California now spends more money on prisons than we do on our colleges and universities- just one more reason to close the DJJ now!
Books Not Bars
CLOSE PRISONS. OPEN OPPORTUNITies.
Books Not Bars organizes the largest network of families of incarcerated youth and champion alternatives to California’s costly, broken prison system.
Currently we are focused on:
- Closing the Division of Juvenile Justice and placing youth in community-based programs.
- Ending the misuse of Solitary Confinement in California's youth prisons and county jails.
- Addressing the overcrowding of California's adult prisons through sentencing reform.
- Building the leadership of our families to become advocates for themselves and for necessary reforms to the prison system.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
In the coming months the state of California will see much of its juvenile state prison responsibilities handed down to counties. It's all part of a reform effort spearheaded by Governor Jerry Brown called "realignment."
On January 11, 2012, in an unprecedented action, a group of youth I've been working with at Ventura youth prison posted an online petition calling for the superintendent to fix decrepit and disgusting conditions, such as overflowing toilets, filthy showers, and floors stained with chemical agents sprayed at them.
...introduction of legislation in California that would make the maximum penalty for possession of drugs for personal use one year in county jail rather than the current three years.
Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) introduced legislation that will define and limit the use of solitary confinement at state and county juvenile correctional facilities.
TOILETS BROKEN, SEWAGE, CHEMICAL AGENTS ALL DOCUMENTED IN YOUTH-LED PETITION TO VENTURA YOUTH PRISON
This post is based on a press release from the office of Assemblymember Tom Ammiano.
The facilities at the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility are unacceptable. I know because I've experienced them first hand.
California, often a trendsetter, could make history if it approves Gov. Jerry Brown’s bid to close all state-run youth prisons and eliminate its state Division of Juvenile Justice.
Governor Brown has done it again. He has proposed in the state budget to close the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) once and for all. The DJJ drains much-needed funds from our schools and vital community programs that would help California thrive.
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