February 8, 2021Kevin Sawyer, Filter Magazine In May, as COVID-19 loomed over incarcerated people across the country, Ivan Von Staich filed an administrative grievance to transfer out of the notoriously overcrowded 168-year-old San Quentin State Prison. In October, as a result, an appeals court ordered San Quentin to reduce its prison population by 50 percent. […]
Sign the Letter: Vaccines are not enough, Decarcerate NOW
As health professionals, students, and community advocates, we are devastated by the California Department of Corrections’ (CDCR) negligence to protect incarcerated people and demand CDCR follow the advice of public health and medical experts to urgently decarcerate their facilities while ensuring equitable access to the vaccine. BackgroundCalifornia prisons are home to the largest COVID-19 outbreaks […]
Sample Tweets: #100DaysofFreedom
Use hashtags: #100DaysforFreedom #FreeThemAll Tweets for Community MembersTien Pham is a Vietnamese refugee who survived war. When he arrived in the US, he did everything he could to survive. After his release, he was transferred to ICE. Tien should be released and reunited with his family during the deportation moratorium #FreeTien #100DaysforFreedom During the wildfire […]
#100DaysforFreedom
About The Biden Administration has ordered ICE to pause deportation removals for 100 days until May 2, 2021. Although Biden’s deportation moratorium has been temporarily stalled by a Texas judge, we’ll continue to call for urgent releases of individuals during Biden’s first 100 days in office. ICE has a gross history of medical negligence, poor […]
Release – don’t transfer – 50,000 medically vulnerable people from California prisons
November 25, 2020UCSF White Coats for Black Lives, SF Bayview On Oct. 1, Kathleen Allison was appointed secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) by Gov. Newsom in the midst of continuing COVID-19 outbreaks within state prisons. Since March 2020, over 15,500 incarcerated people have tested positive for COVID-19 in California’s state […]
San Quentin prison is fined $421,880 over deadly COVID-19 conditions; 28 incarcerated people and an officer died
February 5, 2021Richard Winton, LA Times San Quentin State Prison is facing the largest single penalty in the state over workplace safety violations for failing to prevent the spread of COVID-19, resulting in the deaths of 28 inmates and one correctional officer and a total of 2,200 confirmed cases. California’s oldest penitentiary was slapped with […]
State report details how botched transfers sparked ‘public health disaster’ at San Quentin
February 1, 2021Michael Williams California prison officials and medical staff sparked a “public health disaster” with their botched handling of prisoner transfers to San Quentin and Corcoran state prisons last year, the state’s Office of Inspector General said in a blistering report Monday. Prison operators also failed to contain the disaster after inmates starting falling […]
Transfer Unleashed ‘Public Health Disaster,’ California Inspector General Report Says
Preparations for the moves at the headquarters level “were deeply flawed and risked the health and lives of thousands of incarcerated persons and staff,” said the report by Inspector General Roy Wesley.
Pandemic’s Deadly Toll Behind Bars Spurs Calls For Change In U.S. Jails And Prisons
Prisoner’s rights advocates are pleading for more action to help stop the deadly toll taken by the pandemic that has ravaged America’s jails and prisons. Their calls come as the country grapples with increases in cases and hospitalizations from the coronavirus, forcing states and cities to impose tougher restrictions on public gatherings.
As COVID Surges Behind Bars in California, Why Is San Quentin Transferring Hundreds of People?
December 15, 2020Democracy Now! Prisons across the U.S. are facing their greatest swell in COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Nearly a quarter-million incarcerated people in the U.S. have been infected with COVID-19, according to the Marshall Project, and advocates are pushing for incarcerated people to be prioritized in the country’s vaccine rollout. All of […]