For Immediate Release: There is a life-threatening massive outbreak of COVID-19 at the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), California’s largest women’s prison. In the past two weeks, there have been 500 new COVID-19 cases, representing 25% of the population at CCWF.
We cannot overstate the gravity of trying to survive a pandemic in prisons that were already a public health crisis, under the watch of guards who do not value your life, in an institution with medical care that is either horrible or non-existent. But in all the darkness, we were amazed by the light—the courage, resilience, collective care, and fighting spirit of our currently incarcerated members.
Urgent action still needed to pressure prison officials as mental health conditions continue to deteriorate inside CCWF, produced by the institution’s inadequate and disorderly response to the escalating COVID crisis.
Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) today announced the introduction of the California Racial Justice Act for All, AB 256, which extends the protections provided in last year’s AB 2542, a first-of-its-kind law in the state prohibiting the use of race, ethnicity, or national origin in sentencing and convictions.
The craven bloodlust of a failed administration was on full display tonight. Everyone who participated in the execution of Lisa Montgomery should feel shame. No one disagrees…
En diciembre de 2020, más del 25% de la población carcelaria en Central California Women’s Facility padecía de coronavirus. Las sobrevivientes cuentan las condiciones a las que fueron sometidas y las secuelas que aún persisten incluso después de recuperarse.
Aminah Elster says CCWP is working to “wrap up our efforts to maintain communication with folks on the inside, and also fighting to make sure that they are not overlooked in this pandemic.” The group is growing their pen pal training program since there is currently no in-person visitation, continuing their “survival and release advocacy work,” and raising money in response to COVID to help currently and formerly incarcerated people with their necessities.
Aminah Elster is the policy coordinator at the California Coalition for Women Prisoners and a formerly incarcerated person. She says the women inside the Chowchilla facility continue to tell her about unsafe living conditions even after…
The United States executed Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row, early on Wednesday, making her the first female prisoner to be executed by the federal government since 1953.
Allegations of guards sexually assaulting prisoners at the state-run women’s prison in Springer continue to mount. Albuquerque attorneys representing several inmates who say they’ve been sexually assaulted at the facility have filed another complaint…
Throughout Lisa Montgomery’s life, authorities repeatedly failed to stop the extreme violence and abuse that she suffered. On Christmas Eve, a federal court ruled that the government had acted illegally…
