Fight Retaliatory Detention & Medical Neglect: Free an Unlawfully Detained Father
We are fighting a profound miscarriage of justice. As a mother, grandmother, and community activist, I am organizing this campaign to defend my family against a corrupt and retaliatory system.
My son, Stephen—a dedicated single Black father—has been unlawfully detained and subjected to severe, life-threatening conditions at the Maricopa County Lower Buckeye Jail, one of our nation’s most corrupt and dangerous jails, for over two and a half months. He has been wrenched from his three young daughters (ages 5, 4, and 3), who are being deprived of their sole fit parent, inflicting compounding trauma on innocent children who rely almost entirely on his care.
Why We Are Fighting Back:
This crisis is a direct continuation of multi-agency retaliation stemming from a 2021 police assault against Stephen and his newborn child—an incident that drew intense public and DOJ scrutiny. In direct response, the Phoenix Police Department (PPD) and Maricopa County authorities have weaponized the system against him:
Retaliatory Flagging & Unfounded Charges:
PPD placed active retaliatory "flags" on him following the 2021 scrutiny and subsequent USDOJ findings. When it came to the current, entirely unfounded charges, those pre-existing retaliatory flags and administrative machinery were weaponized at first to deny him bail altogether, and then to lock him behind a high bail ($50,000) that our family simply cannot afford. All this despite the prosecutor’s acknowledgement that the county attorney’s office cannot meet the standard of proof for 3 of the 4 charges, and the fact that their own witness and evidence dispute the final charge.
Medical Neglect & Jail Atrocities:
While warehoused in a jail population where Black detainees are outrageously disproportionately impacted (a third of the jail population is Black, while the county's population is just 5.4% Black), he has faced extreme lockdowns, active starvation (resulting in a confirmed weight loss of over 40 pounds), and dangerous medical obstruction by Correctional Health Services (CHS) and MCSO—including the withholding of critical, life-sustaining medication required for his medical disabilities, all in direct violation of the 14th Amendment.
Where the Funds Will Go:
Our family has drained its financial reserves, and my mother had to tragically tap into her retirement account with heavy penalties just to cover the initial $20,000 in legal fees. With bail currently set at $50,000 and a trial set for late December, we are also facing an additional $20,000 in legal defense costs, amounting to $90,000 to fight these bad-faith charges and secure his freedom. Furthermore, the financial strain has made it nearly impossible to cover basic commissary, medical necessities, his rent and utilities, and the resulting compounding bills required to keep the family afloat.
- $50,000 for Bail: To secure his immediate release from jail.
- $40,000 for Legal Defense & Retainers: To cover private defense counsel fighting the bad-faith charges.
- Surplus & Hardship Support: Any funds exceeding bail or unspent legal retainers will go directly toward covering housing and family/medical necessities while Stephen recovers from this ordeal.
