It's time to stop the jail-building boom

Dear Supporter,

It’s go-time for the California budget! Last Friday, Governor Jerry Brown released a revised state budget 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.

Now we need to make sure the legislature rejects this irresponsible and harmful expenditure of critical tax dollars! 

Over the next few weeks, the legislature will work on producing its version of the budget, and they could vote on the jail construction funding as early as next Monday!

Let your legislator know that California needs to repair the damage that incarceration has unleashed on low-income communities of color — not expand the very system that induced the harm.

As long as counties continue receiving funding to build up and fill up their jails, they will fail to evaluate promising reforms that could shrink the number of cages and reduce the number of people they imprison. We must demand that our elected officials begin addressing our needs with care, not cages.

How would you spend $250 million? Tell your representative now!

In Solidarity,

Diana Zuñiga and Lizzie Buchen

Co-Coordinators, Californians United for a Responsible Budget