Organizing & Action Updates, CCWP in the News, and Updates on Prisons
Organizing & Action Updates
From Death Row to Transgender Rights: The Prison Yard as a School for Courage
Editor’s Note: This is a two-part story — first the activist speaks, and then his student follows.
Advocates Demand Investigation After Women Say SF Jail Deputies Recorded Strip Searches
Advocates are calling for an investigation into reports that more than a dozen women incarcerated at a San Francisco jail were strip-searched in front of male deputies and recorded on body-worn cameras, in violation of city policy
LAO says CDCR is Nearly $1 Billion Over Governor’s Plan, Making Prison Spending a Major Driver of California’s Budget Problem
CURB urges Governor and Legislature to close more state prisons, halt prison expansion projects, and invest in community-based care
CCWP in the News
Transcending trauma: Former lifers extol benefits of emotional awareness therapy
AFTER BEING WAREHOUSED in a California prison for decades before their release, formerly incarcerated men and women visited San Quentin Rehabilitation Center for a symposium on emotional awareness and healing.
They fight California’s fires, now let them rebuild their lives with AB 247
Every year, hundreds of incarcerated men and women in California prisons risk their lives, bodies and mental health to put out our state’s deadliest wildfires. For these sacrifices, they receive $5 to $10 per day, and their criminal record makes it difficult to gain the required certification as firefighters after their release.
For Third Year, California Kills Bill to Help Incarcerated Domestic Violence Survivors
Advocates in California have pushed for relief for people convicted of harming their abuser, hoping to build on states across the political spectrum that have adopted such reforms.
Updates on Prisons
Top Trends in Criminal Legal Reform, 2025
Reform, 2025 describes key changes formerly incarcerated activists, lawmakers, and advocates took to challenge mass incarceration in at least 10 states.
‘Human trafficking behind prison walls’: women jailed in Texas allege rampant sexual abuse
Eleven women incarcerated at a federal prison in Texas allege they have been subjected to rampant sexual abuse by staff members in the past seven years. The allegations are the latest accusations of abuse within a federal prison system rife with claims of inhumane conditions.
As California prisons face ‘wave’ of sex assault lawsuits, new audit highlights slow discipline
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.
