[Women Prisoner News] Fwd: [CCWP Membership] 2016 CCWP Highlights

[Diana Block]

Dear CCWP Community,

SHOUT THEIR NAMES! NO MORE DEATHS! BRING OUR LOVED ONES HOME ALIVE!  These
calls of grief and rage reverberated through a Town Hall in Oakland this
past July and two months later at a vigil directly in front of the
California Institution Women (CIW).  CCWP organized these events working
closely with family members of people who have died at CIW due to
overcrowding, solitary confinement, lack of mental health services and
racist neglect.  After three years of insisting that the epidemic of
suicide and death at CIW could not be ignored by the prison authorities or
the California legislature, *we finally succeeded in winning an independent
investigation of CIW by the State Auditor, one step towards needed change*.
Our continued pressure also helped push the dysfunctional wardens at CIW
and CCWF into early retirement.

We raised our demands to prison officials and the legislature through
media, hearings, vigils, and town halls.  At the same time, we expanded our
visits to the people inside, encouraging their courageous efforts to
support each other.  We partnered with the women at CIW to respond to the
traumatic impact of repeated losses.  We let family members and loved ones
know that they did not have to deal with this crisis alone.  We were able
to sustain this struggle against the callous disregard of the prison
authorities and the lawmakers because we built community at the same time
as we advocated for systemic policy changes.

Other major highlights of 2016 include:

   - *A Living Chance <http://alivingchance.com/> *multi-media storytelling
   project was included as part of a major exhibit at Yerba Buena Center for
   the Arts. *A Living Chance *uses storytelling and art to educate about
   the injustice of Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentencing.
   - Participation in the national Survived & Punished
   <http://survivedandpunished.org> network which helped to publicize and
   mobilize people to support Bresha Meadows, a young Black woman who was
   arrested for defending herself and her family from her father who had a
   long history of abusing them.
   - Participation in the Trans Advocacy Group, a collaborative of
   organizations working to support incarcerated transgender people in
   California. CCWP helps the group coordinate more consistent support for
   trans men held in women’s prisons, and advocates for trans women in CA
   prisons.
   - Participation in the SF No More Jails coalition which defeated a
   proposed SF county jail rebuild in December 2015.Participation in the
   city’s working group for alternatives to incarceration.
   - Continuation of our *Fired Up! *empowerment group in the SF County
   jail, our *Spitfire Speakers’ Bureau* and *The Fire Inside Newsletter*,
   now in its twenty-first year of publication.
   - Sustaining five visiting teams that provide legal advocacy and support
   at all the women’s state prisons on a bi-monthly basis and expanding out
   L.A. team to respond to the CIW crisis.

In this grim political moment, we join with people across the country in
preparing to resist escalating racist, sexist and economic attacks from a
new ultra right-wing administration.  Heightened criminalization and
imprisonment of immigrants is one of the many planned assaults that we
intend to fight. Together, collectively, we will stand firm on our core
principles of justice and love.

Hafsah Al-Amin & Windy Click
Program Coordinators

Donate Today <https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38329>
*We cannot do this without you, our community!  Please donate today.
<https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38329>*

   - Support CCWP's work in 2017 on a foundational level by* becoming a
   monthly sustainer*.
   - If you can’t commit to a monthly donation, please *make a generous
   one-time contribution*.
   - Please also consider *planning a legacy gift* for the future through a
   bequest, a living trust or a beneficiary designation.

*Your contribution will support:*

   - Salaries for our two dedicated part-time staff members.
   - Expenses for prison visits including car rentals, gas and food for the
   people we visit.
   - Stipends for the formerly incarcerated members of our Speakers’ Bureau.
   - Printing and mailing costs for The Fire Inside newsletter.

<https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38329>

When I faced the hardest situation of my life, CCWP was there for me. The
very day I received the tragic news of the death of my daughter, Shaylene
Graves, in a California state women's prison, CCWP reached out to me and my
family. Through CCWP's tireless efforts, my family has been given the
strength to fight for justice and seek answers in Shaylene's death. Through
CCWP, I have been introduced to other families that share my grief and
struggle. All of our families have been given a voice through CCWP's
incredible organization and dedication. – Sheri Graves
<https://twitter.com/womenprisoners>
<https://www.facebook.com/California-Coalition-for-Women-Prisoners-61209881719/?ref=bookmarks>
*California Coalition for Women Prisoners www.womenprisoners.org
<http://www.womenprisoners.org>*

1540 Market Street, Suite 490
San Francisco, CA 94102

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