A non-profit organization is advocating for California Governor Gavin Newsom to close 10 more prisons in order to secure monies for public resources.
More than 80 organizations throughout California are calling on the state to move toward closing prisons and instead focus on services such as housing, healthcare, and jobs, according to Prism. Non-profit group Californians United for a Responsible Budget began its advocacy in 2020 when it released the People’s Plan for Prison Closure, calling on the state of California to close 10 prisons by the end of 2025.
“CURB is one of the many who will continue to push for prison closures through legislative advocacy, public education, media, rallies, and community building,” stated the article.
“We want there to be less jails and less prisons in the state,” said CURB deputy director Brian Kaneda. “We want there to be less people in them because there’s too many, and we want that money to go toward things that we know protect and uplift communities.”
The organization has encouraged the state to prioritize the shutdown of 10 of the worst prisons, which were identified based on an investigation that included incarcerated people.
“Between 2000 and 2022, 21 states have closed a prison, and some have been repurposed for community or commercial use,” noted a report published by the Sentencing Project. “Community reinvestment acknowledges the collateral impacts of mass incarceration on many urban neighborhoods.”
While Gov. Newsom wants to reform prisons with his “California Model,” which aims to implement the best possible practices to change the culture and improve conditions within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, CURB says they want to close prisons completely.
“We just don’t believe you can fundamentally change the culture of something like CDCR because the culture is violence,” said Kaneda. “We’re not sure if reform is cutting it, and really not another dollar needs to come into this system.”
Last year, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have helped the CDCR lower its capacity by maintaining an average daily empty bed count, per the article.
However, in his veto message, Newsom said the decision was made to give the CDCR more control over what it deems the appropriate capacity.
Porter stated it was the worst prison he’d experienced in his 22 years of incarceration.
During his six years there, he remembered heat waves and power outages and, during the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at the prison, the virus affected more than 1,000. The prison closed in November.
“There’s so many better uses of funding that aren’t necessary for carceral institutions or punishment,” said statewide campaign coordinator Michael De La Cuadra with Budget2SaveLives.
De La Cuadra said that closing down prisons will also present opportunities of reimagining the carceral infrastructure and that communities where the prisons are based should get to decide on what to do with them.
“There’s a lot more ways that we could be supporting our communities that would help us really strengthen the way that our society functions, like if we invested in housing, mental health, or other services that are helping people enrich their lives,” said De La Cuadra.
CURB is now urging Newsom to close the California Rehabilitation Center in Riverside County, which CURB claims is operating under unsafe conditions, such as rodent and cockroach infestations, unsafe drinking water, overcrowding, high temperatures, violence caused by staff, and unreliable program access.
“You’re not going to see demands for prison closures going anywhere until there’s no more prisons to close,” Kaneda said.
