San Francisco Chronicle - Voters Should Reject Prop 36

The following letter to the editor at the San Francisco Chronicle titled "Letters: Chronicle Prop 36 endorsement sends a message. Here’s why voters should reject it" is authored by Brian Kaneda, deputy director, Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), a member of the Drop LWOP Coalition.

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Regarding “Endorsement: You’re right to be outraged over street conditions. Prop 36 is a message, not an answer” (Editorials, SFChronicle.com, Oct. 27): The Chronicle’s endorsement misses the mark. While it acknowledges that Proposition 36 fails to deliver meaningful reform, it stops short of opposing it. 

Instead, the editorial suggests Prop 36 will “send a message” from voters to legislators — even though the editorial’s summary of past inaction shows officials are likely to ignore this, as they have before. 

The idea that imprisoning another wave of mostly Black, brown and low-income individuals will finally spur change is hard to take seriously. Prop 36 simply offers lawmakers a new way to warehouse the people they’ve failed. 

Reducing these individuals to a “message” disregards the humanity of those who will actually be caged. These are real people with families not symbols to be used to make a point.

Real solutions — like funding for drug treatment, mental health care and housing — are critically underfunded. If California’s handling of the addiction, mental health and housing crises, as the Chronicle suggests, is a “shameful” failure, why support a measure that will only worsen them?

Instead of urging readers to send a hollow “message,” the Chronicle editorial board should challenge them to reject Prop 36 and support policies that address the root causes of crime. Chronicle readers deserve more foresight than this editorial provides.

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Proponents of Prop 36 want California voters to forget all of this and roll back the progress made toward decarceration under the guise of "increased crime," which is a right-wing myth debunked by actual data provided by the FBI.

Prop 36 would:

• CUT dedicated funding for drug treatment
• CUT dedicated funding for recidivism reduction
• CUT dedicated funding for school-based prevention
• Disproportionately harm low income communities of color
• Waste $26 BILLION on prison over-spending
• Spend $10 BILLION more on jails
• spend $13 BILLION more on court costs
• Take $850 MILLION away from the state’s most successful drug treatment and homeless prevention programs
• Take $300 MILLION away from services for survivors of crime
• Enact new mandatory minimum sentencing
• Enact new mandatory sentences for people who are caught while unknowingly possessing any amount of fentanyl
• Require police to book people in jail regardless of whether they pose a risk to public safety
• And despite claiming to provide treatment it will actually CUT dedicated funding for treatment and victims services

Between now and Tuesday, November 5th, Felony Murder Elimination Project Strongly urges our supporters to Vote NO on Prop 36. The failed mass incarceration era policies of the past are not the solution to our future.