Cages Kill! Freedom Rally

At least 6 people have died in the county jail while in the hands of the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Department and California Forensics Medical Group (CFMG) since August 2012. In April 2013, Sin Barras organized a historic march and speakout, highlighting sheriff violence faced by people inside the County Jail that inspired the Santa Cruz County Grand Jury to investigate the jail’s deadly conditions. The grand jury report named the April 6th demonstration as a primary catalyst for the investigation. In September 2014, the Grand Jury released its Final Report, which included recommendations to improve physical and mental health services in the jail. Nearly all of the research was met with utter denial from the Sheriff‘s Department and CFMG, continuing a trend of disrespect for the community and confirming that they operate with little to no accountability.

Sin Barras is organizing a demonstration on January 24th to demand immediate medical and safety measures be met to reduce harm faced by those presently incarcerated. We demand that the County Board of Supervisors cancel its contract with CFMG and refuse to participate in the current wave of county jail expansion. These deaths are an act of collective punishment against people who are most in need of aid, and who are consistently denied community-based resources and drug treatment. While we fight for immediate solutions, we do so with a commitment to dismantling the prison system once and for all, brick by brick, wall by wall.

The deaths in the jail are caused by the same pattern of unaccountability that recently allowed Officer Darren Wilson to walk free after killing Michael Brown. From Ferguson to Santa Cruz, it is clear that our criminal justice system targets the most vulnerable members of this society: women, trans and queer people, people of color, people with disabilities, the poor, and the homeless. Without overwhelming pressure from our communities, this pattern will continue.

“The ideas which can and will sustain our movement for total freedom and dignity of the people cannot be imprisoned, for they are to be found in the people, all the people, wherever they are.”
– Huey P. Newton

Updates will be ongoing // here’s what you can do right now:

- Write a letter of solidarity with your organization

• Distribute through your networks & email to: sinbarras@gmail.com

- Spread the word on Facebook!

- Co-sponsor the action & attend planning meetings!

• For meeting time and location, email: sinbarras@gmail.com

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Co-sponsored by:
Santa Cruz County Community Coalition to Overcome Racism (SCCCCOR), and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Santa Cruz.

Endorsed by:
Bato Talamantez; Cabrillo College Justice League; California Coalition for Women Prisoners; Direct Action Monterey Network; Family of Frank Alvarado Jr., killed by Salinas Police, July 10, 2014; Food Not Bombs; Freedom Archives; George Lippman, Vice-Chair, Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission, for purposes of identification; International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ); Justice for the Dallas 6 Support Campaign, Pittsburgh, PA; Legal Services for Prisoners with Children; National Boricua Human Rights Network; Project Pollinate; Rabbi Borukh Goldberg; Ramona Africa and The MOVE Organization; San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper; South Bay/Santa Cruz Facilitators group of the Pachamama Alliance; Suppressed Histories Archives (Max Dashu)