Prison Closure Roadmap for a Safer, Healthier California - CURB

Heidi • April 3, 2023

Roadmap comes at critical juncture in policymaking decisions

Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), a coalition of over 80 organizations, presents a Prison Closure Roadmap. CURB hopes this Prison Closure Roadmap can be used as a tool for building a healthier, safer, greener California for all.


This roadmap comes at an opportune and critical juncture. The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has affirmed that California could close more prisons without causing overcrowding. Calls for more input in the prison closure process are coming from community members inside and out of prison walls.


In the wake of Governor Newsom's recent announcement to 'transform' San Quentin State Prison, this roadmap serves as a reminder that the best response to ending systemic racism and abuse in prisons is reducing the incarcerated population and closing more prisons. Read CURB's statement on efforts to 'rebrand' San Quentin here.


CURB’s Prison Closure Roadmap offers a decarceral just transition framework, whereby California can support any city or town with a prison in shifting the local economy and community away from a perceived reliance on incarceration, and toward healthy and life-affirming investments in services, infrastructure, and high road jobs. The roadmap offers ten state-owned prisons as priorities to be named for closure by 2025 based on input from 2,386 systems-impacted people representing every prison in the state. 


CURB's goal in sharing this roadmap is that citizens can use it in advocacy, organizing, and campaigns to call for safe, community-informed prison closures. Email us at info@curbprisonspending.org or use the hashtag #PeoplesRoadmap to let us know your thoughts! 


Download and share CURB's Prison Closure Roadmap (PDF document) and action toolkit (Google Docs).


REMINDER - With your advocacy hat already on, don't forget TOMORROW 3pm PT is the deadline to send a support letter for SB94 to the California Senate Public Safety Committee ahead of the April 11th hearing. Revisit our blog post "Show Your Support for SB94 With a Support Letter by April 4th" for more information. We thank you so much for all you do.

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