CURB STATEMENT ON PASSAGE OF AB 137

NEWSOM AND LAWMAKERS TAKE KEY STEP TO PROTECT CALIFORNIA FROM ICE

SACRAMENTO—Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) today released the following statement in response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s signing Assembly Bill 137:

“We thank Governor Newsom for his leadership in swiftly signing AB 137, and we applaud the Legislature for working diligently and decisively to meet the urgency of this moment. This bill reflects the kind of principled, proactive governance Californians expect. Gov. Newsom’s decision to sign it sends a clear message that our state will not be complicit in federal detention expansion.

“AB 137 gives California new tools to prevent ICE from taking over closed state prison sites––including the ability to sell, lease, or dispose of properties once CDCR declares them excess to state needs, to begin leasing immediately, and to prohibit any future carceral or detention use.

“This is a strong first step. Now we urge the Governor to use this authority without delay, starting with Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (CVSP), which closed in 2024 and is already being eyed for ICE use.

“California has spent more than $300 million maintaining mothballed prisons, even as we face a $28 billion structural budget deficit. The Legislative Analyst’s Office has urged further closures. Immediately placing former prison sites like CVSP into the AB 137 process would reduce costs while locking out ICE.

“We also urge the Governor and state leaders to stay vigilant as ICE targets other sites, including federal facilities like FCI Dublin and formerly leased state prisons like California City Correctional Facility. AB 137 shows what California can do when action is necessary, but it will take sustained leadership to ensure that no facility in this state, under any jurisdiction, is reopened to cage our neighbors and loved ones.”

Women sue prison gynecologist over ‘horrific, sadistic’ exams, sexual abuse in California

By Julia Marnin

February 5, 2025

If women needed gynecological care at an all-female prison in southern California, their only option was to see the sole gynecologist on staff — a doctor now accused of sexually and physically abusing scores of patients.

Dr. Scott Lee performed abusive, invasive and unnecessary exams on pregnant women and others incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Chino, a new federal class-action lawsuit says.

Lee’s patients endured harmful pelvic examinations, pap smears, sexualized digital penetration, physical restraint and retaliation, along with being denied medical care at the facility, where he was the only gynecologist from 2016 to 2023, according to a complaint filed Feb. 2. The lawsuit was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

To read the full article in the Sacramento Bee, click here.

I helped care for FCI Dublin victims. Trump’s plan to reopen the prison for ICE is horrifying

By Douglas Yoshida

June 12, 2025

As the child of Japanese Americans who were detained for years by the U.S. government, I have witnessed the violent suppression of protests in Los Angeles against Immigration and Customs Enforcement with shock and anger. ICE’s brutal tactics, separation of families and demonizing rhetoric are reflective of a system that is fundamentally flawed and inhumane. That’s why people in California have been organizing for decades to get ICE out of our communities — and are currently filling the streets in protest.

Here in the Bay Area, there’s one disturbing Trump administration plan in particular worth fighting: making sure the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin — a former Bureau of Prisons facility — does not reopen as an ICE detention center.

In April of 2024, FCI Dublin closed amidst rampant abuse. From 2019 to 2021, at least eight employees at the prison, including the former warden and chaplain, were charged with sexual misconduct. Seven of the employees were found guilty and an eighth will go to trial this fall. In many instances, noncitizens incarcerated at the prison were specifically targeted for abuse by staff, who threatened to turn them over to ICE or made false promises that they could help them stay in the United States in exchange for sexual acts.

Read the full article from the SF Chronicle here.

CCWP IS HIRING A STATEWIDE COORDINATOR!

SUBMIT RESUME AND COVER LETTER BY – 

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13

TO:   ccwp.hiring@gmail.com

Job Opening: STATEWIDE COORDINATOR

40 hr./week position with full benefits

The person in this position needs to live in California and be able to travel as needed to different parts of the state. The position is primarily remote except for in-person travel.

CCWP is a grassroots abolitionist organization, with members inside and outside prison, that challenges the institutional violence imposed on women, transgender people, and communities of color by the prison industrial complex (PIC).

We are looking for a passionate, formerly incarcerated/systems impacted person who can coordinate the development of CCWP’s new statewide Hub structure. As a result of the growth of our organization over the past several years and the release of more people from women’s prisons in California who live in different areas of the state, CCWP is initiating a new structure which will promote the establishment of CCWP Hubs in additional areas such as the Central Valley, Inland Empire, and San Diego. Historically CCWP has been based in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles.

The Hubs will engage in local activities that are connected to CCWP’s mission and statewide programs.  Possible local activities would include welcome home gatherings for formerly incarcerated people, connecting formerly incarcerated people with local re-entry resources, providing court support and participatory defense resources to people in local jails, and working with local elected officials to advance criminal legal reform work on a local level.

