LOS ANGELES: No New Jails in Los Angeles County!
“Why not another school? Why not put more money in schools and not another prison? Right now California is number 49 in education spending and number one in spending on prisons. If they’re not putting money in alternatives, then they’re just gonna keep putting people in prison. More new jails isn’t making LA safer… the main thing we all got together on was no new jails for LA.”
-Froggy, Youth Justice Coalition
LA residents prioritize with play dollars how to divide the city budget
The jail system in Los Angeles, California is in a crisis – with people detained in LA County Jails subject to overcrowded and abusive conditions, and rarely receiving the type of timely processing, adequate legal representation, or health services to which they are entitled. The cause of this crisis is that there are too many people imprisoned in LA County.
The No New Jails Coalition has come together in LA County with a solution to these problems – the reduction of the number of people in jail in Los Angeles, which would save millions of dollars and free up funding for education or social services. They are currently organizing for the city and county to 1) end enforcement of the no-sleeping ordinance, and other “quality of life” ordinances and policing policies aimed at sweeping the homeless, youth, immigrants, mentally ill and gang members off the streets and into detention 2) increase good time credits for jail programming designed to reduce recidivism, such as alcohol and drug treatment, violence counseling and educational programs 3) increase resources for prevention and re-entry services and alternatives to imprisonment and 4) resist ongoing attempts to divert more of city, county, and state budgets away from various social welfare programs and into more police, jails or prisons.
Signatories to the No New Jails Statement include: Critical Resistance – Los Angeles, California Prison Moratorium Project, Bus Riders Union, A New Way of Life Foundation, Labor Community Strategy Center, ADELANTE, Youth Justice Coalition, the Women’s Council of the California Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, Southern California Regional Strategy Coalition, Confederation of Taino People, the Smith for Assembly Campaign, Case del Pueblo, Proyecto Common Touch, Get out the Jail Vote Campaign, Pico Youth and Family Center and Save our Sons.
No New Jails and Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) host Alternative Visions for Public Safety in Los Angeles - Oct 26, 2004 Watts Labor Community Action Center
An LA resident testifies on her alternative vision for public safety in LA