Bring Anthony Home

A judge determined that Anthony Swain was eligible for release, but set his bond at an amount that no one but the very wealthiest would be able to afford. As a result, Anthony has suffered in jail for four years, waiting for a trial that never comes. This week, he was diagnosed with COVID19. He is a paraplegic who has a rare disease that affects his respiratory system, and his continued incarceration could cost him his life. He needs your help to come home.

Anthony is a 43 year old Black man who has been paralyzed from the waist down for most of his life. In February of 2016, Anthony was arrested on drug charges. Before he was locked up, Anthony was a staple in his community. On any given weekend, he could be found at his church with his tight-knit family or doing fish fries to feed people in his neighborhood.

Since he has been incarcerated, Anthony’s condition has deteriorated, resulting in almost unmanageable pain. In 2019, he was diagnosed with cystic myelomalacia, which causes respiratory problems and a severely weakened immune system. So when coronavirus hit Florida, Anthony knew he was especially at risk. He contacted Dream Defenders, helping to file a lawsuit against MDCR to secure the immediate release of medically vulnerable people like himself. He wrote an op ed  to bring attention to the despicable conditions he has been forced to endure by MDCR. And his parents began to speak to the media , asking elected officials to release him.


Anthony believed that if he wasn’t released immediately, it was inevitable that he would catch the virus at the jail. He was correct. He started having difficulty breathing last week, and was finally taken to the hospital on Mother’s Day, when his pain became unbearable. The hospital tested him for coronavirus, and his results came back positive. When he found out, Anthony was terrified, saying, “I felt like I had been stabbed with a sharp needle.”

Anthony is about to be transferred from the hospital back to Metro West, where he may be thrown into a cell with other people who have coronavirus. People in “coronavirus cells” are left by themselves to suffer, with no guards, no nurses, no doctors, in the cell with them. They are exposed to the virus again and again by other covid carriers in their cell, given no chance to recover. A man named Charles Hobbs died in one of these coronavirus cells last week because of this kind of treatment.

An unaffordable bond shouldn't be a death sentence for anyone. Dream Defenders’ Free The Block campaign has been fighting for Anthony’s release on all fronts. But despite public pressure, elected officials including Judge Cristina Miranda and Katherine Fernandez Rundle have repeatedly denied or ignored his pleas to lower his bond.

Anthony needs your help raising the $85,000 he needs to come home and get the medical care he deserves.