 Let’s keep it going, Supporter!
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Last week, we had a significant impact when we mobilized our communities to demand no more funding for cops and jail expansion.
Our action bolstered Supervisor Ridley-Thomas’ call to revisit the county’s destructive jail plan. However, the county is still trying to push forward expansion projects, including a $103 million women’s jail, in the #LABudget.
We must intervene now to make sure that the plan to build a women’s jail is stopped in its tracks.
Officials have offensively called this project a “Women’s Village,” trying to portray it as a friendly place where women will have access to services and treatment. But we know that jails are not service providers, and there is nothing friendly about tearing families apart or locking people up.
We demand that the money going to the jail be redirected to fund quality services and programs in the community that support women and families. We demand more funding for community-based organizations to expand existing treatment programs so there are beds available to implement alternative custody programs. We demand the Board to mandate the use of split sentencing to further reduce the women’s jail population.
Overall, 50% of people locked up in LA’s jails are pre-trial, meaning they have not been convicted or sentenced to any time and are only locked up because they can’t afford bail. LA must stop punishing people for being poor.
LA is at a pivotal moment. Join us as we steer it in the right direction.
In Solidarity,
Matt Weathers
Critical Resistance Los Angeles
Member of Californians United for a Responsible Budget
