[Attachment(s)from Robert Norse included below]
NOTES BY NORSE: The push to criminalize homeless people has added to the overcrowding in the local jails as well as the record of human rights abuses locally. This is the first I’ve heard about the local jail expansion but it fits in well with a right-wing “arrest ’em or drive ’em out of town agenda” seemingly adopted by the Mayor’s Task Farce on Public Safety (where surivival camping and the life-sustaining and natural behaviors of homeless people out-of-doors are defined as “criminal” by such loudmouth luminaries as Deputy Chief Steve Clark. The local Sin Barras organization is a refreshing voice of sanity on this issue.
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 23:30:57 -0700
Subject: Stop Santa Cruz County Jail Expansion
From: tashhnguyen@gmail.com
To:
To the Santa Cruz Community & Our Supporters,
My name is Tash Nguyen and I’m a grassroots organizer of Sin Barras with a strong commitment to building strong communities and alternatives to incarceration. Santa Cruz County is hastily proposing to expand Rountree Detention Center and we plan to stop this jail in its tracks! Jail officials say that the expansion will help alleviate overcrowding, but we know that this is not the case. The current situation of overcrowding came directly after the biggest prison building boom in history–since 1984, California alone has completed twenty-three major new prisons.
Here are several opportunities to join the fight:
Attend our Anti-Expansion Strategy Session this Thursday Oct.17
Learn about Santa Cruz County’s plan to spend millions on new jail beds and help strategize a plan to stop this jail expansion project with Sin Barras, Inside Out Writing Project, and Emily Harris of Californians United For A Responsible Budget (CURB). Check out this fantastic How To Stop A Jail In Your Town packet in preparation for this gathering!
Where: UC Santa Cruz Women’s Center // find parking details here
When: Thursday October 17, 6:30-8pm
Voice your opposition at the Board of Supervisors meeting Oct. 22!
On October 22, officials from the Sheriff’s will present a proposal to Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, seeking almost $25 million in state money to expand jail facilities. A bigger jail does not mean a safer community. Come share your voice at the public comment period to say why YOU think expanding the jail is a bad idea.
Where: Governmental Center Building Rm. 525 // 701 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz
When: Tuesday October 22, 9:00 AM
RSVP to the “How to Stop a Jail in Your Town” Webinar Oct. 15
Join CURB & Nation Inside for a special webinar on fighting jail expansion in your community. Californians United for a Rresponsible Budget has created a resource guide “How to stop a jail in your town,” for local organizing against jail expansion.
The interactive webinar will cover local organizing techniques through case studies that focus on environmental strategies, community alternatives, and will specifically look at the impact of jail expansion on women. Join experts from across the country as we share experiences, lessons learned and hear your stories about this issue.
Public safety is created by having people’s basic needs met and giving them opportunities to be successful and thrive, not by locking them up. There are endless alternatives to jail expansion. Rather than spend millions on more jail beds, we can and should direct our resources to providing safe housing, drug treatment programs, mental health services, re-entry programs, job training, and other necessities.
If you’d like to attend our regular meetings, Sin Barras meets every Thursday from 6-7:30 at the Circle Church at 111 Errett Circle.
For more information, email: sinbarras@gmail.com or go to www.sinbarras.org
—
In solidarity,
Tash H. Nguyen
“Let’s be gentle with ourselves and each other and fierce as we fight oppression.” – Dean Spade
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Attachment(s) from Robert Norse
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