News: Organizing & Action Updates

California keeps hundreds of elderly women locked up despite low reoffending, high costs and deadly medical neglect; releasing elders is humane, smart and fiscally responsible

Research shows people often “age out” of crime, and health care costs are ballooning. But still, many states oppose releasing elderly prisoners.

* California is incarcerating 70,000 fewer people than it held in 2010, enabling the Newsom administration to close five state prisons. * A new analysis says the state can close one more and still meet its capacity requirements.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

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

Please consider donating to support an incredible incarcerated advocate with close ties to CCWP!

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.

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.

Editor’s Note: This is a two-part story — first the activist speaks, and then his student follows. 

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

CURB urges Governor and Legislature to close more state prisons, halt prison expansion projects, and invest in community-based care

Marisela Andrade de Zarate’s court date just got delayed until January 2029.

The latest edition of The Razor Wire 3.2 is out! You can also view the past issues as well.

A Multidisciplinary Guide to Abolition Through the Lens of Healthcare and Medicine

“This critical text unites organizers, medical practitioners, incarcerated writers and disability justice advocates to offer a radical revisioning of health and healing.” Christina Heatherton, editor of Policing the Planet

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:

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

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Resentencing Advocate Fellowship, a transformative collaboration between the CA Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) and Unapologetically HERS (UAHERS).

On the early morning of July 6, a woman died from a fully preventable heat stroke at Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla. Despite temperatures topping 113 in Chowchilla

Please read the information below, visit  savebrendaandrew.org, sign the petition and circulate!

One morning last spring, Moonlight Pulido called on rituals drawn from her Native American spirituality to confront a painful experience.

The time for change is NOW!

Read & share the public health research on the ways that women’s prison s harm health and the investments California could be making instead.

Dozens of women detail rape and retaliation at Dublin prison
Over the course of eight months, KTVU has spoken with more than three dozen women who say they have been sexually assaulted or witnessed such abuse at FCI Dublin. Many who spoke up were retaliated against.

Over one hundred advocacy organizations from across California and the United States have sent a public letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) demanding that the agency take immediate steps to address systemic abuse at the Federal Correctional Institute at Dublin (FCI Dublin), a federal women’s prison in Dublin, California.

Check out the artistic collaboration between CCWF incarcerated artists and University of San Francisco performing art students that premiered via zoom on May 13, 2021. View the edited zoom video event!

SB 300 will address California’s unjust “felony murder special circumstance” law by ensuring that the death penalty or life without parole (LWOP) cannot be imposed on a person who did not kill, nor intend for anyone to die, during a crime. SB 300 will also ensure that life without parole is NEVER a mandatory minimum sentence in California.

During Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, please join us on Thurs, May 20th for a Day of Action to Bring Arlene Home and #FreeAllSurvivors.

Join CCWP and sign the petition to stop the San Diego DA from re-trying Jane Dorotik on the same false evidence they used 21 years ago, and after she spent 20 years in prison.

During Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, please join us on Thurs, May 6thfor a Day of Action to Bring Wendy Home and #FreeAllSurvivors. We are urging Governor Newsom to grant immediate release for Wendy through a commutation.

We need your help! For the past three years, Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez has held and killed our bill, the Compensation for Survivors of Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Act (AB 1007), in Assembly Appropriations. Black, Indigenous, Latinx, incarcerated people, people with disabilities, and poor people have been the populations targeted for sterilizations by the state.

Tracee is a longtime, beloved member of CCWP sentenced to LWOP. We are asking Governor Newsom to grant Tracee a commutation and allow her to go before the parole board. Join us in taking action Friday, April 30th.

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.

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 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…

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 1007 would provide reparations to survivors of forced sterilization under California’s eugenics laws from 1909 to 1979; and survivors of involuntary sterilizations in women’s state prisons after 1979.

In the last week of #WomensHistoryMonth please join us on Thurs. March 25th for a Day of Action to Bring Brandy Scott home and #FreeAllSurvivors. Brandy Scott is a 43-year-old Black trans woman and criminalized survivor of domestic violence.

n Friday, March 12, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom granted Executive Clemency to Rickie Blue-Sky, a 75-year-old Native transgender man who has been incarcerated in California for over 37 years.

Please join us this Thurs., March 11th for a Day of Action to Bring Stacey Dyer home and #FreeAllSurvivors. We are urging Governor Newsom to grant immediate release for CCWP member and incarcerated survivor Stacey Dyer through a medical reprieve.

