For Immediate Release – May 13, 2016
Press Contact:
Lizzie Buchen, Co-Coordinator, Californians United for a Responsible Budget
510-435-1176
lizzie@curbprisonspending.org
@CURBprisons
Sacramento – Governor Jerry Brown released a revised state budget today that divests $250 million from communities for jail construction, fortifies and expands the prison system, and fails to support urgently needed programs and services in the community. Despite Brown’s promised commitment to a durable solution to the state’s prison crisis, his budget lacks any reforms that would meaningfully reduce the prison population, instead bucking national trends in projecting a growth in the number of people imprisoned in California.
“This May Revision, like numerous budgets during the Brown administration, shovels billions of dollars down the black hole of incarceration while disguising it as reentry and rehabilitative support for people incarcerated,” said Diana Zuñiga, Co-Coordinator of Californians United for a Responsible Budget. “Time and time again funding that could go to support community needs is instead going towards expanding CDCR and Sheriff infrastructure, prioritizing the policing and imprisonment of communities of color.”