TPF Press Release

For Immediate Release: 2021 Freeing Fathers Bailout: A Juneteenth Community Prayer Event

Baton Rouge, Louisiana – Three prominent organizations in both the national and Louisiana criminal justice arena marked Father’s Day 2021 weekend with a community event that coincided with Juneteenth and brought families back together by freeing incarcerated Black men from East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. The Bail Project, a national nonprofit organization that provides free bail assistance and community pretrial support to thousands of low-income people each year, A Bella LaFemme Society (ABLS), a New Orleans-based non-profit dedicated to promoting mental wellness through advocacy and scholarships for minority women, and The Thurman Perry Foundation, a non-profit that helps formerly incarcerated women and girls remove boundaries to education and successful societal re-entry, were the sponsors of the event.

With the end of the recent Louisiana legislative session marking the acknowledgement of Juneteenth, a holiday widely known as the celebration of the emancipation of enslaved Black people in the United States, the 2021 Freeing Fathers Bailout welcomed the entire community in order to show support and encouragement to those soon-to-be formerly incarcerated men.

Despite various attempts at reform, the state of Louisiana remains the number one incarcerator of persons per capita in the entire world, with state prisons sharing the highest portion of incarcerated persons and at least 86,000 people being booked into local jails like East Baton Rouge Parish Prison every year. Currently, one-third of the state’s residents have a criminal record.

“The first step to successful re-entry is community support. With 95% of those who are incarcerated destined to come home, knowing they have a community that sees their humanity and supports their rehabilitation is paramount,” says Gabrielle Perry, executive director and founder of The Thurman Perry Foundation.

The 2021 Freeing Fathers Bailout event took place at 9:00 AM on Saturday, June 19, 2021, in the parking lot of East Baton Rouge Parish Prison in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Face masks were encouraged and all Covid safety protocols were followed.

For more information on the event and all three of these organizations, please visit www.thebailproject.org, www.thurmanperryfoundation.org, and www.ablsociety.org.