Open Society Institute – Baltimore
Open Society Institute (OSI) – Baltimore : Audacious Thinking For Lasting Change
An op-ed in Baltimore Sun written by members of the Coalition for a Safe and Just Maryland (CSJM) highlights the new rule recently adopted by the Court of Appeals that deprioritizes money bail, which goes into effect tomorrow. The new rule will ensure that money alone no longer determines whether Marylanders are jailed or free […]
On Tuesday, Public Defender and OSI-Baltimore Leadership Council member Todd Oppenheim held a Bail Info Session at the Motor House in Station North, hosted by Maryland Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. Participating in the conversation along with Oppenheim were Caryn York, leader of bail-reform advocacy group Coalition for a Safe and Just Maryland (Open […]
Fourteen community, advocacy, and academic groups will come together tomorrow to announce the formation of the Coalition for a Safe and Just Maryland, which will focus on reforming the state’s bail system. The Open Society Policy Center, a non-partisan and non-profit advocacy group that is part of Open Society Foundations, is among the coalition members and […]
This week, Ronald Weich, the dean of University of Baltimore’s Law School, published an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun, “More work to be done on Md. bail reform,” in which he discussed the injustices of Maryland’s pretrial justice system which disproportionately keeps poor and minority citizens behind bars for minor crimes they have not yet […]
Listen to University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law professor Doug Colbert and WYPR Statehouse reporter Rachel Baye discuss prospects for bail reform in Maryland with Tom Hall on WYPR’s Midday (discussion begins about 15:30 mark). In a survey prepared by the Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI), with funding from OSI-Baltimore, 70 percent of […]
A new report by Common Cause finds that the bail bonds industry has donated almost $300,000 to Maryland state officials since 2011 – $87,000 in 2016 alone – ranking third behind only California and Florida. Read the full report, “Pay to Play,” here. Read the Washington Post story on the report here. Maryland’s General Assembly is under […]
Likely voters overwhelmingly support decisions based on risk assessment instead of economic status BALTIMORE – A new survey prepared by the Pretrial Justice Institute, with funding from Open Society Institute-Baltimore finds that 70 percent of likely voters favor using risk assessments as the determining factor for keeping someone in jail before trial, rather than their ability to […]
Yesterday, Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh declared that the cash bail system in the state is “likely unconstitutional” in an advice letter sent to several Maryland delegates. The Attorney General’s findings were announced in both the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post. In the letter, Frosh maintained that a defendant may still be held in jail […]
From the #unconvicted series. Photo by David Y. Lee Last week attorneys for the six officers charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray claimed, according to an article in the Baltimore Sun, the money they still owe to bail bondsmen as a condition of their pre-trail release is a “lingering injustice.” This week, […]
OSI-Baltimore community fellow Zina Makar has been working with the Baltimore City Public Defender’s office to represent poor defendants by employing the power of habeas corpus—a legal procedure that keeps governments from holding people indefinitely without showing cause–and advocate for bail reform generally. Her work was mentioned in two City Paper stories. One piece, by the paper’s […]
OSI-Baltimore has permanently closed. It has been our honor and privilege to partner with and serve the Baltimore community for the past 25 years.
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