by M. Y. Madrigal, Volunteer and Fundraiser Coordinator of SD/CCWP
The SD/CCWP provides women in prison and their families on the outside a safe environment to tell their stories at our meetings held the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month at the Worldbeat Center at 2100 Park Blvd., San Diego, CA 92101. We have been working on women prisoner issues since 1999.
SD/CCWP is beginning to work on the Women Prisoners Poetry Book Project. We are requesting poetry, essays, short stories, and/or drawings from women on the inside as well as women who have been incarcerated. Proceeds may go to women in prison, women who just got released and need financial support, and/or to families of women prisoners who are struggling to make ends meet.
Following is a summary of activities and upcoming events of SD/CCWP from January to April 2002:
- January 21–SD/CCWP tabled at the Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration Concert at the Worldbeat Center. Many women requested SD/CCWP to speak on behalf of women prisoner issues at their churches and schools.
- January 26–SD/CCWP members attended the Southern California Coalition for Justice Conference. Members attended various workshops to better mobilize/organize communities on socioeconomic issues and their ramifications such as; Prop 187, three strikes law and many others.
- February 9–SD/CCWP sponsored the Native American Film Festival in remembrance of Leonard Peltiers Incarceration Date. SD/CCWP also brought the Hopi women from Four Corners to speak about their unjust incarceration regarding disputes for exercising their cultural practices/traditions on tribal land.
- February 18–SD/CCWP tabled at the Bob Marley Festival at the San Diego Sports Arena. SD/CCWP received the Bob Marley Peace Maker Award for striving towards socioeconomic justice for women prisoners and their families. We were deeply honored to receive this prestigious award among the Rastafarian communities.
- March Is Womens Herstory Month
- March–SD/CCWP will be distributing SD/CCWP fliers one night a week at Las Colinas Womens Detention Facility in Santee, CA to inform women who are being released about our meetings and support. SD/CCWP will also be participating at the San Diego City College social/political forum to address prison conditions, treatment and lack of mental/medical healthcare women have to endure.
- April–SD/CCWP is having a fundraiser for Theresa Cruz, a victim of domestic violence who is serving a seven to life sentence at CIW. The fundraiser will be held at the Eveoke Theatre in the Downtown Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego.
- April 25–SD/CCWP and the Peace and Freedom Party of San Diego will be having a forum on the Attica Uprising at San Diego State University (SDSU) at 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182. Ex-inmates from San Diegos Juvenile Detention Center, CIW and Attica, New York, State Prison will give testimony of prison conditions and inhuman treatment.
For More Details, Questions, and/or Concerns, Please Call (619) 640-8669. Collect Calls From Prisoners Accepted.
