Cages Kill! Freedom Rally!
At least 6 people have died in the county jail while in the hands of the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Department and California Forensics Medical Group (CFMG) since August 2012. In April 2013, we organized a historic march and speakout, highlighting sheriff violence faced by people inside the County Jail that inspired the Santa Cruz County Grand Jury to investigate the jail’s deadly conditions.
The grand jury report named the April 6th demonstration as a primary catalyst for the investigation. In September 2014, the Grand Jury released its Final Report, which included recommendations to improve physical and mental health services in the jail. Nearly all of the research was met with utter denial from the Sheriff’s Department and CFMG, continuing a trend of disrespect for the community and confirming that they operate with little to no accountability.
These deaths are caused by the same pattern of unaccountability that recently allowed Officer Darren Wilson to walk free after killing Michael Brown. From Ferguson to Santa Cruz, it is clear that our criminal justice system targets the most vulnerable members of society: people of color, women, trans and queer people, people with disabilities, the poor, and the homeless.
Without fierce community resistance, this pattern will continue.
With the solidarity of local, national, and international movements, we are organizing a march and rally to demand that:
- 1. The Board of Supervisors cancel its contract with California Forensic Medical Group.
- 2. The Sheriff’s Department and CFMG accept responsibility for the unnatural deaths and implement the Grand Jury recommendations involving the expansion of Crisis Intervention Team mental health services.
- 3. Solitary confinement/administrative segregation and other forms of torture, such as the “restraint chair,” be abolished.
- 4. The County cancel the $25 million planned expansion of Rountree Detention Center and invest in community-based social services.
Join the demonstration!
To plug into a carpool, email sinbarras@gmail.com // let us know if you need a ride, or have a car with empty seats.
In solidarity,
Courtney Hanson
Sin Barras
A member organization of Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB)
Organized by: Sin Barras, Santa Cruz County Community Coalition to Overcome Racism (SCCCCOR), Project Pollinate, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Santa Cruz.
Endorsed by: Abolitionist Law Center, Pittsburgh, PA; Bettina Aptheker, UCSC, for purposes of identification; Cabrillo College Justice League; California Coalition for Women Prisoners; Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB); Direct Action Monterey Network; Family of Frank Alvarado Jr., killed by Salinas Police, July 10, 2014; Food Not Bombs; Freedom Archives; Global Women’s Strike and Women of Color in the Global Women’s Strike; Human Rights Coalition (HRC)-Fed Up!, Pittsburgh, PA; International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ); Justice for the Dallas 6 Support Campaign, Pittsburgh, PA; Justice for Palestinians, San Jose; Legal Services for Prisoners with Children; George Lippman, Vice-Chair, Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission, for purposes of identification; the MOVE Organization and Ramona Africa; National Boricua Human Rights Network; Peak Women; Prison Activist Resource Center (PARC); Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition (PHSSC); Rabbi Borukh Goldberg; San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper; South Bay/Santa Cruz Facilitators group of the Pachamama Alliance; Queer Strike; Suppressed Histories Archives (Max Dashu); Bato Talamantez; US PROStitutes Collective; Darlene Wallach; Donna Wallach.