Items tagged Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors

Mission Neglectful

When we at Dignity and Power Now saw Los Angeles County’s Mission Possible website we were floored. How could anyone take a website about the Los Angeles County jails seriously that says they provide “compassionate whole-person care”? The county uses blatant misrepresentation and coopts terms like “social justice” to paint a very un-lifelike picture that shows jails as places of healing. We of course know that is not true. The county made a video to go along with their campaign. So did we. Except we call ours Mission Neglectful.

There have been 6 deaths in the jails so far in 2018 and an average of 25 deaths every year – many due to medical neglect. In the video above DPN Campaign Lead James Nelson acts as a doctor who loves his job because he gets to do whatever he wants – including clocking out and working at other jobs. The script was based on information provided by a DPN source inside Twin Towers who handed over details on medical staff who work several other healthcare jobs while on the clock in the jails, including the psychiatrist whose name is bleeped out in our video. Oh, and the Ellen Wong story is sadly very real too.

DPN Deputy Director of Health and Wellness Melanie Griffin points out the absurdity of DHS Director of Community Health Mark Ghaly’s statement that “there’s a high no show rate to appointments,” saying, “You know, because prisoners just don’t show up.” The DPN source also provided information about how doctors will deliberately try to see prisoners while they’re in court or meeting with their lawyers so they can check them off on their list and send them back to the beginning of the line.

Outside of procedural neglect, Melanie also brings light to systemic abuses like the fact that people in the jails often do not have access to healthcare on the outside, expressing that people won’t be able to get followup treatment for diagnosed aliments and that they were probably caused by unaddressed socioeconomic issues to begin with. In the hiring video spoof Melanie sarcastically states, “But you get the be the doctor that tells them they have cancer.” Fact is, the county should be spending the $3.5 billion they plan to spend on jails on addressing fundamental healthcare in communities. That’s why we support the Reform LA Jails and Community Reinvestment Initiative, a ballot measure that if voted in would require them to do just that.

The Mission Neglectful video is part of a larger episode of the DPN produced show Grassroots with Jayda. The episode also includes a conversation with DPN Board Member and Statewide Health and Wellness Organizer Mark-Anthony Johnson. Watch the full episode below for more insight on the county’s misguided mission and what we’re doing about it.

New episodes of Grassroots with Jayda will stream monthly on Dignity and Power Now’s YouTube channel.

For more on the Reform LA Jails and Community Reinvestment Initiative visit reformlajails.com.

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What is JusticeLA?

JusticeLA took Los Angeles by storm on September 26th when we launched our campaign to stop the 3.5 billion dollar jail plan by putting 100 replica jail beds in the middle of downtown L.A. in front of Kenneth Hahn Hall, where the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meet. Check out the video below.

Yeah, okay. But what is JusticeLA exactly?

JusticeLA is a coalition. It’s an umbrella group where over 50 organizations have come together to fight a common cause: jail construction in L.A. County. A coalition is kind of like an organization for organizations, and JusticeLA is one of the biggest of its kind!

So is Dignity and Power Now JusticeLA?

Yes! So is Californians United for a Responsible Budget, Community Coalition, Immigrant Youth Coalition, Revolve Impact, TransLatin@ Coalition, Youth Justice Coalition, and 40+ other organizations and counting!

And what do you all do as JusticeLA?

Ultimately we’re calling for a stop to jail construction and expansion in order to fully realize the promise of diversion and re-entry through a justice reinvestment strategy for Los Angeles.

Although JusticeLA has only publicly existed for a little over a month, 3 people have died in the jails during that time. We’ve responded by having a vigil outside of the jails, a powerful town hall meeting in the Antelope Valley where family members spoke, making an altar for Día de los Muertos at Hollywood Forever, and releasing multiple videos including the one below that documents the entire town hall.

We’re now looking for 88 artists who want to shut down the county’s 3.5 billion dollar jail plan by utilizing the jail beds from our campaign launch to create public art projects in each of L.A. County’s 88 cities by December 24th. Submit your proposal here!

How is JusticeLA different from the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence and LA No More Jails?

Good question! Those are separate coalitions with different goals. The organizations in the C2ESV all want to end sheriff violence in the jails and are working towards common goals like effective civilian oversight of the LASD. LA No More Jails is a coalition with the common goal of abolishing all jails in L.A. County, including but not limited to new jail construction. So although you will see a lot of crossover in organization participation, these are separate collectives of organizations with separate goals.

Whether through JusticeLA, the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence, LA No More Jails, or on our own, we at Dignity and Power Now will continue to work to secure dignity and power for all incarcerated people, their families, and communities. Join us!

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Civilian Oversight Commissioners Announced! (Where’s Patrisse?)

On November 1st the Los Angeles County Supervisors officially announced the nine people who will be serving on the Civilian Oversight Commission.

