Category: Organizing Updates

Organizing Updates

LAO Report Exposes “Indefensible Waste” in Prison Budget

Indefensible Waste” in Prison Budget
CURB Calls for at least 5 More Closures to Reduce State Deficit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Contact: Olivia Gleason | olivia@curbprisonspending.org | 562.881.2625

SACRAMENTO, CA — Today, Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) responded to the newly released Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) report on the 2026-27 Corrections Budget. While the LAO formally recommends the closure of one additional prison, CURB is urging the Newsom administration to go significantly further, demanding a commitment to closing at least five additional prisons before the Governor leaves office.

“California is currently sitting on nearly 14,000 empty beds—enough capacity to announce five or six full prison closures this budget cycle,” said Amber-Rose Howard, Executive Director of CURB. “The LAO report confirms the underlying reality we have been highlighting: keeping thousands of empty beds on the books is an indefensible waste of resources. We strongly agree with the LAO’s specific recommendation to close a prison this year. However, a one-prison-at-a-time approach does not reflect the scale of the state’s ongoing fiscal and incarceration crisis.”

  • The LAO report highlights several critical findings that verify the urgent need for further prison closures:
    CTF in Soledad as a Prime Closure Candidate: The LAO identifies the Correctional Training Facility (CTF) in Soledad as a strong candidate for closure, citing $379 million in needed repairs for its kitchen and fire alarm systems alone. The report formally recommends the Legislature reject new infrastructure spending at this facility.
  • Verified Fiscal Savings: The LAO confirms that closing an average-sized prison would save the state approximately $150 million annually in operational costs and avoid the need for expensive infrastructure projects at the closed site.
  • Sustained Population Decline: The LAO confirms the prison population is projected to continue declining through June 2030. The report notes the state could close an additional prison and still retain a 2,500-bed buffer to manage unexpected population increases.
  • System-Wide Maintenance Liability: The LAO reports that CDCR has identified $2.5 billion in deferred maintenance projects across the system over the next ten years, not including the billions potentially needed for air cooling systems.
  • Lack of Transparency: The LAO criticized CDCR for a lack of transparency regarding current yard deactivations at Solano and Avenal State Prisons, noting the administration has declined to provide information about these operational changes to the Legislature.

CURB also emphasizes the humanitarian and fiscal cost of continuing to use prisons as “high-priced nursing homes.” With over 19,000 people aged 55 and older currently behind bars, the state spends over $237,000 per year to incarcerate elders aged 80 and older with little risk of recidivism if released.

Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) is a statewide coalition of over 100 organizations working to reduce the number of people in prisons and jails, shrink the corrections budget, and redirect public dollars toward housing, healthcare, education, and community-based safety strategies.

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Organizing Updates

Support Marisela Andrade, former LWOP, DV,Trafficking and ICE detention survivor

Many remember and know our friend Marisela Andrade, and were central to a campaign to get her returned from ICE detention in Aurora Colorado back to California.
Mari continues to be UNDER  ICE  watch, and has an asylum appeal  in process.
 
 

HOWEVER Mari was injured two weeks ago and needed surgery  for an old injury incurred due to years of abuse.  She will be out of work for at least another month.

Please make a financial donation if you can to help Mari pay her bills during her recovery.
 
Much thanks to COSA and the Community Justice Center in Fresno who are a strong community of care for Mari.
 
There is a QR code and  a link to Butter
 
For either, please note your donation. Is for Marisela Andrade,
 
Thank you COSA, Thank you community,  thank you Marisela for staying strong and determined.

https://givebutter.com/WkvrlV

Organizing Updates

Support for Kelli Blackwell’s education + liberation

Please consider donating to support an incredible incarcerated advocate with close ties to CCWP! I have the pleasure of visiting Kelli regularly at CCWF and collaborating with her on political projects, including her fight to free herself and so many people around her. Every dollar helps support her education and liberation! Donate via Venmo here or Cash app here.

