Yesterday, Governor Brown signed the 2017-18 CA State Budget. Increased investment in incarceration puts us all in danger of falling into Jeff Sessions’ plan to heighten racialized state violence. Alarming investments include:
- increases $500 million for state corrections
- increases $1.5 million for local community corrections
- refurbishes or replaces the 12 Oldest Prisons in California
On the contrary, Californian’s have been stepping up to address the irresponsible, harmful policies from the “tough on crime” era. The people have been working to have savings from recent parole and sentencing reform re-directed to the community, to support the continued success of community based reentry and development. Our legislature can still show Gov. Brown that we won’t accept his continued prioritization of imprisonment.
With heightened federal pressure, we need to protect California’s most vulnerable populations by reducing spending on corrections and incarceration now more than ever.
