Academic research and the expertise of communities who have experienced state violence are powerful education tools that fuel the movement to end mass incarceration. Read our published reports here.
Care First, Jails Last Health and Racial Justice Strategies for Safer Communities
This report lays out a plan to substantially and safely reduce the number of people with clinical behavioral health needs in the County Jail. We need brave leaders from the County, the Court and the Community to stand together to get it done. It is time to act.
Released February 2020
Decarceration Report: A New Vision for LA County
The urgency to end the overcrowding and torturous conditions inside L.A. County Jails is shared by the community and County officials alike; and the fastest, most holistic approach to alleviating conditions is an expansion of community-led diversion and alternatives to incarceration. Shifting its focus, L.A. County can look to the core issues of houselessness, access to mental and behavioral health services, and pretrial reform to provide immediate and sustained relief.
The #JusticeLA Campaign urges the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to invest serious and significant county dollars towards the development and scaling up of a local and decentralized system of community based services that offer integrated mental health and substance use services, as well as genuine alternatives to incarceration that allow for safe and sustained decarceration of our most vulnerable populations- those cycling in and out of our County jail system. Additionally, #JusticeLA urges the Board to establish a pretrial system based on the presumption of innocence, bolstered by needs and strengths assessment, while ending the practice of using money bail to reserve pretrial freedom only for those who can afford it. For years, directly impacted people, their loved ones, advocates, and justice system and reform experts have called for the County to invest in these desperately needed supportive services and demand that the Board stop spending its limited resources on building new jail beds.
The largest jail population in the entire U.S. is incarcerated in Los Angeles County. Check out our “Decarceration Report: A New Vision for LA County” and join us and the #JusticeLA coalition in urging the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to stop the jail plan and invest significant County dollars towards alternatives to incarceration.
Released June 2019
Healing Justice Toolkit
Healing requires that we pay attention to the whole body, this includes the emotional, spiritual, and psychological bodies. Today we are launching a Healing Justice Toolkit that outlines the past seven years of DPN’s Healing Justice work. This toolkit is a communal offering that joins the lineage of healing justice work that communities across the world have engaged in for survival, strategy, liberation, and assurance to future generations. It is important to acknowledge that there has been generations of work done throughout the U.S. and internationally that has fed this current iteration of liberation work, which we call Healing Justice. Healing Justice’s birth story is ancient, and I want to honor the past twenty years of work being led by organizers in the South, including organizations like Kindred, SONG, and the work of Cara Page, Susan Rafo, Adela Nieves, and many more.
Released May 2019
Breaking the Silence: Civil and Human Rights Violations Resulting from Medical Neglect and Abuse of Women of Color in Los Angeles County Jails
“Breaking the Silence: Civil and Human Rights Violations Resulting from Medical Neglect and Abuse of Women of Color in Los Angeles County Jails” was released August 4th, 2015 and highlights the stories of #7WomenOfColor who were previously incarcerated.
Released August 2015
Impact of Disproportionate Incarceration of & Violence Against Black People with Mental Health Conditions in the World’s Largest Jail System
“Impact of Disproportionate Incarceration of & Violence Against Black People with Mental Health Conditions in the World’s Largest Jail System”, released August 12th, 2014 and included as part of the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’s review of the United States, highlights the racial discrimination, medical neglect, and human rights violations that are present within the LA County jail system.
Released August 2014
A Civilian Review Board for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Our first report, “A Civilian Review Board for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department” was released May 19th, 2014 and has played a pivotal role in the creation of a Civilian Oversight Commission for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Released May 2014