[Note: Friends of Justice is a personal blog. I speak only for myself.]
Dear Friend of Justice,
My organization, the National Center for Reason and Justice (ncrj.org) has long been involved in the case of Nancy Smith and Joseph Allen. Many of you are already familiar with this terrible miscarriage of justice. (If you are not, please read this article.)
Due to a sentencing error, Nancy Smith was recently released on $100,000 cash bond. (See my post on her release.)
Nancy was fortunate in having someone post the bond. Joseph could likely be released on the same bond, but he has no resources and his family can’t raise that kind of money. Neither can the NCRJ.
The alternative would be to pay a bondsman. The bonsdman’s fee would be $10,000 and that is non-refundable.
Difficult as it may be, the NCRJ is attempting to raise the money.
You can help in three ways.
One, you could make a tax-deductible donation to the NCRJ’s Prisoner Relief Fund. Send your donation to:
NCRJ
POB 191101
Roxbury MA 02119
Write “Prisoner Relief Fund on your check.
You can also make your donation by credit card.
The NCRJ can’t guarantee your funds will be used to help Joseph. (Donations earmarked for a specific individual are not deductible.) But giving to the Prisoner Relief Fund will give the Board the power to help. Funds in the Prisoner Relief Fund can only be used to help prisoners. Your donation will not go towards administrative expenses. If you don’t help Joseph, you will help someone else.
The other thing you can do is to email me (bobchatelle@gmail.com) and make a pledge to help pay Joseph’s bond. Your pledge will be called in if and only if (1) bond is granted and (2) there have been sufficient donations and pledges to pay the bond fee. (If your pledge is called in, however, the NCRJ will not be able to issue a tax receipt.)
The third way you can help is to send a link to this post to anyone you know who might be willing to help us right this terrible wrong.
Thank you for any help that you can give.
–Bob Chatelle
