For six plus years there has been widespread opposition to the court and jail-building project on 12th and Alder in Seattle, WA, Duwamish Land. This opposition has come from local non-profits, leading legal service providers, Native American leaders, and health care providers, among others. Key aspects of the County’s project have been called into question, including its jeopardized funding following a Washington Court of Appeals decision rendering tax collection for much of the $210 million dollar unlawful, and the motivations for the project, given that internal County documents show that the current youth jail is in "generally good condition." The widespread opposition to the project is grounded in the growing consensus that the County's imprisonment systems are racially targeted and criminalize poverty. In calling for a moratorium on construction, we draw attention to the County’s repeated efforts to squelch dissent to the increasingly unpopular project. From changing rules of at County Council meetings to limit public engagement, to cancelling open houses and public meetings, to actively thwarting the attempt by over 60 community-based organizations to appeal the building permit for the new jail, the County’s approach to the process of planning and construction has been marked by efforts to avoid community input and participation, to hide the truth about the project, and to prevent a meaningful public process. Stop the construction now and begin real negotiations with community stakeholders to repurpose the site for basic human needs and implement an end to youth detention. Love the youth, Stop the jail! No New Youth Jail Coalition Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoNewYouthJailSeattle/

Yesterday afternoon January 22nd, 18-year-old Bethany Renee Nava was violently harassed and dragged off the Metro subway by a police officer at MacArthur Park Station in Los Angeles. Police arrested her simply for having her foot on her train seat. Selena Lechuga, a local chef and vocalist, was also arrested for trying to defend Bethany. Bethany has been released and is due in court on February 15th. She was taken to a hospital with a sprained wrist and some contusions following the incident. Selena was held in jail with a $20,000 set bail for allegedly spitting on the officer (after she was arrested) and now LAPD is charging her with "assault and battery." While Selena has serious charges set up against her that should definitely not qualify as assault or battery, there have been no actions taken by LAPD to address the obvious abuse of power by the officer with badge #5203 in the video. Instead of de-escalating the situation and doing their job, LAPD is showing how easy it is for police to criminalize anyone, especially people of color. This is unacceptable. Sign this petition to demand they drop Selena's charges immediately and stop criminalizing our communities #FreeSelena #StopPoliceAbuse #StopLAPD Additional note: LAPD officers clam they do "code of conduct" work on the metro regularly and have "large public support" for it. Why does @MetroLosAngeles continuously allow harassment like this to happen on their trains? Fundraising link: You can donate to Selena's bail and legal funds here: https://www.gofundme.com/free-selena-lechuga Watch video footage by Brock Bryan here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/mTFW5B81X6k ---------------------------- Ayer por la tarde, 22 de enero, Bethany Renee Nava de West Hollywood, fue agresivamente hostigada y arrastrada fuera del metro por un oficial de policía en la estación de MacArthur Park en Los Ángeles. La policía la arresto simplemente por tener su pie en el asiento del tren. Selena Lechuga, chef y vocalista local, también fue arrestada por tratar de defender a Bethany. Bethany fue liberada y tiene que ir a la corte el 15 de febrero. Fue llevada al hospital con una lesión en su muñeca y algunas contusiones después del incidente. Selena estába detenida en la cárcel con una fianza de $ 20,000 por presuntamente escupir al oficial (despues de ser arrestada) y ahora LAPD la tiene acusada de "asalto y batería." En lugar de reducir la situación y hacer su trabajo, LAPD está demostrando lo fácil que es para la policia criminalizar a cualquiera, especialmente a personas de color. Esto es inaceptable. Firma esta petición para exigir que LAPD libere inmediatamente a Selena de cargos y deje de criminalizar a nuestras comunidades #FreeSelena #StopPoliceAbuse #StopLAPD

