Black women bailed out of jail for Mother’s Day courtesy of FedFam4Life
Credit: The Palm Beach Post
By Wendy Rhodes | The Palm Beach Post
May 11, 2020
WEST PALM BEACH — Six incarcerated South Florida women were able to spend Mother’s Day with their families, thanks to a coordinated effort to free black women from jails led by the national organization Black Mama Bail Out.
Black Mama Bail Out, a collective of grassroots organizers, activists and formerly incarcerated women, posted bonds Sunday morning ranging from $600 to $14,000 for women who could not otherwise afford bail.
Five women in Miami were bailed out, as was one, Kenria Woodson, from the Palm Beach County Jail in West Palm Beach.
“I feel good, because I have help from somebody,” said Woodson, a soft-spoken 20-year-old who was jailed Wednesday on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia, trespassing and failure to comply with coronavirus ordinances.
The Palm Beach County public defender’s office worked with Black Mama Bail Out to identify Woodson as a good fit for the project.
“We’re so grateful that they’re doing this and are going to get some of these women home with their families,” said Jennifer Loyless, a project coordinator at the public defenders’ office. “The reality of this is that these women are among many in jail who are there simply because they cannot afford to post their bond.”
Working for the first time with Black Mama Bail Out, local activists Tray Johns and Foxxy Manning coordinated the release. The couple, veterans and co-founders of FedFam4Life, greeted Woodson with smiles and a “Happy Mother’s Day” sign as she walked out of jail into the Sunday morning rain.
“She was like a deer in the headlights,” Johns said of Woodson. “She’d never heard of people just helping. It was overwhelming to her.”
Johns and Manning drove Woodson to her friend’s house, where Woodson, who has no children, planned to clean up before visiting her mother in Belle Glade.
FedFam4Life, a non-profit charity working to fee black women from prison, provided Woodson, who was identified by the sheriff’s office as homeless, a $50 gift card, cell phone and a gift bag stuffed with toiletries and personal hygiene products. They plan to speak with Woodson again Monday to help coordinate a job and make sure she has a place to stay.
Johns and Manning said their goal in partnering with Black Mama Bail Out is to take the program one step further by making sure women who are released from jail have the resources to obtain jobs and housing. It is one of many issues the couple, active with numerous charities that advocate for women and minorities, said they dedicate their lives to.
Johns counts among her greatest achievements helping to obtain freedom for Tynice Hall, a black 22-year-old jailed in 2009 in Texas on drug charges. Hall, a new mother, was sentenced to 35 years in prison, but insisted the drugs belonged to her 44-year-old dealer boyfriend.
Johns saw the sentence as a travesty — and so did President Donald Trump. On Feb. 18, Trump granted clemency for Hall and six others, including former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who received the lion’s share of the press.
Like Hall, black women are often jailed for drug-related crimes having to do with “falling for the wrong guy,” Johns said. She also said that when women can’t afford bail, they are unable to take an active role in their own defenses, which can lead to harsher sentences.
“Starting at a young age, black women are disproportionately incarcerated,” said Manning. “Young, black women are seen as adults far earlier than their counterparts. Even in school they suffer harsher disciplinary actions and it continues on clear through adulthood.”
Johns, now a 44-year-old grandmother, knows from personal experience how one moment can change the course of a woman’s entire life. Five days after earning her bachelor’s degree in pre-law from Southern Illinois University, the Chicago native was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
“I’d never been in trouble in my life,” she said. “I was in federal prison for $450 worth of drugs, and now I’m a convicted felon.”
At the time, Johns, then 25, was the sole caretaker of her six year-old son, as well as seven of her brother’s and sister’s children, all under the age of 12.
During the eight years she served in prison, Johns continued to study law. While she never took the bar, she said she became a darn good “jailhouse lawyer,” committed to helping other black women navigate a legal system too often stacked against them.
Today, in addition to her work with FedFam4Life, Johns is also a South Florida Criminal Justice Organizer with New Florida Majority. With the help of law students from The City University of New York (CUNY), she and Manning work alongside others to help black women avoid pretrial detention, and, ultimately, mass incarceration.
“They are forced to languish in jail, causing their families and communities to suffer,” New Florida Majority Campaign Director Valencia Gunder said about the result of not being able to afford bail. “We are bailing out black mamas because they are caregivers, nurturers, and the backbone of our families. They deserve to be praised, loved, and uplifted — not locked in cages.”
