Category: Organizing Updates

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Highlights from CURB’s People’s Plan for Prison Closure

Black and vulnerable communities have been ‘disappeared’ into California’s prisons for forty years. The price of this social abandonment is of course incalculable. How can we begin to address racism in America with a response that is anything less than unapologetically bold? Closing ten prisons in five years would be a truly bold step toward accountability and racial justice in the interest of public health.

Accomplishing our goal of closing ten prisons in five years will be hard. It will require political courage. But history is watching us, and waiting for California to finally address what are the most significant moral and ethical issues of our time. California sentences one in four women to life in prison, which is a higher proportion of women serving life sentences than anywhere else in the country.

The case for closing all women’s prisons is articulated through the lived experience of formerly and currently incarcerated women, TGI folks and their allies. It will be articulated further in CURB’s forthcoming report (2021-22) calling for the closure of all women’s prisons in California. We know that people in women’s prisons can be incredible community builders who can follow paths to wholeness–when and if they receive the respect and support they deserve. Isn’t that what all people need? If we can imagine a world without women’s prisons, what else could we achieve with a deeper shift in thinking? We hope The People’s Plan for Prison Closure sparks such a shift. 

From CURB: The People’s Plan for Prison Closure is a visionary roadmap detailing:

  • Ten prisons directly impacted people prioritized for closure, and why
  • An analysis of cost-savings to be captured and reinvested in prison-adjacent communities. 
  • Data-driven information about the roles racism and draconian sentencing continue to play in both prison expansion and overcrowding
  • The case for closing all women’s prisons in California 

Prison abolition will uplift our society’s needs. Cages are used to “solve” problems created by political actors and failed policies. People have intrinsic value that can and must not be so easily discarded. Let’s leave what we know has failed us where it belongs: in the dustbin of our state’s history. It’s time to build a stronger future for California.


CCWP will be working on the CURB report calling for the closure of all women’s prisons in California in the next year!

Read and share the report:  Bit.ly/CloseCAPrisonsReport

Social Media Toolkit: Bit.ly/ClosePrisons2021

Organizing Updates

Action Alert! Thurs. 4/22 Take action to bring Tomiekia home & #FreeAllSurvivors

*Please wait until April 22nd to submit public comment to Gov. Newsom and post on social media – toolkit with instructions here*

Dear Allies and Supporters,

This spring join us every two weeks to take action to free incarcerated survivors by submitting public comment to Governor Gavin Newsom! 

Please join us on Thurs, April 22nd for a Day of Action to Bring Tomiekia Johnson home and #FreeAllSurvivors. We are urging Governor Newsom to grant immediate release for Tomiekia through a commutation.

Tomiekia Johnson is a Black mother, an incarcerated survivor of ongoing severe domestic violence, and a former highway patrol officer. Tomiekia was sentenced to 50 years to life due to an act of self defense from the violence of her abusive husband. The court system failed to acknowledge the dangerous history of domestic violence she faced and punished her for taking action to survive. Tomiekia is a beloved member of Survived & Punished and a powerful community leader. She should have the opportunity to reunite with her thirteen year old daughter and loving community. Help us in calling for Tomiekia’s freedom!

In Tomiekia’s own words:

“I am not defined by my mistakes but rather what I’ve learned from them and how I will invest that learning into touching other people’s lives. Governor Newsom, like you, I am a civil servant at heart and my moment is now. With all due respect, haven’t you made mistakes? Haven’t you had a wake up call? Aren’t you in need of redemption and a second chance from the people of California? We all deserve a chance to learn from our mistakes and when I get mine I will surprise you, and many people will be proud of both of us because civil servants should be working together.” 

Organizing Updates

Action Alert: Take Action to Free Incarcerated Survivors: Join us every 2 weeks.

This spring join us every two weeks to take action to free incarcerated survivors by submitting public comment to Governor Gavin Newsom! 

