Thank you to @sensusanrubio and the California State Senate for voting on #SB672. I believe in, and have witnessed, the power of second chances. The opportunity for a second chance can give young adults in prison the hope they need to change their lives and become the...
It took a federal jury an hour to convict a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy of using excessive force after he assaulted and pepper-sprayed a woman outside a supermarket in Lancaster in 2023. The prosecutors made their case in a three-day trial in February,...
Alameda County's new district attorney is rejecting her predecessor's recommendations to resentence people on death row — recommendations triggered by a historic review of systemic prosecutorial misconduct. Records obtained by CalMatters show at least four cases in...
Todd Chrisley, the flamboyant patriarch of Chrisley Knows Best, spoke at a Nashville press conference following his prison release. Shedding light on the unfair treatment of Black inmates he witnessed during his two-year sentence at Federal Prison Camp...
Existing law requires the Board of Parole Hearings to conduct a youth offender parole hearing for offenders sentenced to state prison who committed specified crimes when they were under 25 years of age. Existing law makes a person who was convicted of a controlling...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 24th, 2025 CONTACT: Tina Curiel, cjcjmedia@cjcj.org, (415) 621-5661 x. 103 AB 109 funds continue to support bloated law enforcement bureaucracies. Could they be used for treatment instead? SAN FRANCISCO –April 24th, 2025 – A new...
A Brush of Kindness: Restoring Community, Reviving Hope! On Saturday, March 15, 2025, a powerful act of service unfolded at the intersection of Crenshaw Blvd.,, where young leaders, community elders, and dedicated advocates joined forces to reclaim a neglected space...
CRIME IS DOWN. YOUTH ARRESTS ARE DOWN. YOUTH JUSTICE TRENDS, AS PERCENT OF POPULATION AGES 10-17, 1990-2023 Comparing 1990 to 2024 shows: Property crime rates have fallen by 65% Theft rates have fallen by 62% Violent crime rates fell by more than half, including a 68%...
The California Racial Justice Act or “RJA” is a landmark law in California to confront racism in the courts. This law empowers anyone who went to state criminal court in California to challenge discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or national origin in their court proceedings from arrest to sentencing.
by Mike Wessler A guide to how 19 offices you may be asked to vote on can help end mass incarceration in America. Election Day is right around the corner. While presidential campaigns get most of the attention from the news media, many lesser-known down-ballot races...
This report and comprehensive graphic provide the big picture: over 1.9 million people are locked up in more than 6,000 correctional facilities operated by thousands of agencies. The "whole pie" gives the public and policymakers the foundation to now consider the...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, July 31st, 2024 CONTACT: Tina Curiel, cjcjmedia@cjcj.org, (415) 621-5661 x. 103 --- NEW REPORT: STOP LYING ABOUT CALIFORNIA Reforms did not bring more crime. Rates are near record lows. SAN FRANCISCO – July 31st, 2024 – A new...
Voters are much more likely to say that mass incarceration makes communities less safe than they are to say that we are safer with more people locked up. 78% of likely voters support criminal justice reform Recent polling, conducted by BSG on behalf of FWD.us,...
1. Crime in California Remains Well Below Historical Peaks California Budget and Policy Center article by Scott Graves, April 2024 Everyone wants to live in safe communities, and data show California continues to experience crime rates well below historical peaks. The...
Death Penalty Death By Design: Part 1 by The Wren Collective, December, 2023 "In all 28 Harris County capital cases we reviewed, trial lawyers failed to uncover relevant evidence." https://www.wrencollective.org/_files/ugd/8fe8f0_fd475c291d07486188088f0d5c2ffa33.pdf...
TAKE ACTION! Please download this Toolkit [PDF] for use in support of SB 94. SB 94, Judicial Review of Old Sentences, authored by California State Senator Dave Cortese, would create rigorous sentencing review for some individuals serving life without parole for...
After much anticipation, a disappointing ruling has been issued in the case of People v. Hardin. In this case, the court considered whether the exclusion of people serving life without parole (LWOP) from youth offender parole hearings violates the Equal Protection...
