Artists Against Rape Event on Friday November 5, 2010 CCWP is honored to collaborate with San Francisco Women Against Rape on their 13th Annual Artists Against Rape event that includes a reception, silent auction and performances. We hope you can join us on Friday, November 5th, 2010, at The First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison Street, Oakland, CA, 94612. Please click here for more information about the event and art submissions. Thank you!
		Images from the Fast 4 Freedom Solidarity Rally! Fast 4 Freedom Statewide Action Solidarity Rally at the State Building in San Francisco "Because so many are starving for FREEDOM" (from the call by family members of prisoners). " Fast 4 Freedom is a statewide day of fasting and solidarity actions that took place this year on Friday, August 6th, 2010, and was initiated by family members and loved ones of prisoners locked up across California. Here are a few images from the rally. Thank you to Dana Ullman for the photos. Let’s keep organizing together to: End Three Strikes Reduce the Prison Population NOW Release Prisoners Eligible for Parole Release Sick, Aged and Terminally Ill prisoners Family Visits for All Prisoners End the Death Penalty Education Not Incarceration Stop All New Prison Construction including New "Mental Health" Cages being built in Chino and Vacaville Justice for Oscar Grant and all targets of racist police brutality Thank you to everyone who supported, participated, and organized the rally!
		Elimination of First Mandatory Minimum Since Nixon Administration A bit of good news, though there is still much work to be done against the Drug War . . . House Joins Senate in Ditching Crack Disparity FAMM Hails Elimination of First Mandatory Minimum Since Nixon Administration FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: July 28, 2010 Contact: Monica Pratt Raffanel, media@famm.org WASHINGTON, D.C. – Moments ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed landmark legislation to dramatically reduce the sentencing disparity between federal crack and powder cocaine sentences and to repeal the five-year mandatory minimum for simple possession of crack cocaine. The bill, S. 1789, already won unanimous approval from the Senate in March and now goes to the White House for President Obama’s certain signature. Its passage marks the first time that Congress has repealed a mandatory minimum drug sentence since the Nixon administration.
		Beatrice Smith-Dyer is free! Beatrice Smith-Dyer is free! More information will soon be coming!
		Interview with Maria Suarez, former prisoner and slave For almost 28 years Maria Suarez was held against her will. First by a slaveholder and then imprisoned for a crime she didn’t commit. She was tricked into slavery when she was 15 years old. Her captor abused her mentally, physically, and spiritually. He threatened to hurt her family so even when the police and her family tried to help, she told them everything was okay. Her dreams of a better life were fading. "My dreams just were crushed. They never let me bloom, like a rose. They never let the rose grow up to be a rose.” Maria says that for 28 years she was just looking for, “A little bit of justice.” Her story is heartbreaking and inspiring. Read for yourself, or see Maria's compelling story. She was interviewed for the film, ''Dreams Die Hard''. - from Free the Slaves organizational website. To read the interview with Maria Suarez, please click here. Thank you.
		Learn More About Parole for Life-Term Prisoners in California . . . CCWP wants to help change the parole system for life-term prisoners. We will post more updates and information as the work develops. In the meantime, we encourage everyone to listen to this audio program to learn more . . . . "In California, Maryland and Oklahoma, the governors can overrule parole boards' decisions to free prisoners serving life sentences. In all three states this has evolved to the point where very few prisoners get released. For years Nancy Mullane followed the case of Don Cronk in San Quentin Prison, to see what would happen as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reviewed his case. Though Cronk knew the odds were against him, he found it hard to stop himself from believing he'd get out." - This American Life website. The program is "This American Life," and the parole portion of the show begins around minute 8. Please click this link , and then click "Stream Episode." Thank you, and please let us know if you want to get involved!
		Frankie Williams is Free! Many thanks to all who signed petitions for Frankie's release!! California Coalition for Women Prisoners challenges the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) and its destructive effects on our communities. All communities and all people suffer from the abusive nature of this system that punishes those deeply in need of healing. The PIC sustains itself by further entrenching racism and systemic racial discrimination to which all forms of discrimination are connected.
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