Kortney Ziegler, an entrepreneur and a techie from California, came up with a genius idea to help provide bail money for Black people who are incarcerated. The new app, called Appolition, allows you to automatically give your spare change from everyday purchases to help Black men and women who have been charged with misdemeanors and are awaiting trial.
Using spare change to help others
Why bail money? As Zeigler explained, the cost of bail money in California is huge -- $2,500 -- compared to other states that charge as little as $300 for bail. This makes it impossible for many Black people to get out of jail and home to their families.
As Zeigler also explained, his app was not intended to be a quick "get out of jail free" fix. The bail money is used for misdemeanors, and due to the enormous cost in California, many have to sit in jail until their trial because they cannot afford the bail.
How it works
The new app links to your credit card or debit card of choice, and every time a purchase includes 50 cents in spare change, it is rounded up to the next dollar and donated to the bail fund. It's using change, that most people won't even notice, for a good cause, enabling others to get out of jail and get home to their families.
Zeigler came up with the idea during the summer, and in four months had the app up and running. He was also its first customer.
He comments, "Although bail relief via an app isn’t the perfect solution to true abolishment of the prison industrial complex, being able to provide a tiny dent in the system along the way is always important. Supporting the work, that prison abolitionists are already doing, is my contribution."
For more information and/or to download the Appolition app, visit https://appolition.us/