On December 12th we are going to Sacramento to demand an immediate moratorium on all prison, jail, and detention center construction and expansion.
We need people from all over the state to join us!
On January 1st, trigger cuts will steal $608 million away from the programs that sustain our communities just weeks after 25 counties were invited to apply for over $600 million to build more jail cells in response to Gov. Brown’s Public Safety Realignment and the humanitarian crisis that is inside of California’s overcrowded prisons and jails. As the last 30 years of similar priorities have shown, poor communities and communities of color will be hit hardest by both the cuts and the cages.
Most prisoners come from and return to communities that have been economically devastated and drained of human, social and economic resources. Poor and working class communities of color face food desserts, foreclosures, closed and underfunded schools, little access to healthcare, high unemployment rates, and lower than average life expectancies. A moratorium is the basic first step to stopping California’s prison, budget, and humanitarian crises.
A moratorium will force politicians at the county and state level to reduce sentences, decrease policing, invest in our communities and bring our people home. With a moratorium, we can fight harder to tax the rich knowing that money won’t go into locking us up.
Join Us On December 12th!
Call Your Local Legislators!
Click here to find out who your local legislators are and their contact information.
What to say to legislators: I am calling to ask you to stand strong for California communities by calling for a moratorium on all prison and jail construction, and encouraging counties to build alternatives to imprisonment, not more jail cells.
In Solidarity & Struggle, Critical Resistance
