[1]Real Justice
John,
We just WON something huge!!! Los Angeles canceled plans to build a new
$1.7 billion jail disguised as a mental health treatment center.
Countless lives will be impacted for the better. Not only will this mean
thousands fewer people in jail – but it could set a national precedent
that we need better mental health care, not jails. Thank you to everyone
who fought back and built power for this.
LA County has the largest jail system in America. If we build the right
model here, it could be a blueprint for the rest of the country.
The next step is passing the Reform LA Jails ballot initiative, which
would move huge amounts of money out of jails and into mental health care.
[ [link removed] ]Help us reform the largest jail system in America by making a
contribution now to Reform LA Jails. Together, we can stop more jails and
win the care our communities need.
[ [link removed] ]Contribute
$3
»
Criminalizing mentally ill people is not just an LA issue. LA is a
microcosm of what’s happening across the country. You can go to Cook
County in Chicago. You can go to Rikers Island in New York. But if we can
stop a mental health jail in LA, we can stop mental health jails
everywhere.
It took a multi-pronged strategy to do what we did on Tuesday: More than a
decade of work with local organizations and grasstops. A leadership team
that was clear about goals and clear about power. Survivors – most of us
were children visiting our parents who were locked up inside of those
jails.
Everyone knows someone with a mental health condition. Jail only
exacerbates their conditions. It does not help. We need community-based
treatment.
At Real Justice, our goal is to end mass incarceration. We spend most of
our resources electing district attorneys who will reform the justice
system and use jail as a last resort. But stopping the construction of new
jails is an important part of our work. Jails are part of the machinery
that makes mass incarceration possible. Every jail project we stop gets us
closer to turning the tide.
[ [link removed] ]Help us shift America away from incarceration and towards real mental
health care – first in LA, then across the country. Donate
$3
here.
It’s been nearly 20 years since my brother was first arrested and our
family was stripped of our dignity. He emerged from prison a brutalized
man. He has continued to struggle with mental illness and post-traumatic
stress disorder. He’s been in and out of psychiatric facilities. He served
another prison term.
What might Monte’s story be like – and so many others’ – had LA invested
in his rehabilitation instead of in jails and prisons? What if they’d been
given the opportunity to pay for their mistakes without paying with their
health, their futures, and their lives?
We won’t ever know the answer to those questions. But it’s up to all of us
to make sure the lives of others turn out differently.
-- Patrisse Cullors
P.S. [ [link removed] ]Please follow me on Instagram here for more important updates
about this work.
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Pol. Adv. Paid for by Real Justice PAC, realjusticepac.org, not authorized by any federal, state, or local candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate.
