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December 15, 2015<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-forward-container"><span
style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span>
<div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span><span
style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Communities
claim victory against new SF
Jail after two year fight</span>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span
style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">SAN
FRANCISCO - In a
powerful public presence, community members and activists
opposed to
imprisonment celebrated as the Board of Supervisors rejected
funding toward a
controversial proposal to build a new maximum security jail
in San Francisco at
the board meeting earlier today. The jail proposal was
rejected unanimously. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span
style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">“We’ve
sent a message
not just to San Francisco, but to all of California that we
will not allow our
resources to be squandered on jails that only serve to tear
communities apart,”
said Lizzie Buchen of Californians United for a Responsible
Budget. “We urge
all counties currently considering jail construction plans
to take the lead
from San Francisco by saying no to further imprisonment, and
to prioritize the
alternatives and resources that actually strengthen
communities.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span
style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">In
rejecting the jail
proposal, the board decided to send the funding ordinances
that would have
funded the project back to committees in order to discuss
how the money could
be used for alternatives to imprisonment.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span
style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">“This
is truly a
victory for communities in San Francisco and people fighting
jail construction
everywhere,” said Lisa Marie Alatorre of SF Coalition on
Homelessness. “Through
grassroots organizing we put our words into action to make
clear that we don’t
want jails that are newer and nicer. We want alternatives to
imprisonment and
permanent affordable housing, for people locked inside to
return to their
communities. And as we’ve shown today, we will make that
happen through our
collective strength.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span
style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The SF
jail proposal,
as with many jails across the country, was deemed necessary
by the Sheriff’s
Department to improve jail conditions, expand mental health
services, increase
safety for trans women, and provide substance abuse
treatment. “We successfully
showed that regardless of how state-of-the-art a jail is
designed, it is a
fundamentally harmful and violent place, and that community
based services and
resources are far more effective in getting people the help
that they need
while reducing recidivism,” says Kamau Walton of Critical
Resistance Oakland
and Black Lives Matter Bay Area.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span
style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">“With
such an
outrageous proportion of the jail population being Black, we
reject the notion
that Black residents’ only way of accessing resources like
mental healthcare is
by criminalizing them, arresting them, and locking them
away,” Walton said.
Jail opponents have consistently noted that while Black
people make up just
around 4% of San Francisco’s population, they account for
over half of those in
the county’s jails.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span
style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Grassroots
opposition
to the jail has been spearheaded by the No New SF Jail
Coalition, composed of
various community organizations including California
Coalition for Women
Prisoners, Critical Resistance - Oakland, Californians
United for a Responsible
Budget, Communities United Against Violence, SF Coalition on
Homelessness, and
SF Taxpayers for Public Safety. After the vote, the
Coalition is committed to
continuing to ensure that the funding is used for community
based alternatives
and that the supervisors are held accountable to their
decision today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span
style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The
Coalition will be
holding a press teleconference Wednesday at 9am Pacific, 12
pm Eastern to
address the press regarding its victory. Press can call in
at 712.832.8300,
access code 6874160.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:center;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"
align="center"><span
style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">###</span></p>
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Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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