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Malcolm Jenkins and other Eagles players posted $25,000 — matched by $25,000 from the Eagles Social Justice Fund — to bail out nine Philadelphians so they could be home with their families ahead of Thanksgiving.

The bailout was paired with a resource fair, so those who were released could gain access to workforce training and social services.

“The cash bail system punishes poverty and … punishes people of color at a grossly disproportionate rate,” Jenkins said. “Some people say we need the system to make our community safe  — but as you can see here with these groups, we have everything we need to make our community safer, when we decide to invest in people … as opposed to locking them up.”

Pretrial detentions in Philadelphia push poor defendants into guilty pleas at a rate that’s 13 percent higher than those released before trial.  

Researchers who’ve analyzed Philadelphia bail decisions have found black defendants are subjected to bail at higher rates than white ones, even in cases where they are less likely to be arrested again while awaiting trial.

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