GROUPS MARCH AND RALLY ACROSS THE STATE TO END MASS INCARCERATION AND 40 YEAR WAR ON DRUGS

For Immediate Release

June 14th, 2011

GROUPS MARCH AND RALLY ACROSS THE STATE TO END
MASS INCARCERATION AND 40 YEAR WAR ON DRUGS

Contact: Emily Harris
Statewide Coordinator, Californians United for a Responsible Budget
Cell: 510-435-1176

San Francisco: June 17th, 12:00pm press
conference at San Francisco's City Hall, followed
by a march featuring music from the Brass
Liberation Orchestra, large puppets and other
art, as well as a community speak out

Fresno:  June 17th, 11:00am rally at the State Building

Bakersfield: June 17th, 4:00pm rally at the Courthouse at Chester and Parkston

Madera, June 17th, 5:00pm rally at 200 Ford St. across from Courthouse

Visalia, June 18th, 2:00pm rally at Mooney and Caldwell

Los Angeles: June 18th, 1pm at the Chuc's
Justice Center, featuring two panels of community
leaders, a press conference at 4pm, live music and a candlelight vigil.


California - Beginning on Friday June 17th, the
40th anniversary of the "war on drugs," hundreds
will come together to hold "Communities Rising"
actions and rallies in communities across
California. Over 40 organizations working with
the Californians United for a Responsible Budget,
or "CURB," alliance will send a strong message
from different parts of the state to Governor
Brown and the state legislature, calling for the
State to take active steps to end its
participation in the 40-year-old "war on drugs",
and to prioritize vital social services over prison spending.

"Spending on prisons has grown from five percent
to ten percent of our General Fund spending,
doubling in the past decade," said Lisa Marie
Alatorre of Critical Resistance, a CURB member
organization. "Locking up too many people for too
long does not contribute to public safety and is
draining essential resources from education and
health care " programs that make a real
difference to Californians."  California remains billions of dollars in debt.

In response to the Supreme Court's decision to
uphold a lower court rulings in Brown v. Plata,
California has been ordered to reduce its
lethally crowded prison system in the next two
years. The Governor's plan is to shift tens of
thousands of prisoners to county jails, building
tens of thousands more jail cells and thousands
more high-security prison cells.  "It looks like
Governor Brown wants to do nothing but repeat the
mistakes of the last 30 years," said Debbie Reyes
of California Prison Moratorium Project, another
CURB member organization. "We built 23 massive
prisons and that didn't solve overcrowding. Now
he wants to extend that failed effort by
expanding county jail systems. Like the Supreme
Court said, you can't build your way out of this problem."

Organizations and residents across the state are
frustrated by the impacts of the State's economic
and social priorities.  "For years we've been
cutting back on state programs that save lives
and build decent futures for the next
generation," said Amanda Vela of Madera Citizens
for Better Community and Schools, "Now Gov. Brown
is asking voters to raise state revenues to pay
for more jail cells? We have to stop the cuts and
re-channel funds away from prisons and jails and
back into programs that make a difference for us and our kids."

The various rallies, marches, speak-outs, and
other actions across the state fall on the forty
year anniversary of President Richard Nixon's
declaration of a "war on drugs", a policy that
many experts have shown to wreak havoc in low
income communities and communities of color. "The
Plata decision is a real opportunity for our
state to reverse decades of racist
"tough-on-crime" policies," says Rodrigo "Froggy"
Vasquez of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. "We
are tired of being politically ignored. We need
leadership in Sacramento with the guts to get
smart, end the war on drugs, and decriminalize drug possession."

Texas, New York, and Michigan, among other states
have successfully reduced their prison budgets
and populations while increasing public safety.
CURB argues California could do the same by
implementing parole and sentencing reforms such
as amending or repealing three strikes laws.

Communities Rising Actions include:
   * San Francisco: June 17th, 12:00pm press
conference at San Francisco's City Hall, followed
by a march featuring music from the Brass
Liberation Orchestra, large puppets and other
art, as well as a community speak out
   * Fresno:  June 17th, 11:00am rally at the State Building
   * Bakersfield: June 17th, 4:00pm rally at the
Courthouse at Chester and Parkston
   * Madera, June 17th, 5:00pm rally at 200 Ford St. across from Courthouse
   * Visalia, June 18th, 2:00pm rally at Mooney and Caldwell
   * Los Angeles: June 18th, 1pm at the Chuco's
Justice Center, featuring two panels of community
leaders, a press conference at 4pm, live music and a candlelight vigil.


Sponsoring organizations across the State
include: A New Path - LA, A New Way of Life, All
of Us or None, American Civil Liberties Union of
Northern California, American Civil Liberties
Union of Southern California, American Friends
Service Committee, Berkeley Needle Exchange
Emergency Distribution, Blacksmith Records Inc.,
California Coalition for Women Prisoners,
California Partnership, California Prison
Moratorium Project, Californians United for a
Responsible Budget, Center for Non-Violence,
Community Justice Network for Youth, Cop Watch -
LA, Critical Resistance, Dolores Huerta
Foundation, Drug Policy Alliance, Enlace,
Families to Amend California's Three Strikes,
Fresno Brown Berets, Harm Reduction Coalition,
Hip Hop Not Bombs, Homies Unidos, Justice by
Uniting Creative Energy, Justice Now, Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition, Leadership
through Empowerment Action and Dialogue, Legal
Services for Prisoners with Children, Madera
Citizens for Better Community and Schools,
October 22nd Coalition - LA, Oasis Clinic, Pico
Youth and Family Center, SF Drug Users Union,
Students for Sensible Drug Policy, TGI-Justice
Project, These Cuts Won't Heal, United for Drug
Policy Reform and Youth Justice Coalition.

More information about actions, prisons, the
budget crisis and realignment can be found at:
http://www.curbprisonspending.org/