[Ppnews] Oppose CA Governor's plan for women prisoners

[Political Prisoner News]

Hello all,

Attached is a letter which CURB has put together 
opposing the Governor's plan to build 4,500 
women’s beds.  The goal is to get feminist 
scholars and activists LIKE YOU to sign the 
attached open letter to counter the feminist 
scholars and advocates who have argued that 
building more prison beds for women is “gender 
responsive” and a good thing for women.  WE NEED 
YOU TO SIGN ON TO THE LETTER BELOW ASKING OTHER 
WOMEN TO SIGN THE OPEN LETTER.
Thank you!
Diana, for the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Dear Colleague,



California’s women in prison need your help.



For more than a decade, women have been the 
fastest growing segment of the rapidly expanding 
prison system.  Neither the public safety of our 
state nor the well being of women is served by 
over-incarceration of women. Women inside and out 
have led the fight to reduce unnecessary 
incarceration and to reunite women with their 
children, families and communities.



Gov. Schwarzenegger now proposes to build 4,500 
new prison beds for women. In an attempt to 
mislead the public and the legislature, he calls 
these new prisons Female Reentry Community Corrections Centers (FRCCCs).



Women who have led the fight against the abuses 
in women’s prisons – sexual assault by guards, 
pat-down searches by male guards, medical and 
psychological abuse, separation from and often 
loss of children – are now being recruited in a 
cynical ploy to support these new mini-prisons as 
“gender responsive.” The Governor even goes so 
far as to say that the FRCCCs are not prisons at all.



What do you call a facility where women are 
locked in 24/7? Where family visits are limited 
to two days per week? Where women are “guarded” 
by members of the notorious CCPOA prison guards union? We call it a prison.



The Governor, the legislature (especially the 
Women’s Caucus of the legislature), the press, 
feminist organizations and women inside need to 
hear our voices opposing this expansion of prison cells for women.



If, as the Governor and CCPOA have said, there 
are 4,500 women who don’t need to be in prison, 
let’s send them home. Let’s spend funds not on 
new prisons and more guards, but on reentry services and programs.



Please sign the attached letter. Please ask 
organizations of which you are a part to sign.



You can sign in two ways:


    * Sign the letter and mail to it to us at 
1904 Franklin Street, Suite 504, Oakland, CA  94612 or fax to 510.444.2177
    * Email your name, title, affiliation and 
contact information to us at curb at riseup.net





Thank you,



Rose Braz, National Campaign Director, Critical Resistance

Ruth Wilson Gilmore





Rose Braz

Campaign Director

Critical Resistance

1904 Franklin Street, Suite 504

Oakland, CA  94612

510.444.0484

rose at criticalresistance.org

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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