February 16, 2012
http://www.change.org/petitions/cas-gov-brown-cdcr-secretary-matthew-cate-judge-t-henderson-stop-the-conversion-of-valley-state-prison-from-a-womens-to-a-mens-prison
You may have already signed and that’s great. We have modified the wording and included the complete joint statement from people inside both women’s prisons in Chowchilla, CA.
Please pass it on and reply if your organization wants to be listed as an endorser.
Currently there are over 2,650 women and transgender prisoners housed at VSPW. Instead of releasing thousands who are eligible to go home, CDCR is planning to transfer them to the Central California Women’s Facility (159% over capacity) and California Institution for Women (139% over capacity.)
Our communities have endured and suffered forced removals and relocations of people openly and under false pretexts for generations. Even though no prison is where anyone wants to or needs to be, closing and moving women out of this one is yet another uprooting to the detriment, and against the will of, people rendered powerless and whose humanity is disregarded.

Please sign the petition asking for compassionate release of Patricia Wright. Find out more about Patricia Wright’s story and the campaign on her behalf.

16 October 2011
The second recent hunger strike by California prisoners has come to an end. As prisoners throughout California continue their struggle for human rights and against torture, we must keep up the pressure on Governor Jerry Brown and the CDCR as the 5 core demands have only been minimally addressed.
Please visit this website for a more complete update regarding the Hunger Strike: http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com,and click here for listings of upcoming actions in the US and Canada.
These videos capture the entirety of the public hearings on August 23rd, brought about as a result of prisoners going on hunger strike and the mass wave of the pressure across the country that followed. Part 1 of 2, Part 2 of 2.
To sign an online the petition in support of the hunger strike, please visit: http://www.change.org/petitions/support-prisoners-on-hunger-strike-at-pelican-bay-state-prison.

To view a video of the July 18th Sacramento demonstration, please click here.

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Take action at Take Action California: a virtual, one-stop, for political activism, action alerts, fact sheets, and events in support of grassroots advocacy throughout California. By increasing our collective capacity for e-advocacy, we hope to advance our shared agenda for social change, through criminal justice reform and human rights advocacy for disadvantaged and low income communities and people of color throughout the state.

From the Free Sara Kruzan website : “There are approximately 225 juveniles in California serving a life without parole sentence. California has the worst racial disparity rate in the nation for sentencing juveniles to life without parole. Black youth are given this sentence at 22 times the rate of white youth.
One such case involves Sara Kruzan, now 31. She was raised in Riverside by her abusive, drug-addicted mother. Sara met her father only three times in her life because he was in prison.
Since the age of 9, Sara suffered from severe depression for which she was hospitalized several times. At the age of 11, she met a 31-year-old man named G.G. who molested her and began grooming her to become a prostitute. At age 13, she began working as a child prostitute for G.G. and was repeatedly molested by him. At age 16, Sara was convicted of killing him. She was sentenced to prison for the rest of her life despite her background and a finding by the California Youth Authority that she was amendable to treatment offered in the juvenile system.
‘As a society we?ve learned a lot since the time we started using life without parole for children,’ said Elizabeth Calvin, a children?s rights advocate with Human Rights Watch. ‘We now know that this sentence provides no deterrent effect. While children who commit serious crimes should be held accountable, public safety can be protected without subjecting youth to the harshest prison sentence possible.’”
In January 2011, Sara’s sentence was commuted to 25 years-to-life by the California governor. To sign a petition supporting her release, please click here. Thank you.