Appointed individually by Solis, Ridley-Thomas, Kuehl, Knabe, and Antonovich, in that order:

Hernan Vera

Attorney
Former President and CEO of Public Counsel

Xavier Thompson

President of Baptist Ministers’ Conference
Senior Pastor of the Southern Saint Paul Church

Patti Giggans

Executive Director of Peace Over Violence

JP Harris

Former LA Sheriff’s Lieutenant
Board Member and Former President of ALADS

Robert C. Bonner

Attorney
Former DEA Administrator

Appointed by the Board of Supervisors from the community applications:

Sean Kennedy

Executive Director of Center for Juvenile Law & Policy at Loyola Law School
Former Federal Public Defender

Heather Miller

C2ESV NOMINEE
Rabbi at Beth Chayim Chadashim

Priscilla Ocen

C2ESV NOMINEE
Loyola Law School Associate Professor

Lael Rubin

Former Deputy District Attorney

DPN and the C2ESV implemented and shaped much of the commission through our 2014 report “A Civilian Review Board for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department” and our persistent campaigning and organizing efforts that spanned 3 years. Even though the county’s commission on jail violence rejected the idea of civilian oversight, we took on this fight to end state violence in the county jails and in our neighborhoods. After being invited to speak at a press conference held by the county supervisors, we decided to both claim our victory and pose important criticisms of the process. Check out the footage on Patrisse Cullors’ live Facebook video:

Civilian Oversight Commission Press Conference- Mark-Anthony Johnson from Dignity and Power Now. DPN was the main organization fighting for this Commission. #ClaimYourVictory

Posted by Patrisse Khan-Cullors on Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Patrisse Cullors, DPN’s founder and co-founder of Black Lives Matter, was instrumental in making the commission. She brought the idea to the table and organized local communities to demand it. And although she was nominated by us and made it to the final round of the interview process, the supervisors said her affiliation to BLM was a conflict of interest. However, they did not think that Robert C. Bonner being former administrator of the DEA and commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection was a conflict of interest. And even more shockingly, they didn’t think that JP Harris being a former sheriff’s department lieutenant for the very department this commission is overseeing was a conflict of interest.

Moving forward there is much to be done to ensure that this commission is effective and we are confident in the presence and fortitude of our C2ESV nominees who have been appointed. Stay tuned for more in depth profiles on all of the commissioners. In the meantime we will continue to be vigilant in pushing for subpoena power and to ensure that each commissioner is holding the LASD accountable and serving the people most affected by sheriff violence.

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7 Critical Reasons to #StopToxicJail

1. It’s FAR

The proposed location is the old Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster, over 80 miles away from the current jail in Lynwood and the Los Angeles city center. Families would have to drive through steep hills of the Angeles National Forest to visit their loved ones. There is no option of public transportation for women being released. Factors such as these remind us of the negligent death of Mitrice Richardson.

2. It’s TOXIC

In recent years the Mira Loma site has exhibited everything from raw sewage spills to measurable amounts of diesel in the soil. For details read We are Not Disposable: The Toxic Impacts of Prisons and Jails, a report just released by CURB and endorsed by DPN as a direct response to the county’s EIR.

3. It’s HISTORICALLY TOXIC

Used as a military airfield in the 1940s, the Mira Loma Detention Center became contaminated with hazardous waste almost 80 years ago, a classification that has stuck with it since.

4. It puts women at risk for VALLEY FEVER

Valley Fever is no joke. It is spread through spores in the soil, can cause skin lesions, chronic infections, pneumonia, and death, and has already proven to be widespread among those in the Lancaster area. Half of the proposed jail area will not be paved, posing a direct risk to prisoners, staff, and visitors.

5. We need GENDER JUSTICE

– not gender responsiveness. Building a jail specifically for women is not what women need. They need to be with their families, have access to effective primary and mental healthcare, to healthy food and education, to job training and childcare, to address harms such as domestic violence through ways that are transformative instead of punitive. Gender justice is an investment in our communities, not in our incarceration.

6. It TEARS FAMILIES APART

The largest impact is felt in the families left behind. Moving women two hours away will put a heartbreaking strain on their relationships, especially with their children. For more on what LA’s incarcerated women experience read our report Breaking the Silence: Civil and Human Rights Violations Resulting From Medical Neglect and Abuse of Women of Color in Los Angeles County Jails.

7. It’s RACIST

The majority of the people impacted by this jail will be economically disadvantaged Black and Brown people. The women’s jail is a pet project of Michael D. Antonovich, a white male supervisor of the Lancaster district with a severely racist history, and he is desperately trying to push it through before he is no longer a supervisor in December. Remember, you don’t get a vote – they do! Which is why it is so important that you make sure your voice is represented.

Join us in requesting the county invest $120 million in our communities – not in our incarceration.