Bail fund answers criticism over freeing convicted rapist

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts nonprofit is responding to critics for using donations to bail out people facing serious crimes, including a convicted sex offender who has since been charged with a new rape.

The Massachusetts Bail Fund said Wednesday that it bails out people regardless of the crime or their criminal history because it believes pretrial detention is "harmful and racist."

The Cambridge-based organization has enjoyed a flood of donations amid the national reckoning with racism.

Prosecutors say the bail fund paid $15,000 to release a man facing rape charges last month, and he has since kidnapped, strangled and raped another woman.

FULL STORY FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS: The bail fund posted $15,000 for the release of Shawn McClinton, a convicted sex offender facing rape charges. Prosecutors say McClinton raped a woman just weeks after his July release.