Over 5000 people are serving LWOP (Life Without the Possibility of Parole) sentences in California prisons. People of color are disproportionately sentenced to LWOP and of the nearly 200 people serving LWOP in CA women’s prisons, the overwhelming majority are survivors of abuse, including intimate partner battering, childhood abuse, sexual violence, and sex trafficking. Life without parole is an inhumane sentence. It denies that people have the capacity to change, grow and be rehabilitated.
As Governor Brown nears the end of his term, he has granted an unprecedented number of commutations for people serving LWOP sentences. Commuting a sentence does not guarantee release from prison, but it does guarantee that each person will have the right to see the Parole Board in their lifetime, rather than being sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in prison under a “living death penalty.”
Over 100 organizations have signed a letter asking Governor Brown to commute the sentences of all people serving Life Without Parole in California’s prisons to parole-eligible sentences. We will be delivering the letter to Governor Brown’s office. Come to Sacramento on August 6th!
RSVP for August 6 DROP LWOP Rally/Lobby Day at