The coordinator will be responsible for supporting the development of new Hubs through statewide outreach, processing applications for new Hubs, liaising with Hub point people and ensuring the ongoing interconnections between the Hubs, CCWP’s Coordinating Committee and the statewide organization.  The Hub coordinator will work closely with CCWP’s membership coordinator on building out the Hubs.

The coordinator will also be responsible for the coordination of CCWP’s Across the Walls prison legal visiting program at CCWF and CIW. All of CCWP’s work is guided by people inside women’s prisons and legal visits are an essential part of our work. Our legal visits are conducted by legal assistants with the guidance of CCWP’s  supervising attorney. The prison visiting coordinator will be responsible for coordinating the scheduling of legal visits in conjunction with the team leads for CCWF and CIW. They will also help train new legal assistants, ensure the maintenance of electronic files for the people whom we visit and provide guidance for prison visit follow-up. They will work with the Writing Warriors correspondence team to ensure coordination between these two main programs in which CCWP provides communication and advocacy with people in women’s prisons.

Black, Latinx and other People of Color who are formerly incarcerated or loved ones of incarcerated people are strongly encouraged to apply.

CCWP’s Mission, Goals and Programs.

We are looking for someone who shares:

  • Excitement about supporting the expansion of CCWP’s programs and organizational structure in new areas across the state, anchored by formerly incarcerated people.
  • Commitment to supporting a robust prison legal visiting program that can advocate strongly for people incarcerated in CA women’s prisons.
  • Commitment to working with a wide variety of people inside and outside of prison, prioritizing the communities most impacted and inclusive of all those who want to work in solidarity with impacted people and communities.
  • Interest in the full range of CCWP’s programs and willingness to participate in a range of activities such as public speaking, representing CCWP at conferences, and involvement in other short-term initiatives.
  • Willingness to work in a non-hierarchical collectively oriented organization with a small staff and an extensive volunteer network.

 Responsibilities

  • Anchor the development of CCWP’s new Hub structure, including but not limited to statewide outreach, processing applications for new Hubs, liaising with Hub point people and ensuring the ongoing interconnections between the Hubs, CCWP’s Coordinating Committee and the statewide organization as a whole.
  • Maintain a comprehensive overview of people working with CCWP in different areas of the state and encourage formation of new Hubs.
  • Develop, in conjunction with the Hubs, a database of allied organizations and other resources in different areas of the state.
  • Serve as each Hub’s point of contact with CCWP’s Coordinating Committee.
  • Ensure that Hubs fulfill their responsibilities to CCWP and that CCWP organizationally fulfills its responsibilities as outlined in the Hub structure proposal.
  • Maintain an overview of CCWP’s prison legal visiting program, including but not limited to who has been trained as a legal visitor, clearance dates, legal visit schedule, and legal visiting folders.
  • Schedule legal visits, process clearances and ensure follow-up by legal assistants on action items from their visits.
  • Conduct periodic trainings for onboarding new legal assistants and updating all legal assistants on new laws and CCWP program development.
  • Liaison with the Writing Warriors (WW) program by attending meetings of the WW mentorship group and the bimonthly full Writing Warriors group.
  • Participate in CCWP’s leadership body, the Coordinating Committee.
  • Attend monthly CCWP statewide meetings.
  • Work closely with CCWP staff, members, interns and Advisory Board.

Qualifications

  • Experience organizing with systems impacted people inside and/or outside of prison.
  • Experience doing outreach to people and organizations about issues related to the criminal legal system.
  • Familiarity with the California prison system, its structures and procedures.
  • General familiarity with prison visiting procedures in California preferred.
  • Interest in building organizational structure and willingness to think creatively in order to develop new structures.
  • Ability to use computer platforms such as Zoom, Google Sheets and Google Docs efficiently and to learn new ones in order to maximize efficiency and coordination.
  • Ability to work independently.
  • Comfortable working flexible hours, possible travel, working via phone and computer, and keeping in consistent communication with colleagues in other parts of the state.
  • Dedication to cultivating leadership skills in oneself and in others.
  • Strong writing and other communication skills.
  • Comfortable with a collective, non-hierarchical organizational structure.
  • Commitment to mutual accountability, teamwork and collectivity.

Annual salary: Starting salary $76,000 with increase after three month successful completion of orientation period. Full package health benefits, vacation and sick leave from the start of employment.

 TO APPLY: SEND RESUME AND COVER LETTER DESCRIBING YOUR RELEVANT EXPERIENCE AND WHAT INTERESTS YOU ABOUT THE POSITION BY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2024 TO: