Initiative Freiheitsfonds

Freiheitsfonds is a German political initiative founded by Arne Semsrott in December 2021. The organisation raises funds in order to free prisoners who have been incarcerated under the substitute imprisonment law, which allows judges to impose custodial sentences for unpaid public transport fares. It also advocates decriminalising the act of riding on public transport without a ticket, which was made an offence by Nazi-ruled Germany in 1935. As of September 2023, Semsrott and Freiheitsfonds had raised more than €800,000 and allowed 850 people to leave prison early. The group estimates that its actions save the German state an average of €150 per day per person released from prison.