CCWP’s visiting and correspondence program in California’s women’s prisons is at the core of all our work. We learn directly from the women, trans, and GNC people inside about what is going on. Together we develop advocacy methods to change brutal conditions of confinement, win release for individuals, and challenge the foundations of the criminal legal system.
We partner with people inside to publish The Fire Inside Newsletter to give voice to their stories, ideas and art. We generate campaigns like DROP LWOP to change racist laws and win freedom for people. We support the Spitfire Speakers Bureau as a way for formerly incarcerated people to tell their stories and educate the public. Through our Cross Bars & Borders project, we study the impact of the U.S.–led prison industrial complex on women and trans people around the world in order to build international solidarity with global movements.
Our programs and campaigns are constantly evolving in response to developments inside the prisons and the growth of community-based movements on the outside. For example, we have responded to the dynamic growth of the Participatory Defense movement across California by becoming an active member of the San Francisco Participatory Defense Hub.
Reparations 4 Reproductive Justice Behind Bars
California to Pay Survivors of Forced Sterilization
Close California Women’s Prisons
Closing California Women’s Prisons is Possible!
Immigrant & Refugee Defense
Stop individual deportations – work for policy and legislative change
Cross Bars and Borders
Grow International Solidarity
Spitfire Speakers Bureau
Formerly Incarcerated Voices Speak Our Truth
CCWP is part of the SF Participatory Defense Hub:
Participatory Defense Hub – San Francisco
Defend One Another and Transform the Landscape of Power
We work with family and community members to defend people in SF County Jail to positively impact the outcome of their cases and transform the landscape of power in the court system. We also support people convicted in SF county who are currently in prison with their quest for re-sentencing relief. Learn more about the participatory defense movement across California.
CCWP is a core member of these statewide & national coalitions:
Californians United for a Responsible Budget
Shift public spending away from policing and incarceration.
Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) is a coalition whose goal is to reduce the number of people in prisons and jails, shrink the imprisonment system, and shift public spending from corrections and policing to services for people and communities.
Survived & Punished (S&P) is a national coalition that organizes to de-criminalize efforts to survive domestic and sexual violence, support and free criminalized survivors, and abolish gender violence, policing, prisons, and deportations.
GET INVOLVED
To become involved with CCWP, email us at:
We have open meetings the first Wednesday of each month at 6:30 pm via zoom.