As we approach Black History Month, join us in sending some love to Kelli Renae Blackwell, a Black trans woman who has worked hard to foster safety for LGBTQ+ people both in and out of prison in her 35+ years of incarceration. She is an educator, mentor, and organizer who uplifts all of us with her spirit and solidarity.

We’re hoping to fundraise $500 for Kelly over the next two weeks to help her buy books for school, cover legal fees as she works towards her freedom this year, and ensure her basic survival in prison. Even a small donation will make a big impact on Kelli’s life.
Organizing Updates

NEWSOM’S LAME DUCK BUDGET CONFIRMS PRISON POPULATION IS FALLING

California Must Name the Next Prison Closures and Release Elders

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Contact: Olivia Gleason | olivia@curbprisonspending.org | 562.881.2625

January 9, 2026

Sacramento, CA — Governor Gavin Newsom’s Proposed 2026–27 Budget underscores what advocates and fiscal experts have long noted: prison closures generate significant, ongoing General Fund savings as California’s prison population declines. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) credits prison and facility closures, deactivations, and contract terminations with approximately $4.9 billion in cumulative savings by 2027–28, yet the budget does not identify additional prisons for closure beyond the previously announced plan to close the California Rehabilitation Center (Norco) by October 2026. CDCR reports that prison closures are projected to save about $594 million annually by 2027–28.

The budget also revises downward recent assumptions about growth in incarceration. CDCR projects the average daily incarcerated population will continue to decline and estimates Proposition 36 will increase the prison population by 562 in 2025–26 and approximately 1,200 upon full implementation, which is far lower than earlier projections.

While existing closure commitments represent an important step forward, the overall cost of incarceration remains unsustainable. The budget highlights a growing crisis that will continue to drive costs upward: California is incarcerating more than 19,000 people aged 55 and older.

“Abysmally low elder parole grant rates and extreme sentencing have turned prisons into expensive nursing homes,” said Dax Proctor, Statewide Coordinator for Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), a coalition of more than 100 organizations that affirms at least six more state prisons can close. “Incarcerating elderly, low-risk people can cost $200,000–$300,000+ per person each year. That’s an inhumane, fiscally reckless policy choice. It doesn’t improve public safety. There is no public safety justification for keeping people living with dementia and terminal illness behind bars.”

State fiscal analysts have warned California faces larger multi-year budget shortfalls ahead, and local governments have cautioned that federal cost shifts could hit health and human services that communities rely on. Advocates say the state is missing an opportunity to offset cuts to vital services by maintaining a $14.2 billion budget for CDCR and failing to close additional state prisons.

“California’s prison population has been declining for 15 years. The Legislature passed AB 2178 (Ting) in 2024 to eliminate excess prison beds and build long-term savings, and Governor Newsom rejected it,” said Amber-Rose Howard, CURB’s Executive Director. “As empty beds keep growing, the state needs to close more prisons and redirect the savings to meet basic needs.”

CURB calls on the state Legislature to require CDCR and the Department of Finance to identify additional prisons for closure on a clear timeline aligned with population decline, expand and strengthen pathways to release—especially for elders and medically vulnerable people—and redirect closure savings into community-based services that create real safety and stability.

Organizing Updates

CA prison report

Audit finds slow handling of sex assault cases

LA IST 
 
Published December 9, 2025 12:30 PM
 
By Nigel Duara |

A new report on discipline in California prisons highlights slow handling of several sex assault cases filed against officers. In lawsuits, women have accused 83 officers of sexual misconduct.

Why now: The audit, released last week, is a twice-a-year summary of how the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation addresses complaints about its staff members. Overall, the inspector general found fault with the internal affairs department’s investigations into prison guard misconduct.

Findings: The audit labeled 86% of the prison system’s internal affairs disciplinary and criminal caseload as “inadequate” or “needs improvement” — only 14% of the cases handled by the internal affairs department were rated “adequate.” Inadequate means there were significant problems with the investigation that affected its final outcome. The less-serious label, “needs improvement,” meant that the process had problems, but none so serious that they compromised the investigation.

 

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