Call to Action and Frequently Asked Questions June 15, 2015 – Riverside Alternatives to Jail Press Conference We need your help to fight the expansion of the Indio jail! SUMMARY Riverside County wants to spend over $330 million on jail expansion construction. We need your help to fight it. While Riverside County is the 4th largest county it sends more people to prison than any other county in the State, with the exception of Los Angeles. The truth is that these people will come home one day. If we are concerned with public safety we should focus on successful reentry and lowering recidivism. Alternatives to Jail Expansions is a Coalition made up of PEOPLE and Organizations that have found common ground: Ending the reliance on mass incarceration and the discrimination that marks the criminal justice system. We believe that mass incarceration is the issue of our time and we recognize that it is a symptom of a much larger problem. The elephant in the room is discrimination in all its' various and amorphous forms. All of US or NONE, Critical Resistance, Transgender, Gendervariant, Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), Immigrant Rights Groups, LULAC, the Coalition on Homelessness, NAACP, ICUC, Youth Justice and Faith Based Communities, Educators, and many more. We need your help! For two years, we have been working on fighting the proposed jail expansions in Riverside County that will cost a whopping $$331 Million (and climbing) to construct. These new jail beds will only exacerbate the gross inequities that the prison-industrial-complex perpetuates and sustains. Please join us and tell the Board of Supervisors that we do not want jail expansion. We want Community solutions to Community problems. Jail expansions will crowd out emergency health services, educational services, child and welfare supportive services, housing development and subsidies, arts programs, libraries, and other county provided infrastructure and lock us all into perpetuating mass incarceration while sustaining enormous debt. What will become of our beloved County as a result of cutting services and programs that help to build and maintain healthy and thriving communities? What County budgets will be slashed because of these proposed expansions? GOAL To see our County fund prevention and re-entry programs that improve community health. We want Riverside County to invest in programs and services that foster self reliance, wellness, and equity. IMPACT The grave impacts of these jail expansions: 1. Indebting the County by borrowing $100 million in bond funds, and asking for another $100 million in Pooled state funds to squander into a system that has a 65% failure rate. 2. The $331 Million is just construction project costs and does not include the estimated $50 million annual operating costs that begins even before 1 person is housed there.
3. Keep safety net services and evidence based programs (that are actually working) underfunded. 4. Pursue the same destructive policies of criminalizing black, brown, poor, and mentally ill people. JOIN US! Here are multiple opportunities to join us in fighting the Riverside Jail Fight:
Monday, June 15, 2015. Join us for a Press Conference and tell your story about Reentry successes!!!!
Join the Alternatives to Jail Expansion Coalition. Meetings on the 4th Wednesday of the month, 6:30pm at Temple Beth El
Call Jeff Bandwagonen of the Economic Development Agency for Riverside County (951955-8916) and demand that a full review of all viable community re-entry and rehabilitation programs be completed and that a current assessment be done on needed jail bed projections that considers jail reduction strategies including PROP 47, bail reform, out of custody treatment, and other alternatives to jail expansions
Use the Hashtags #NoMoreJails and #StopRiversideJail when sharing on social media!
Please call your supervisor, or call them all: Tell them we do not want jail expansions. It will take funds from health and human services programs like education, child and welfare supportive services, housing development, arts programs, libraries, economic development, and other programs and services that help build healthy communities. o
District 1 Supervisor Kevin Jeffries (951) 955-1010 Phone calls are best!, Email: district1@rcbos.org, Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/SupJeffries, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SupervisorJeffries Cities of Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, Canyon Lake and most of the City of Riverside. The district also covers the unincorporated communities of DeLuz, Gavilan Hills, Good Hope, Lake Hills, Lake Mathews, LaCresta, Mead Valley, Meadowbrook, Spring Hills, Temescal Valley, Tenaja, Warm Springs, and Woodcrest.
o
District 2 Supervisor John Tavaglione (951) 955-1020 Phone calls are best! Email: district2@rcbos.org, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tavaglioneforcongress2012 Cities of Corona, Norco, Jurupa Valley, and Eastvale. It also includes approximately 1/3 of the City of Riverside, including the following City of Riverside neighborhoods: Northside, Downtown, Wood Streets, Magnolia Center, Grand and the northern half of Arlanza and La Sierra Acres. Unincorporated communities within the 2nd Supervisorial District include Home Gardens, El Cerrito, Coronita and Highgrove.
o
District 3 Supervisor Chuck Washington (951) 955-1050 Phone calls are best! Email: district3@rcbos.org, Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chuckwash2016, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChuckWashington4BoardofSupes Call to Action and Frequently Asked Questions, June 15, 2015 Riverside Alternatives to Jail Press Conference, Page 2 of 4
Represents cities of Hemet, Murrieta, San Jacinto and Temecula
o
District 4 John Benoit (951) 955-1040 Email: district4@rcbos.org, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.j.benoit Cities of Blythe, Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage
o
District 5 Supervisor Marion Ashley (951) 955-1030 Email: district5@rcbos.org, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AshleyforSupervisor Cities of Banning, Beaumont, Calimesa, Menifee, Moreno Valley and Perris and unincorporated areas include Cabazon and Cherry Valley
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What's Up With the Indio Jail Expansion? In March of 2012, the Corrections Standards Authority of California awarded Riverside County $100 Million. This money came from public fund called AB900 which was passed in 2007, with no public input, which sets aside $7.5 BILLION in Lease Revenue Bonds for prison and jail expansion. The state will have to pay back nearly $15 Billion because of interest. The county says it will use this money to build 1,250 jail beds at the Indio Jail for a 506,000 sq. foot facility. How much will it cost? In March of 2012 the county estimated that the expansion project would cost $237 Million. In July of 2013 the county estimated a new cost of $267.2 Million. In March of 2015 the county estimated a new cost of $331 Million and increase of almost 40% since its original estimation. It will cost the county at least $50 Million a year to run the jail, even if it remains empty. Who Wants the Jails? Sheriff Stan Sniff said in March of 2012 that Riverside County needs 4000 new jail beds either built or under construction by the year 2020 In July of 2013 Sheriff Stan Sniff was seeking $80 Million in funding for a 1,520 bed expansion of Larry D. Smith Correction Facility in Banning. Other county staff are also looking to expand Robert Presley Detention Center by 807 Beds and Southwest Detention Center by 1,111 beds.
Call to Action and Frequently Asked Questions, June 15, 2015 Riverside Alternatives to Jail Press Conference, Page 3 of 4
How Can We Stop It? In May 2011, the residents of Whitewater/Palm Springs stopped the proposed jail through public pressure on county supervisors and politicians. They county already spent $22 Million on land studies and acquisition but the community still stopped it! Pressure our County Supervisors. They are expected to discuss the budget on June 15! References http://www.pe.com/articles/county-646159-jail-state.html http://www.pe.com/articles/county-626450-jail-state.html http://www.pe.com/articles/county-645553-indio-jail.html http://www.pe.com/articles/county-644687-million-jail.html http://www.pe.com/articles/county-677007-jail-million.html http://www.pe.com/articles/county-762308-jail-incarceration.html
Call to Action and Frequently Asked Questions, June 15, 2015 Riverside Alternatives to Jail Press Conference, Page 4 of 4