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.

Defendant's seating in San Diego Courtroom (Photo: Adriana Heldiz/CalMatters)
By Heidi June 16, 2025
Signed in 2023, SB97 set to remove a number of significant barriers to overturning wrongful convictions in California. Two years later, Cal Matters reports a lack of defense investigators leaves California unable to provide those promised safeguards.
on sat 6/14, LA Free Legal Clinics will be on the ground to support participants of the LA Protests
By Heidi June 13, 2025
For tomorrow, Saturday June 14th, the free legal clinics offered the second Saturday of every month in Los Angeles will be moved to the streets to support people participating in the Los Angeles protests, as well as people most threatened by the ongoing ICE raids.
Flyer: PEN America calls for mentors for Prison Writing Mentorship Program; apply by 7/31/2025
By Heidi June 12, 2025
PEN America’s Prison & Justice Writing Program is now accepting volunteer applications for the 2025–2026 Prison Writing Mentorship Program, which matches an incarcerated writer with a writer on the outside who has volunteered to read and respond to submitted work.
Photo: Black woman participating in a march, holding a Pride flag. (Photo: Innocence Project)
By Heidi June 10, 2025
LGBTQ+ people are overrepresented throughout the criminal legal system, from their high rates of juvenile justice involvement to the long sentences they often receive as adults. Ending mass incarceration and over criminalization a central part of the movement for LGBTQ liberation.
Rally-Stop Deportations, Citizenship for All!  Today, 4pm PT at West Steps of Capitol in Sacramento
By Heidi June 9, 2025
Felony Murder Elimination Project stands with the people of Los Angeles protesting ICE Raids in Los Angeles who are exercising their right to speak out and peacefully protesting . We also stand with communities nationwide in demanding ICE return people to their families and communities, end family separations and stop unjust detentions.
Prisoner at Green Haven Correctional Facility looks out at prison yard (Skip Dickstein/Albany Times)
By Heidi June 6, 2025
"They Wanted to Have Fewer Prisons. Instead, They Got a Prisoner’s Worst Nightmare," appeared in Slate Magazine in May 2025, and is written by Robert Lee Williams, incarcerated in New York State.
Linda Wood & her son Andre hold a photo of Linda's youngest son Tremane (Nick Oxford, Huff Post)
By Heidi June 5, 2025
Oklahoma plans to set an execution date next week for a man who didn't kill anyone. Tremane Wood was sen­tenced to death a 2004 mur­der that his broth­er, Jake Wood, admit­ted com­mit­ting. It's time to take action to prevent a horrible miscarriage of justice from going forward.
graphic: mass incarceration costs American families nearly $350b out of pocket costs each year
By Heidi June 4, 2025
A report titled "We Can’t Afford It: Mass Incarceration and the Family Tax" from advocacy organization Fwd.us is the latest in a long line of arguments to effectively capture the financial toll prisons and jails exact on American families.
Juvenile offenders in a carceral facility, dressed in orange jumpsuits.
By Heidi June 3, 2025
Please join us in supporting SB 672 (Sen. Susan Rubio D22), which would allows persons sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) for crimes committed before age 26 to request a parole hearing after serving at least 25 years in prison.
Graphic; urge your assemblyperson to support AB 1231 - Safer Communities through Opportunities Act
By Heidi June 1, 2025
FMEP asks supporters to contact their Assemblyperson and urge support for AB 1231, the Safer Communities through Opportunities Act, which would allow courts to grant diversion for non-violent, non-sexual felonies, after consultation with both the prosecutor and defendant.
Show More