ImpactAlpha, May 20 — San Francisco- and Northampton, Mass.-based Uptrust initially launched to help low-income people avoid missing court dates.
“As we have grown, we’ve seen that there are countless other types of preventable technical violations that ultimately cost local governments over $10 billion per year, with even more devastating costs for people and their families,” says Uptrust’s Jacob Sills.
Uptrust partners with 547 counties across 27 states to connect people involved with the criminal justice system with public defenders and probation officers to avoid technical violations.
The criminal justice system costs the government, citizens and families of incarcerated individuals at least $182 billion per year, according to the Prison Policy Initiative (see, “‘Justice tech’ entrepreneurs look to disrupt the cycle of recidivism”).
The investment in Uptrust was led by De-Carceration Fund, with Omidyar Network spinoff Luminate and Stand Together Ventures Lab.