The Santa Ana City Jail is a for-profit jail, a morally and fiscally bankrupt business operated at the community’s expense. In 2016, the Santa Ana City Council ordered a study to explore potential avenues for closing and repurposing the Santa Ana City Jail. As Vanir, the company selected to conduct the study, prepares to present the report to the City Council in February, we call on the council to vote to close the jail in 2018, and rid our city of its for-profit prison. Built over 20 years ago, the jail has been maintained by decades of multi-million-dollar deficit spending (1), combined with a for-profit business model that until last May relied on an immigrant detention contract with ICE. Today, the funds lost by the termination of the ICE Contract are made up by a contract with the US Marshals to house federal prisoners (2). The City Jail doesn’t even house the vast majority of people arrested by Santa Ana Police because county jails hold them at no expense to the city (3). This means that for all intents and purposes, the Santa Ana City Jail is nothing more than a for-profit prison operated at the community’s expense. Private prisons are a form of violence against communities of color. And the Santa Ana Jail, with its profit-driven purpose is no different. In fact, the jail has been consistently reprimanded for the pattern of abuse towards the people imprisoned inside the facility. This year, a government report “documented widespread abuse at several immigration detention facilities across the country and on that list was the Santa Ana City Jail, where it found delayed medical care and staff mistreatment” (4). In 2016, the City Council demonstrated a commitment toward moral and fiscal responsibility by looking for ways to close the Santa Ana Jail. This year, the Council will have the opportunity they were waiting for. Let 2018 be the year they vote to close the Santa Ana City Jail. References: What Would It Cost to Shut Down Santa Ana’s Jail”: https://voiceofoc.org/2016/04/what-would-it-cost-to-shut-down-santa-anas-jail/ Santa Ana rents more jail beds to US Marshals after ICE cancels contract: https://www.scpr.org/news/2017/08/07/74385/santa-ana-narrows-budget-gap-left-by-canceled-ice/ Space in nearly empty Santa Ana city jail could go to mental health care: http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-wknd-et-0409-santa-ana-jail-20170408-story.html The Santa Ana City Jail is in violation of the law, federal report finds: https://www.ocregister.com/2017/12/18/the-santa-ana-city-jail-is-in-violation-of-the-law-federal-report-finds/

Kern County Law Enforcement (Bakersfield Police Department and Kern County Sheriff Office) were declared the most violent police force in the entire country in 2015. 65% of those shot and killed by Bakersfield Police are Latinos, even though Latinos only make 45% of the City. Earlier this month the ACLU released a report highlighting the patterns and practices of violating civil rights. Additionally, there is an ongoing Department of Justice Investigation into both the KCSO and BPD to get to the bottom of this. We in Kern County need change and we need it now! That change must start with accountability! Please help us make this a reality in Kern County.

On October 18, 2017 U.S. Attorney Jeff Sessions testified before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, defending his stance against Sanctuary Cities, against protections for LGBTQ people, and towards criminalizing U.S. born and immigrant communities of color. His statements during this hearing are part of a history of unethical behavior, which should disqualify him from continuing as a member of the legal profession. In fact, the ACLU and over 2000 lawyers have filed bar complaints in Alabama stating just that. But one thing that Jeff Sessions has never lied about is being a racist - his entire career is built on oppressing communities of color. As the nation's top attorney, he has more power than ever to flush lives down the drain. Under his lead the Department of Justice has: (1) Stopped the investigation of police departments charged with racial discrimination and use of force, and instead encouraged use of army-level equipment and technology; (2) Sought to criminalize organizing and community defense by targeting groups like Black Lives Matter; (3) Increased funding for local police to push the War on Drugs, and instructing prosecutors to pursue the harshest penalty for drug offenses; (4) Attacked municipalities that seek to assure protections and constitutional rights for all residents, including immigrants; (5) Advocated for the repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), taking away protections from deportation for hundreds of thousands of young people, work permits, and ability to travel; (6) Increased incarceration rates by targeting people with simple drug-related convictions and immigration-related crimes like crossing the border (entry and re-entry); (7) Has interpreted constitutional and human rights protections on gender as rights that do not apply for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals; As Attorney General, he is not Trump's attorney, he is the attorney of all the people of the United States. His actions demonstrate that he is incapable of representing the country and all of its people. His active advocacy against our communities is the epitome of injustice and it renders him unfit to be a lawyer, much less the person at the head of defending the interest of the United States. Join us in calling on the Alabama State Bar and the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate Jeff Sessions' misconduct.

In January of this year the Santa Ana City Council declared Santa Ana to be a Sanctuary City. Yet many of our most vulnerable neighbors continue to suffer under the City's agenda of criminalization. People experiencing homelessness are consistently the target of compassionless efforts to outlaw their every behavior. Currently, the Santa Ana City Council is considering an ordinance that would ban items vital to people's survival, such as tents or any shelter from the coming winter, chairs, and recyclables. It would make it a misdemeanor for churches and community groups to provide food to those in need, which will lead to costly lawsuits the City is not likely to win. While the City claims this is being done in the interest of public safety, this is nothing more than a transparent attempt to drive the people away from their offices, with no established shelter as viable alternative. Please add your voice to the concerned residents calling on the City to vote no on such a cruel and shortsighted ordinance. *This campaign is a collaboration between:OC HoME, OCNEP, Catholic Worker, Chicanos Unidos, Chispa, Orange County Immigrant Youth United, Resilience Orange County, and Summer of the People.

