How We Get Free

HOW WE GET FREE follows community activist Elisabeth Epps as she works to abolish the cash bail system in Colorado. Inspired by a New York Times article and filmed over the course of two years, the documentary tracks Epps’ efforts as the founder and executive director of the Colorado Freedom Fund, a community bail fund working against the criminalization of poverty. For Epps, this work is personal. Having spent time in jail herself, where she bore witness to the conditions and inequities, she is passionately committed to this work. As Epps spends her days and nights driving around Denver with thousands of dollars of cashiers’ checks in hand, trying to help pre-trial inmates, she gains an unlikely supporter: Denver County Sheriff Elias Diggins. While Epps and Diggins disagree about many issues surrounding the criminal justice system, they find common ground on the detrimental effects of cash bail. After years of grassroots activism, and on the heels of the 2020 racial reckoning, Epps is confronting a new challenge: making systemic policy change by running for State Representative.