Singer-songwriter Fiona Apple’s first new music in five years is a song called “ Pretrial (Let Her Go Home) ,” and the lyrics are based on the experiences of women she encountered while working with an activist group that observes bond hearings for people who have been accused of crimes. Apple lives in California, but the group, Life After Release , operates in Prince George’s County; she got connected to it through another activist organization she was working with. Since then, Apple has become intensely engaged with Life After Release and its court-watching program, CourtWatch PG .

As a court monitor, Apple watched thousands of hearings remotely via video feed. The singer has explained that she was struck by how often women, many of them mothers with children at home, were sent t

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