Collective REMAKE is a unique social enterprise designed to support the creation of worker-owned businesses in communities impacted by incarceration. A worker cooperative is a for-profit business that is owned and managed by the people that work there. Workers come...
"When you think about geriatric medical needs, many of the prisons across the United States are not equipped or weren't designed that way, and so the systems are grappling with how to retrofit or make do with the facilities that we have," -- Nick Deml, commissioner of...
Note that several of these articles may be behind News Organizations' firewalls and available only to subscribers. California Supreme Court upholds life-without-parole sentences for adults 25 and under San Francisco Chronicle By Bob Egelko March 4, 2024 In a 5-2...
The amount the county spent on overall claims — including worker compensation cases and related legal fees — was more than $982 million. That’s about 2% of the county’s operating budget — and more than the county budgeted this year for its animal care and control...
Published January 29, 2024 BY ROBIN MCDOWELL and MARGIE MASON for AP NEWS Link to full illustrated article on AP NEWS ANGOLA, La. (AP) — A hidden path to America’s dinner tables begins here, at an unlikely source – a former Southern slave plantation that is now the...
A draconian legal doctrine called felony murder has put thousands of Americans—disproportionately young and Black—in prison. By Sarah Stillman Dec 11, 2023 The New Yorker magazine Excerpt: ..... This shock was swiftly followed by another. As a result of the crash,...
Life Without Parole and Felony Murder Sentencing in California Download this 2023 report of the Special Circumstances Conviction Project In collaboration with the Felony Murder Elimination Project And the UCLA Center for the Study of Women|Streisand Center Over 5000...
Visit original article at Center for Constitutional Rights web site Contact: press@ccrjustice.org Groups fighting Death By Incarceration traveled to Geneva to brief committee for its review of U.S. compliance with human rights treaty November 3, 2023, New York...
By Mentor Delfino, Muñiz H43407 Edited by Mentee Michael Russo #BS8157 August 25, 2023 Over the years of my incarceration, I had lived a destructive life style. It wasn’t until 2016, that I started to get involved with self-help groups and started caring about myself...
In 2023, The Human Rights Watch organization published an excellent report: "I Just Want to Give Back": The Reintegration of People Sentenced to Life Without Parole. Read The Reintegration of People Sentenced to LWOP article at HumanRightsWatch.org Download The...
Walking the Yard Event at Pleasant Valley State Prison on March 5, 2023. Chairman Delfino Muñiz is giving a speech to the mentees. Walking the Yard mentors and mentees in a group photo. Mr. Alberto singing a song to the group in his native language. During the event a...
Thursday, April 9, 2020 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Lincoln Memorial Congregational Church 4126 Arlington Ave LA 90008 WELCOME HOME Re-ENTRY RESOURCE FAIR Temporary & permanent housing Medical and dental care or referrals Transportation Assistance Referrals for job...
Fair Chance Project Lecture: How Prisons Intersect Our Lives Held at avenue50studio in Highland Park Los Angeles The Fair Chance Project will be hosting a closing reception talk/fundraiser April 28, 2017. Be sure to come by and listen in as they go over the impacts of...
Posted on February 25, 2017 To: People interested in the fate of young adults sentenced to LWOP From: The LWOP Working Group, including among others: Joel Aguilar, Anti-Recidivism Coalition, formerly incarcerated LWOP Scott Budnick, Anti-Recidivism Coalition Elizabeth...
This is from the L.A. Times: Heated debate over tougher punishment for sex crimes as some worry it could unfairly affect California's minorities By Jazmine Ulloa, Sept. 9, 2016 Outside the Santa Clara County Jail this month, U.S. Senate candidate Loretta Sanchez...
August 30, 2016 The Honorable Edmund G. Brown Jr. Governor California State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 RE: Assembly Bill 1909 (Lopez) Dear Governor Brown: The Fair Chance Project requests your signature on Assembly Bill 1909 (Lopez). This bill creates criminal...
Defining Violence: reducing incarceration by rethinking America’s approach to violence A report by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI), August 2016 Read the whole report here. SUMMARY From the White House to statehouses around the country, there is more support than...
