Jermaine Matthews has been wrongfully incarcerated since the end of January 2020. The city of Philadelphia police department is holding him ransom pretrial with a bail of 900000. This comes during a time where a virus is still rampaging through the states and the jails are not exempt from that pandemic. The current practices to establish safety have been ineffective and empty. Jermaine was already a victim of Covid-19, however due to a lack of a cure, no cleaning supplies, insufficient testing, and overcrowding (Almost 100 inmates on a block of 75, 20 plus who are new and have not been tested since their arrival and incorporation), he faces that fate again.  Jermaine is a war veteran with a 100% mental disability, and even on the mental health block, they have decided to lock imates down for 23 hours out of the day, forcing them to choose between showering or contacting loved ones and caregivers. Constant lockdown and mistreatment has done nothing but trigger his depression and hyper vigilance which can be damaging to people with PTSD. Jermaine was denied his bail reduction motion without any reason or an explanation for why his bail is so high and does not match his current charges. Due to Covid-19, philly courts have been close and Jermaine has been waiting for his preliminary hearing since February, there is no indication that he will have one soon. BAIL is the only thing keeping him from coming home to his family during these uncertain times. In fact there are currently National and local cases of people with lower bail and higher charges (i.e murder and attempt). As a vulnerable population, Jermaine needs at the very least a reduction because it is the only way he will be able to leave the institution that guarantees a death sentence due Covid-19 and its persistence or further mental fragility with the constant lockdown and neglect.

Signing this petition shows that you stand with jermaine and agree that his bail reduction motion should be reconsidered and his bail should be placed at a reasonable and payable amount.

If you would like to donate to Jermaine’s bail, you can do so here w/ this link: https://gf.me/u/x7xn5d