During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, please join us on Thurs, April 8thfor a Day of Action to Bring Kanoa “Rae” Harris-Pendang home and #FreeAllSurvivors. We are urging Governor Newsom to grant immediate release for Kanoa through a commutation.

Kanoa.png

Kanoa “Rae” Harris-Pandang is a transgender survivor who has been incarcerated in California for over 20 years. In an example of the extreme and disproportionate sentencing of trans people of color, Kanoa was sentenced to two life without parole sentences and two 25-to-life sentences in 1998 for “conspiring to commit” two murders that he did not commit. Kanoa is a beloved friend and long-time member of Survived and Punished. He deserves healing in community, not more punishment. 
In Kanoa’s own words: “To be sentenced to death by incarceration wiped my hope with the sound of the gavel. Fortunately my spirit to survive surpassed the lost hope that was trying to be embedded in my heart by a hammer and robe. Now that there is hope amongst the community of people serving life without parole (LWOP), I feel like it took that gavel for me to rebel against its hopeless intention to ultimately prepare me for freedom. I humbly ask for your support with my freedom and continue hoping for a living chance for all people serving death by incarceration.”

We invite you to join us in calling for Kanoa’s release. Please take action on Thurs, April 8:

1. Submit a public comment – instructions here: bit.ly/FreeAllSurvivors

2. Post on social media – sample posts here: bit.ly/FreeAllSurvivors

3. Tap three of your friends to join us as we continue to call to FreeAllSurvivors, and forward this action to your networks, please!

Organizing Updates

FREE GABBY SOLANO NOW IMPRISONED BY ICE!

Background: We are coming together to defend Gabby Solano, an immigrant woman, and survivor of domestic violence who was cruelly transferred to ICE on the evening of March 30, 2021. Gabby was supposed to be released today after spending over 20 years incarcerated due to the actions of her abuser and his acquaintances. Her family and community were ready to receive her with open arms, but Governor Newsom allowed California’s state prison system (CDCr) to work with ICE and detain Gabby for deportation. Despite a change in our country’s administration, immigrants and refugee survivors like Gabby are still facing the violence of detention and deportation. 

ICE can and must use its prosecutorial discretion to release Gabby. She, like other incarcerated people deserves a chance to experience freedom and be finally reunited with her loved ones. Gabby is currently being transferred to Aurora Detention Center in Colorado. Please take action – this toolkit will continue to be updated as we get new information. 

Follow @survivepunish for updates & contribute to the #FreeGabby Bond/Release Fund.

Free Gabby Toolkit
Organizing Updates

Take Action to Support Justice for Survivors

Take Action to Support Justice for Survivors
Assembly Bill 124 (Kamlager) supports survivors of violence, including intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking, by providing trauma-informed charging, sentencing, and resentencing relief by requiring judges to give great weight to the impact of trauma on the person’s behavior.

AB 124 is sponsored by Black Futures Lab (BFL) Public Policy Institute, California Coalition of Women Prisoners (CCWP), Free to Thrive, Human Rights Watch, National Center for Youth Law, Survived and Punished, USC School of Law Post Conviction Justice Project, and Young Women’s Freedom Center (YWFC). 

TAKE ACTION in support of AB 124:If you have 5 minutes: write a Letter of Support by Thurs, April 1. Use the attached Word Document (AB 124 LOS Asm. Public Safety Template.docx) to draft your letter to Assembly Public Safety Committee and submit it via the Advocates Portal. 

Email a copy of your completed letter to
crogowski@youthlaw.org and Balkis.Awan@sen.ca.gov.

If you have 1 minute: provide a “Me Too” in advance of the Assembly Public Safety Hearing.Complete this Google Form by Monday, April 5 and an advocate will share your support during the hearing!

For more information, visit our website, download our fact sheet or contact Kate Walker Brown at KWalker@youthlaw.org. Updated language for the bill will be available on LegInfo shortly.