The LA Times has shared a report written by The Stop The Musick Coalition. The report exposes how incarcerated people in Orange County jails have been served nutritionally inadequate, cold and sometimes rotting foods during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Visitation in OC jails has been stopped for months due to COVID, making jail time even more isolating. A good book goes a long way to providing some escape. Give a book to a neighbor living in an OC jail! Donate to our paypal paypal.me/booksbehindbars or email booksbehindbars.tjoc@gmail.com for more information.
2020 #SchoolsNotPrisons Stop the Violence tour Launching 8.29.20 Orange County, CA
The first stop of the #SchoolsNotPrisons virtual concert tour launches on Saturday, August 29th with the aim of stopping the expansion of the Musick jail in Irvine, California, and commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium and murder of LA Times journalist Ruben Salazar.
Join us, Transforming Justice OC, Community Justice Action Fund, LatinoJustice, and other grassroots organizations for an evening of criminal justice advocacy, music, aerial performance, and information on how you can take action to #StoptheMusick!
Image caption: Join us to demand an end to preventable jail deaths in Orange County.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department, in collusion with the Orange County District Attorney, is responsible for establishing and perpetuating a violent culture of negligence that has led to the epidemic of preventable deaths of those held in Orange County custody.
There were 4 recent deaths in the OC jails (3 at the Intake Release Center and 1 at Theo Lacy) in recent weeks, this brings the total known deaths this year to 9 under OCSD custody.
From January 1, 2010 to January 1, 2020, 78 people died in OCSD custody.
From January 1, 2010 to January 1, 2018, there were 59 deaths. According to this OCSD press release, there were 10 deaths in 2018 and 8 deaths in 2019.
Due to limited reporting and inconsistent press releases from OCSD, the list below may not include all deaths so far in 2020:
The Sheriff, who acts as the county coroner, determines the manner and cause of death of those that die in his custody. His biased and ineffectual investigations, protected through inaction by the DA’s office, shields himself and county leadership from responsibility and accountability.
The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs contributed heavily to Don Barnes’ campaign for sheriff. They opposed Todd Spitzer for DA, but contributed to his campaigns in the past. Todd threatened to hold OCSD accountable, but since coming into office, Spitzer has supported incarceration through status quo fear-mongering, implicitly supporting OCSD’s continuing abuses. The AOCDS has also contributed to OC supervisors Andrew Do, Lisa Bartlett, and Don Wagner.
Our elected officials are failing to protect those they’ve sworn to care for. We are asking the community to stand up, to speak out against this terrible injustice. These unnecessary deaths must come to an end. Going to jail should not be a death sentence.
Join Transforming Justice OC and other community organizations and advocates for Reimagine Justice in Orange County, a 4-part workshop series on dismantling incarceration in OC. The series will take place on Thursdays from 6-8pm in August.
Workshop 1 (Aug 6) Know Your Sheriff and Board of Supervisors Understand incarceration in OC, a history of sheriffs & their powers, key players in OC’s criminal legal system, their roles and oversight and accountability.
Workshop 2 (Aug 13) OC Jails and Jail Expansion Discuss current conditions in OC jails, why people cannot get well in a cell, the James A. Musick expansion, ongoing efforts and how to plug in.
Workshop 3 (Aug 20) Community-Based Systems Care Learn about community based care including affordable housing, mental health and substance use services, diversion and alternatives to incarceration.
Workshop 4 (Aug 27) Follow the Money Budget analysis and advocacy 101, overview of funding streams and priority spending, and the OC People’s Budget PlatformAttachments area
Please donate to support the speakers who are volunteering their time, expertise, and for the experiences they are willing to share. PayPal @justiceoc (Michael Tucker) and add a note “For Reimagine Justice”
More incarceration is not the solution to a failing social safety net. But on May 5, Orange County supervisors unanimously approved a construction agreement to expand the James A. Musick Facility in Irvine and build 896 new jail beds.
Expanding the jail is especially unnecessary when the jail population is at a historic low. The expansion would increase OC jails’ rated capacity to roughly 6,200 when the average daily population is down to 2,800. More than half of the people inside have not been convicted of the charges they are facing, but they remain inside because they can’t afford bail.
While communities across the country are demanding defunding police and the carceral state, OC supervisors continue to waste taxpayer dollars on incarceration. Spending $350 million to expand an empty jail is wrong, especially when we need those dollars to fund community-based healthcare, mental health support and affordable housing.
Join us in urging OC supervisors to end the construction of a bigger jail and to instead put community first.
