Legal Services for Prisoners w Children

Legal Services for Prisoners with Children provides support to 7 fiscally-sponsored projects working on a variety of criminal and social justice change issues. Several chapters work on a variety of issues around employment and housing discrimination. In addition to coalition work with many organizations working on criminal justice reform, our sponsored projects work to include incarcerated people to have a voice in creating changes in the prison and jail systems in California. The CA Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) continues to support women's prisons advocating for parole release as well as monitoring inadequate health care services in the CA prison system. CCWP also publishes The Fire Inside newsletter that began publication in 1996 and is the longest continuous publication in the country dedicated to women and transgender prisoners. CCWP continues to provide mutual aid to women prisoners as a result of COVID-19 donation support. The Prison Activist Resource Center (PARC) continues to distribute, free of charge over a thousand resource manuals to prisoners, former prisoners and families, providing valuable resource information to people upon release.

Fiscally Sponsored Projects Legal Services for Prisoners with Children provides support to 7 fiscally-sponsored projects working on a variety of criminal and social justice change issues. Several chapters work on a variety of issues around employment and housing discrimination. In addition to coalition work with many organizations working on criminal justice reform, our sponsored projects work to include incarcerated people to have a voice in creating changes in the prison and jail systems in California. The CA Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) continues to support women's prisons advocating for parole release as well as monitoring inadequate health care services in the CA prison system. CCWP also publishes The Fire Inside newsletter that began publication in 1996 and is the longest continuous publication in the country dedicated to women and transgender prisoners. CCWP continues to provide mutual aid to women prisoners as a result of COVID-19 donation support. The Prison Activist Resource Center (PARC) continues to distribute, free of charge over a thousand resource manuals to prisoners, former prisoners and families, providing valuable resource information to people upon release.

Legal, Communications & Policy ProgramsOur Policy team attended meetings for litigation, assembly and senate hearings, wrote support and opposition letters, signed on to administrative petitions, attended various hearings and committee meetings, connected with the Legislative Analyst's Office to navigate prison closures to help support the AOUON organizers, created webinars providing public education on topics including abolition and mass incarceration. We participated in 18 coalitions ranging from financial advocacy through to child welfare. Our Elder Freeman Policy Fellowship employed 4 fellows this year to support the legal and policy teams. The Abolish Bondage Collectively campaign continues to grow and advocate to put an end to the vestiges of slavery and structural racism in California and Fair Chance was our local initiative. We held our 11th annual Quest for Democracy in person, with over 500 attendees statewide, partnering with over 20 organizations working to end mass incarceration. Our Legal team conducted impact litigation, monitored settlements, and provided training and consultation to Qualified Legal Service Providers. Our attorneys responded to approximately 3,000 letters from incarcerated people seeking legal resource manuals and other information. We finalized our merger with East Bay Family Defenders in September of 2023 to end family separation, restore civil and human rights and make a lasting impact in our community while utilizing their expertise in juvenile and dependency law.