Is this the California Model?

Governor Newsom: Between heat deaths, the failure to protect workers and incarcerated people from climate change, $122 million in fines for neglecting mental health, the ongoing use of solitary confinement and sadly, more—it’s clear the #CaliforniaModel is no model at all.

In response to Adrienne “Twin” Boulware’s preventable heat-related death on July 6, 2024, and the brutal use of force by staff at Central California Women’s Facility on August 2, 2024, formerly incarcerated people across California are demanding SUBSTANTIVE changes.

We believe in culture change, increased programming, and supporting the transformative work led by incarcerated people. However, some aim to create “kinder cages” with the intention of filling them back up, reversing our state’s progress on reducing incarceration. Carceral Humanism makes incarceration seem more humane while expanding the prison system—this is what’s happening nationwide as the system tries to protect its budgets and the status quo.

Prisons can be safely closed. We’ve ALL seen the data. Yet the CA model is used as an excuse to keep prisons open, citing “space for rehabilitative goals.” @CACorrections controls 42M sq. ft. and 23,000 acres—they can work with what they have.

The opposition is in full force this election cycle. #Prop36 will propose stricter sentencing under the guise of safety. It will INCREASE incarceration, fill prisons back up, and cost taxpayers hundreds of million. We applaud Gov Newsom’s opposition to Prop 36 but are concerned by his recent signing of #BadBills responding to high-profile retail theft that DON’T reflect current crime data, which is at historic LOWS.

EVERYONE deserves safety, which we can CREATE by investing in community.

Gov. Newsom, we’re not going back. We must work together for a stronger California. Right now, you are at cross purposes with many people in the grassroots. We challenge you to course-correct and abandon this tack to the right.

#CloseCAPrisons #CareNotCages #EndSolitaryConfinement #CAModel #CaliforniaModel #ExtremeHeat #CCWF #StopProp36 #NoOn36 #PrisonSpendingScam