Alderman Raymond Lopez has suggested that the City of Chicago hire more police officers to enforce all the laws in the books, as a way to give out more tickets and increase the City budget. Specifically, he has mentioned going after people selling elotes, candy or other items on the sidewalks; people who are playing loud music; and Taco makers who are trying to make ends meet by selling from home. Meanwhile, the budget for police in Chicago makes up 40% of the entire city budget. In addition to that, just in 2016 City of Chicago taxpayers were responsible for covering $52 million on police misconduct payouts and litigation. And recently, Mayor Emanuel proposed a $95 million dollar police training academy. It doesn't make sense to pay the City debts on the backs of our communities, especially when there is so much money being spent already on policing and criminalization. You can read more about his stance here: https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/ald-lopez-wants-city-to-hire-50-super-ticket-writers/, and on his facebook page, here: https://www.facebook.com/RLopez15thWard/ #firelopez #defundthepolice #nocopacademy

The militarization of police departments is dangerous to communities of color and vulnerable populations. Dissent should not be punished, it's our right to voice our opinions and demand justice. We cannot continue to be harassed by white supremacists who leave the premises protected, and be targeted by white supremacist institutions like the Phoenix Police Department for calling out the very system that tear gasses, tackles, shoots us, and takes our lives. The residents of Phoenix have elected a City Council to be more reflected of the communities that live in this City. We need you to stand with us, to represent our concerns, and to stop the criminalization of dissent in our city.

CoreCivic, formerly Corrections Corporation of America runs a private prison in Estancia, NM. With the number of inmates dwindling, it is pressuring elected officials to find 300 more prisoners or risk closing. In addition to profiting from suffering and family separation, this facility has grave problems with sexual assault, use of force and detainee deaths. CoreCivic has been instrumental in passing legislation that criminalizes communities of color in order to cash in on their incarceration. Senator Tom Udall and Representative Michelle Lujan-Grisham have the power to deny CoreCivic's efforts to drum up more business by incarcerating New Mexicans. Tell them to shut it down! http://www.alternet.org/human-rights/private-prison-demands-new-mexico-and-feds-find-300-more-prisoners-60-days-or-it-will#.WYIYt1D7WWw.facebook

On May 1st, 2017 Wilmer Catalan Ramirez filed a lawsuit for the excessive use of force that ICE used when they raided his home, and the Chicago Police Department and the City of Chicago for wrongfully putting him in the gang database. Chicago’s mayor and city council should be advocates for every city resident who falls victim to Trump’s deportation force, but especially for those whose physical well-being is in danger and those who the city has had a specific role in leading to his wrongful detention. Wilmer's detention was part of a national immigration raid targeting suspected gang members. It is clear that ICE wouldn’t have targeted Wilmer if it wasn’t for the Chicago police department. The police created the gang database at Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s request in 2012 as part of his efforts to be ‘tough on crime.’ But since then, it has proven to be like other lists of names compiled by police in other parts of the country: arbitrary, discriminatory, and with dire consequences for those whose names get entered. Wilmer didn’t find out he was on the list until ICE agents cited it as the reason they broke down his door. He never had a chance to look at the evidence and defend himself. Join us in asking Mayor Emanuel and the city council for the least they could do to correct this error and advocate for Wilmer’s release, and start to review the procedures and content of the Chicago gang database.

According to a 2015 report by Mapping Police Violence, the Bakersfield Police Department was found to have killed more people per million residents than any other large police department in the United States. Between the start of 2013 and the end of 2015, 29 people had been killed by law enforcement officers in kern county . Mapping Police Violence identified two of those people as black. Thirteen of those killed by police were identified by the group as Hispanic, ten were white, one was Asian, and three were racially unidentified. In December of 2016, California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris opened separate civil pattern or practice investigations into the Kern County Sheriff’s Office and the Bakersfield Police Department . “Excessive use of force and police misconduct erode and undermine the public’s trust in our law enforcement agencies,” Attorney General Harris said. “These investigations will objectively, impartially, and thoroughly examine whether the Kern County Sheriff’s Office or the Bakersfield Police Department engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive force or other civil rights violations." We seek justice for Francisco Serna. We demand a criminal justice system that ceases to criminalize communities of color and no longer permits the violence committed against our bodies to be seen as lawful . This abuelito's life mattered and we must not allow his death to be in vain.

Youth should not be charged as adults. Youth being charged as adults is one of the most important justice issues in California. The fate of the young people who have a shot at going back to juvenile court because of Prop 57 is of th utmost importance. #DreamBeyondBars #Freedom4Dajon Please sign this petition and show District Attorney Nancy O'Malley and the Judge that the community supports Dajon and does NOT want to see him treated as an adult.