Toward the end of May, Critical Resistance joined our longtime movement partners with Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) in Sacramento to amplify and advocate for the demands of closing prisons across California and freeing our people from the grips of imprisonment.
On Monday, May 21, we attended Quest for Democracy, an annual day of advocacy at the state capitol hosted by our longtime comrades at All of Us or None. There we made connections with community members, organizers, service providers, and advocates from across the state, while supporting All of Us or None’s efforts to defend against the family and community separation that imprisoned people face, work to eliminate fines and fees, and promote the rights of prisoners.
The following day, along with fellow members and organizations with CURB, we spoke with numerous state legislators about the need to continue closing CA state prisons, reducing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) budget, and rejecting the governor’s proposal for a whopping $360 million to “rehabilitate” San Quentin State Prison. We also attended and testified at a Senate Budget Subcommittee on Public Safety hearing, and we were able to get the committee members to vote NO for funding for the governor’s San Quentin proposal!
We are humbled that years of abolitionist organizing in CA has made the conversation around closing prisons a reality – not just among our community members, but even in the halls of power. We are committed to continuing the tireless organizing of shifting the common sense of public safety away from one that relies on the prison industrial complex, and toward investments in community resources.
