Cages Kill — Freedom Rally — January 24th in Santa Cruz

We are contacting you as members of Sin Barras, a community-based organization in Santa Cruz that fights for prisoners’ rights with the goal of ending the prison-industrial complex.  We are a member organization of CURB.

At least 6 people have died in the county jail while in the hands of the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Department and California Forensics Medical Group (CFMG) since August 2012. In April 2013, we organized a historic march and speak-out, highlighting sheriff violence faced by people inside the County Jail that inspired the Santa Cruz County Grand Jury to investigate the jail’s deadly conditions.The grand jury report named the April 6th demonstration as a primary catalyst for the investigation. In September 2014, the Grand Jury released its Final Report, which included recommendations to improve physical and mental health services in the jail. Nearly all of the research was met with utter denial from the Sheriff’s Department and CFMG, continuing a trend of disrespect for the community and confirming that they operate with little to no accountability.

These deaths are caused by the same pattern of unaccountability that recently allowed Officer Darren Wilson to walk free after killing Michael Brown. From Ferguson to Santa Cruz, it is clear that our criminal justice system targets the most vulnerable members of society: people of color, women, trans and queer people, people with disabilities, the poor, and the homeless.

Without fierce community resistance, this pattern will continue.

With the solidarity of local, national, and international movements, we are organizing a march and rally (January 24th, Noon @ The Downtown Clock
tower, Santa Cruz) to demand that:

1. The Board of Supervisors cancel its contract with California Forensic Medical Group.

2. The Sheriff’s Department and CFMG accept responsibility for the unnatural deaths and implement the Grand Jury recommendations involving the expansion of Crisis Intervention Team mental health services.

3. Solitary confinement/administrative segregation and other forms of torture, such as the “restraint chair,” be abolished.

4. The County cancel the $25 million planned expansion of Rountree Detention Center and invest in community-based social services.

Join the demonstration!

To plug into a carpool, email sinbarras@gmail.com // let us know if you need a ride, or have a car with empty seats.