Dear ACLU Supporter,

A year of one's liberty is too high a price for a debt already paid. This is why the ACLU is working with partners and allies across California to pass SB 136 to repeal an unjust, racially-biased and ineffective one-year sentence enhancement.

This particular sentence enhancement punishes people with an additional year of incarceration for each prior felony term they already served. This practice can keep people incarcerated for years beyond their base sentence; in effect, punishing them again for a debt they already paid to society. And consistent with racial disparities at every other stage of California's justice process, people of color are also at disproportionate risk of receiving the one-year enhancement.

SB 136 will help strengthen California families and communities by eliminating the one-year sentence enhancement and allowing people to return home sooner to rebuild their lives.

Ask your Assembly member to vote YES on SB 136.

Californians should invest in strong families and justice—not systems that perpetuate mass incarceration.

Sincerely,

Abdi Soltani
Executive Director, ACLU of Northern California