Eligibility Criteria
Our capacity is limited. Only requests that meet the following eligibility requirements will receive a reply:
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 are not able to post for people with active detainers. And we cannot post for those with NEBBIA holds until they are lifted. We prioritize people with bails under $1000 to post, those who are pregnant or have severe medical emergencies, children and people over 65, criminalized survivors of domestic abuse, and other people with special circumstances.
We only provide support for people that we bail out for the first six months after their release. This support may include court reminders, transportation assistance to get to court and work, connections to Participatory Defense for court support, and referrals for mentorship, treatment for substance use disorder, employment, and housing. We also provide mutual aid to help those we bail out.
Our capacity is limited. Only requests that meet the following eligibility requirements will receive a reply:
- 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.
- Bail should be $15,000 or below to post. Those who are pregnant or who have serious medical conditions must be $25,000 or below to post.
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 are not able to post for people with active detainers. And we cannot post for those with NEBBIA holds until they are lifted. We prioritize people with bails under $1000 to post, those who are pregnant or have severe medical emergencies, children and people over 65, criminalized survivors of domestic abuse, and other people with special circumstances.
We only provide support for people that we bail out for the first six months after their release. This support may include court reminders, transportation assistance to get to court and work, connections to Participatory Defense for court support, and referrals for mentorship, treatment for substance use disorder, employment, and housing. We also provide mutual aid to help those we bail out.