Books Not Bars is a statewide campaign aiming to shut down California’s abusive and costly youth prisons and replace them with alternatives that work – like regional rehabilitation centers and community-based programs.
California’s notorious Division of Juvenile Justice (sometimes known by its original name, CYA or California Youth Authority) is a hotbed of abuse. Young people are locked in 21-hour-a-day solitary confinement for months at a time, while others are confined to cages during recreation time. Six young people have died since 2004. With a 70 percent recidivism rate and a cost of $252,000 per ward, per year, DJJ is the nation's most expensive, least effective juvenile justice system. Books Not Bars is campaigning to transform DJJ. Since we launched the campaign in 2004:
The youth prison population has fallen from 5,200 to 1,900 — a drop of more than 60 percent.
Leaders and editorial boards across the state have endorsed our call for reform.
We have built the first-ever statewide network of families with children in the system, Families for Books Not Bars, now with 1,000 member families.
Our Strategy:
DROP THE POPULATION. California needs a radically different juvenile justice system. Until it has one, we should be getting as many youth out of DJJ as we can. We are campaigning to close two more youth prisons in 2009: Preston and Stark, the worst of DJJ.
EDUCATE THE PUBLIC. We need to get the word out to everybody in the state using rallies and events, media advocacy, our website, and screenings of our films System Failure, Alternatives for Youth, and Books Not Bars.
ORGANIZE PARENTS AND FAMILIES. Families for Books Not Bars is bringing the relatives and loved ones of incarcerated young people together and helping them take the lead in the fight for a sane, humane and effective juvenile justice system for California. Every October, we hold a statewide Families Conference, which gives family members the opportunity to participate in advocacy training and join us in planning our strategy for the coming year.
CAMPAIGN FOR LOCAL, EVIDENCE-BASED SERVICES. The recent shift in juvenile justice funding from the state to counties marks a critical opportunity to build the truly rehabilitative system that young people deserve. We are pushing counties to use the juvenile justice funds they receive to support a broad range of evidence-based programs that attend to the needs of young people.
