March 16, 2020

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Starting on March 9th, concerned Californians began gathering signatures for a petition to Governor Newsom, in light of the threat COVID-19 poses to the people who live and work in California's prisons and jails. The petition was sent to the Governor on March 16th.

 

The petition was signed by 940 individuals. Signatories include formerly incarcerated people, current and former correctional employees, family and friends of those who live and work in the corrections system, medical professionals, correctional volunteers, educators, artists, business owners, political organizers, and leaders of local advocacy and faith organizations. 

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We call upon Governor Newsom to act quickly to protect vulnerable incarcerated people and correctional employees in California. In particular, we ask the governor to consider using his emergency powers to immediately order a one-time review of all elderly and/or infirm people incarcerated in California, with an eye toward providing temporary or permanent release to as many of them as possible.