Jay Z Donates Money On Father’s Day To Bail Out Jailed Men

(AllHipHop News) Jay Z may be expecting twins any moment now as his wife Beyonce prepares to give birth, but the rap star has taken out some time to launch a new initiative taking on the criminal justice system.

To celebrate the Father’s Day holiday Jay Z linked up with Time magazine, to write an opt-ed piece detailing his plans expose the “exploitative bail industry.”

Jay Z said he became acutely aware of the problem as he did research for his documentary “Time: The Kalief Browder Story.”

Browder was charged with a petty crime, but because his family couldn’t raise bail, he languished on Rikers Island in solitary confinement as a teenager for three years, and eventually committed suicide after his release, due to the ordeal.

“If you’re from neighborhoods like the Brooklyn one I grew up in, if you’re unable to afford a private attorney, then you can be disappeared into our jail system simply because you can’t afford bail,” Jay Z wrote.

According to stats offered by Jay in the piece, over 400,000 people in the United States are sitting in prisons on any given day. And these are citizens who have been “charged” with a crime, but cannot afford to “buy their freedom.”

“When black and brown people are over-policed and arrested and accused of crimes at higher rates than others, and then forced to pay for their freedom before they ever see trial, big bail companies prosper.”

Jay Z said that this Father’s Day, he will donate money to organizations like Southerners on New Ground and Color of Change, to help bail out hundreds of incarcerated fathers.

Check out Jay Z’s full opt-ed over at Time’s website.