Community Cages: Profitizing community corrections and alternatives to incarceration American Friends Service Committee, August 2016, written by Caroline Isaacs, MSW Read the whole report: CommunityCages EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As states pursue sentencing reform efforts to...
The Sentencing Project has published a new report: The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons. Read the press release below: June 14, 2016 [By Marc Mauer, Sentencing Project] I’m pleased to share with you a new study on race and incarceration...
We at Fair Chance Project are doing a *weekly distribution* of food - a mixture of fresh, often organic fruits and vegetables, as well as non-perishable items to communities of need. The program is run by liberated lifers. Address: 9103 So. Western Ave Los Angeles, CA...
Free Walk in Legal Clinic, l.e.a.p.p. Learning Everything About the Parole Process workshop, and Fair Chance Project monthly meeting at Chuco's Justice Center in Inglewood.
The Fair Chance Project coordinated a Community Clean-Up along with Councilman Curren D. Price at Augustus Hawkins Middle School. We were in charge of assigning the young Football team with their duties and had to lead by example. September 2015 event
Clean and Green Community Clean Up Day February 21, 2015, 9am-12pm at Augustus Hawkins High School located at 825 West 60th Street in Los Angeles.
Walking The Yard Update – Fall 2014 First off let me say CONGRATULATIONS to the men and women participating in our “Walking the Yard” mentoring program. We’ve had a great 2014 as more and more lifers are finding out about our organization and what we have to offer....
Two state laws ruled unconstitutional By Denny Walsh dwalsh@sacbee.com Published: Sunday, Mar. 2, 2014 - 12:00 am A federal court judge has found two California laws that resulted from ballot initiatives – including the so-called “Victims’ Bill of Rights” – to be...
County Public Defender Ron Brown walked into a Pomona court Wednesday and saw first-hand the impact of Proposition 47 — the voter-approved initiative that reduces penalties for drug possession and other nonviolent crimes. His office had deliberately postponed...
Originally published in the LA Times , June 16, 2014 By Paige St. John, Staff Writer Expanded parole programs for the elderly, medically frail to begin California prison crowding leads to new parole for elderly, medically frail California parole officials Monday said...
A special Assembly committee seeks increased money, attention to post-prison jobs and treatment A special legislative committee created last fall in the wake of federal court orders to improve state prison conditions and reduce crowding is calling for increases in the...
February 3, 2014 - from SacBee Something is happening, quietly, in Contra Costa County that should get the attention of the entire state. If it did, we could be on the road to much better, more cost-effective policies for keeping our communities safe. Since October...
Mentally ill prisoners at America's most famous prison win the day in court -- but still have a long way to go to get the relief they've requested. Andrew Cohen Apr 25 2013, in The Atlantic In a rebuke to the Obama Administration, a noted federal judge in Denver...
Our first garden was planted on Budlong in South LA. The following vegetables were planted in March '13.
Quotes from Hugo Yogi Pinell: January 29, 2013 “I have 31 years of clean time and can’t even get a transfer to a place near home. Now they want to give me 15 years on the Prop. 9 thing. I don’t know what can be done! And I’m gonna keep on pushing and growing...
Foremost, thank you, thank you, thank you everyone who has come together to honor a warrior who has impacted the lives of many: Hugo “Yogi Bear” Pinell. I want to send a shout out to FACTS, Fair Chance Project, Youth Justice Coalition, and all those who put time and...
by Tim Kowal on June 6, 2011 From Ordinary Times Jailing is big business. California spends approximately $9 billion a year on its correctional system, and hosts one in seven of the nation’s prisoners. It has the largest prison population of any state. The number of...
Originally published in the LA Times , May 22, 2011 By Steve Lopez, Staff Writer The union spent $7 million on last year's elections, and of the 107 candidates it endorsed, 104 were elected. Last week, I found myself cruising the website of the California prison...
Parole board can't require admission of guilt This is part of an article published in SF Gate, 04/01/11: A murder convict who appears to be rehabilitated after decades behind bars can't be denied parole merely because he continues to declare his innocence, a state...