Brooke’s Bail Bonding embarks on visual mission to fight bail reform
A staunch advocate for criminal justice reform, Brooke Harlan-Evitts, a 20-year veteran of the bail bonding industry, is continuing her fight against bail reform and has taken her mission to multiple highly visible spots in and around Nashville with her company’s newest billboard campaign.
The billboard shows her team of bail bondsmen and women, clad in black and white, standing in front of the state capitol with the words “We stand against social injustice” emblazoned across the top.
“I’m on the front lines every day,” Harlan-Evitts said. “I see the worst of the worst. From homicide, to girls who have been sex trafficked. I’m a witness to innocent people being arrested and other social injustices. I feel part of the bigger call to fight the good fight and help people who are being oppressed and persecuted.”
Harlan-Evitts’ fight comes at a time when some organizations are trying to do away with the court’s bail system, which allows anyone who has been incarcerated and accused of a crime, to wait for their court date outside of a jail cell. The bail bonding company posts the bail and is responsible for ensuring the accused shows up for any and all court dates.
“I’ve bonded people who were guilty, and I’ve bonded people who WERE NOT guilty,” she said. “For those who were guilty, we get in the trenches to find these criminals so victims can have closure. We bring people back to face justice.”
But she said the service her company offers takes on another dimension when the accused is not guilty.
“In that situation, a person can go to jail and lose everything if they can’t make bail,” she said. “They might have to come up with $10,000 and a lot of people don’t have that. I will work with those people so they can get out of jail and continue to work to fight their case. Without my service, that person would have to sit in jail, be unable to hire an attorney and possibly go to prison for the rest of their life for something they didn’t do.”
Harlan-Evitts feels if the bail system were taken away, guilty people wouldn’t be held accountable for their actions and innocent people could sit in jail for a year while awaiting a court date.
Despite the fact that removing the bail industry has been an option at the polls in the past, Harlan-Evitts isn’t stopping until it is widely known why the bail bonding industry needs to remain a staple and be constant protection of an American citizen’s 8th Amendment rights.
“My message in these uncertain times, is that we are standing with society in the fight against social injustice. We also stand for unity and equality. It’s a movement. We also want to speak out on the importance of the bail bond industry. We are continually under attack. There is a constant threat that our industry could be taken away. That shouldn’t be an option.”
Harlan-Evitts is working with Matt Hudson at Brass Advertising, to spearhead her billboard campaign. Harlan-Evitts and Hudson decided the best way to elevate her message and visualize her mission was to take it to the streets.
“Brooke has always utilized billboards to promote her bail bonding business, but with this round of creative, we wanted to steer the message to the topic of social and criminal injustices,” Hudson said. “This time it’s about promoting her cause, not just her company.”
The new billboard will be visible at Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge, the James Robertson Parkway Bridge and on 3rd Ave. N., near the Davidson Criminal Justice Center.
SOURCE Brooke’s Bail Bonding