CWP is continuing the campaign to stop the ICE hold and potential deportation of member Gabriella Solano-Gabby as early as next week. Gabby was attempting to leave an 8 years abusive relationship, but instead was incarcerated for over 20 years for her abuser’s deadly actions. Gabby must be protected & shouldn’t face double punishment on the day of her release!

CCWP invites you to join us and take 3 important actions today, on International Women’s Day.

A cross movement push, including CCWP. At this transformative moment, when we can no longer tolerate Black lives being taken by the state or the eugenic sacrifice of vulnerable people to a pandemic, we demand California work to end state violence against women of color and disabled communities.

Last year California passed the Racial Justice Act to confront the racism that has long impacted our communities and our criminal legal system. We are reaching out for your help.

We are excited to announce that February 23 thought February 25 will be a Week of Digital Action for the Racial Justice Act for All, AB 256 (Kalra). Please join us in support of this groundbreaking legislation and send in a letter as soon as possible.

Please consider donating to support a CCWP member of 17 years. Valerie is about to celebrate six months of freedom! Due to the pandemic and the difficulties of reentry, finding stable income has been a challenge.

Valentine’s Actions: Show your love and solidarity with incarcerated & criminalized people with these five actions. Actions extend beyond Valentine’s Day, so show your love today.

Today Senator Dave Cortese announced SB 300, The Sentencing Reform Act of 2021 (co-sponsored by CCWP and others), to reform California’s unjust “felony murder special circumstance” law and ensure that the death penalty and life without the possibility of parole cannot be imposed on those who did not kill, nor intend that a person die, during a crime.

Over the past six weeks, COVID has cycled rapidly through Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF). Now reported cases have decreased significantly; we attribute the decline in numbers to the care people gave each other inside. Join CCWP in a Valentine’s Day action to celebrate collective care through collective action.

Urgent action still needed to pressure prison officials as mental health conditions continue to deteriorate inside CCWF, produced by the institution’s inadequate and disorderly response to the escalating COVID crisis.

Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) today announced the introduction of the California Racial Justice Act for All, AB 256, which extends the protections provided in last year’s AB 2542, a first-of-its-kind law in the state prohibiting the use of race, ethnicity, or national origin in sentencing and convictions.

The craven bloodlust of a failed administration was on full display tonight. Everyone who participated in the execution of Lisa Montgomery should feel shame. No one disagrees…

Urgent action still needed to pressure prison officials to respond to the massive COVID-19 outbreak in CCWF and the dangerous and negligent quarantine conditions .

U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss has enjoined the federal government from executing Lisa Montgomery, a severely traumatized and mentally ill person who is the only woman on federal death row, until her lawyers recover from COVID-19 and can prepare her clemency application.

For Immediate Release: There is a life-threatening massive outbreak of COVID-19 at the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), California’s largest women’s prison. In the past two weeks, there have been 500 new COVID-19 cases, representing 25% of the population at CCWF.

COVID cases are rising rapidly at Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) with over 200 people testing positive. We are hearing from incarcerated people that conditions are rapidly deteriorating. Join CCWP and take urgent action now.

The DROP LWOP Coalition enthusiastically welcomes the sweeping criminal legal policy changes that L.A.’s new District Attorney, George Gascón, is initiating, in particular stops L.A. prosecutors from filing special circumstances allegations which would result in a Life Without Parole/LWOP sentence.

We cannot overstate the gravity of trying to survive a pandemic in prisons that were already a public health crisis, under the watch of guards who do not value your life, in an institution with medical care that is either horrible or non-existent. But in all the darkness, we were amazed by the light—the courage, resilience, collective care, and fighting spirit of our currently incarcerated members.

Please join us this weekend in the fight to free incarcerated mothers. The #BringThemHome Call to Action is a collective effort to call on Governor Newsom to grant clemencies and IMMEDIATELY release elders who are at extremely high risk of death and fighting for their lives.

Governor Newsom granted 21 commutations and five pardons on Friday, March 27, 2020. CCWP welcomes Governor Newsom’s exercise of executive clemency for all of these people and we commend him for examining the public health impact of each commutation grant.

The DROP LWOP Spring Rally on March 9, 2020 brought together an amazing group of people to demand an end to Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentencing.

Vickie Lee Hammonds, a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and beloved by many others, died from medical neglect at the California Institution for Women (CIW) on June 5, 2019. She was only 55 years old.