
    • Contact Us
  • Bail Requests
  • Cash Bail 101
  • Donate
  • Participatory Defense
  • Resources
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Media
    • Contact Us
  • Bail Requests
  • Cash Bail 101
  • Donate
  • Participatory Defense
  • Resources

Bail Requests

Bail Requests

​
Eligibility Criteria

We are currently accepting requests for the bail help:
  • Must be incarcerated in Philadelphia County
  •  We are unable to post bail for people with active detainers. Those with Nebbia Orders or house arrest conditions are still eligible to apply.
  • We have been unable to post bails above $150,000 ($15,000 to post).
  • We will consider bail requests of up to $250,000 in limited emergency cases.​

How to Request Help
If your loved one meets these eligibility requirements, we invite you to complete the form below. Please allow ten days for a response and please only submit one request. PCBF typically posts bail every other week and our ability to post depends on the availability of funds. It could take three weeks or more for bail to be posted.

​If you are unable to submit a request online, you can call our Bail Request Hotline at (267) 225-6047 and leave a message. Please, follow the directions given. Incomplete messages will not receive a response. Please do not call the hotline if you fill out this request form.

What is a Bail Fund?
We are not a bail bond company. We are a not for profit entity formed by community members who raise money to post bail for our neighbors who cannot afford to post bail. We do not charge any fees or expect repayment. We do ask those for whom we post bail to consent to have the bail money be returned by the court to PCBF at the conclusion of their case so that we can recycle that money to help another person. Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity or the funds to help everyone seeking our help.

What to Expect
Once we receive your request for bail help, we locate your loved one in the Incarcerated Person Locator and look up their docket(s). We then confirm that the person to be bailed out meets our basic eligibility requirements. If those criteria are met, we will reach out to the person who submitted the request to do a short Support Interview. We will then visit the incarcerated person in jail to do a short interview, assess their support needs if bailed out, and to get their consent to post their bail. If we can post their bail, we will inform the person who made the request or a support person identified by the person to be bailed out. 

We post bail every other week. The number of bails we can post each month is limited by several factors including our capacity to provide support and how much bail funds we have available. 

We prioritize people with bails under $1000 to post, those who are pregnant or have severe medical emergencies, children, people over 65, criminalized survivors of domestic abuse, and other people with special circumstances.

    ​Bail Request Form

    * Indicates a required field

    Please provide as much information on this form as possible. Submitted information is reviewed by PCBF staff and is not shared.
    We have very limited capacity, so only requests that meet the Eligibility Criteria will receive a reply. Otherwise, please allow ten days for a response. Questions can be sent to [email protected]. Emails must include the name of person you are asking about. 
    If not known, type "N/A"
    If now known, type "N/A."
    This is the amount required to be paid to secure their release. In Philadelphia, this is normally 10% of the Set Bail. For example, the Set Bail may be $50,000 but 10% or $5,000 is required to post bail.
    PCBF only posts bail within Philadelphia County.
    A custodial parent or guardian lives with the child,
Submit

Philadelphia Community Bail Fund

Copyright © 2025
Proudly powered by Weebly