Californians United for a Responsible Budget

Contact Rose Braz: 510-435-6809 (CURB)
Ari Wohlfeiler: 646-522-4886 (CURB)

Statewide 'Reverse Ribbon Cuttings'
Mark Delano II Opening
Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) asks:
'Why are we closing schools and hospitals and opening a prison?'

WHAT: "REVERSE RIBBON CUTTINGS" TO PROTEST THE OPENING OF THE DELANO II PRISON

WHO: CALIFORNIANS UNITED FOR A RESPONSIBLE BUDGET (CURB)

WHEN: NOON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2005
(NOTE: SF LOCATION ONLY TIME IS 3:30PM)

WHERE: LOCATIONS ACROSS THE STATE

OAKLAND: State Building, 1515 Clay St.
Contact: Critical Resistance, 510.435.6809 (Cell), 510.444.0484 (Office)

SAN FRANCISCO: Golden Gate Elementary, 1601 Turk St.
NOTE: Time for SF only is 3:30pm
Contact: Teachers 4 Social Justice, 415.516.0338 (Cell)

DELANO: Delano II Prison Gates, West Cecil Ave. X Wasco Pond Rd.
Contact: Dolores Huerta Foundation, 661.322.3035 (Office), 415.377.4184 (Cell)

LOS ANGELES: King/Drew Medical Ctr., 12021 So. Wilmington
Contact: FACTS 213.746.4844 (Office); 510.290.7784 (Cell)

FRESNO: Fresno County Board Of Education, 1111 Van Ness Ave.
Contact: CA Prison Moratorium Project, 559.916.4370 (Cell)

VISUALS TO INCLUDE STREET THEATER, BANNER, PLACARDS

Led by a 40 plus member statewide coalition, Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), groups across California will protest the opening of what the Los Angeles Times called perhaps "the most controversial prison project in California history", Delano II.

Protestors will perform "Reverse Ribbon Cuttings" to highlight the continued growth of California's spending on prisons during the ongoing budget crisis that is forcing major cuts in education and social services.

In Oakland, protestors will tie a ribbon in front of the State Building. "That the state will spend $750 million to build a new prison while Oakland and San Francisco students face devastating school closures is a scandal," said Ari Wohlfeiler of CURB. "Imagine what a $750 million investment in Oakland schools could reap. Delano II will cost us $100 million a year in operations costs. That $100 million could keep Oakland's schools open next year."

Protests will also take place in Fresno at the Fresno County Board of Education, Los Angeles in front of the King / Drew Medical Center which is facing closure, and Delano, in front of the gates to Delano II.

In San Francisco, Teachers 4 Social Justice will tie a ribbon in front of Golden Gate Elementary, a school slated for closure due to the budget crisis in the San Francisco School District. "They can spend our tax dollars to lock us up, but not to give us decent education," said Karen Zapata of Teachers 4 Social Justice.

"The Department of Corrections is opening Delano II despite the fact that California's prison population is lower today than it was when this prison was planned 6 years ago," said USC Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore. As of May 11, California held 161,174 prisoners. On June 30, 1999, there were 162,064 and a year later, 162,000.

Gov. Gray Davis revived plans for the prison, first proposed in the early 1990s, soon after taking office in 1999, despite a downturn in the state's prison population and years of falling crime rates. "Delano II was a thank you gift to the guards for their substantial financial support of Davis," said Rose Braz of Critical Resistance.

More that 80 organizations from across California joined forces to stop the building of Delano II. More than one thousand from Delano voiced opposition to the prison, many noting that from experience with Delano I, a new prison would not bolster Delano's economy.

The election of Arnold Schwarzenegger and his refusal to take campaign contributions from the guards promised a new day in Corrections policy in California. "Prison reform has been the flavor of the month in Sacramento," commented Debbie Reyes of the Fresno-based Prison Moratorium Project. "But this prison reform looks a lot like the old policies: more cells to lock up more people. Both rural and urban Californians are getting a raw deal here."

Since 1980, California's spending on prisons has grown from around two percent of General Fund outlays to over eight percent as the prison population has grown from 25,000 to over 160,000 in just 25 years.

"Education, health care, transportation, housing, mental health services have all taken major hits in state spending because of the budget crises this decade," said Camilla Chavez of the Dolores Huerta Foundation in Delano. "Only the Corrections budget continues to grow. And Schwarzenegger opening Delano II will grow it another $100 million a year."

As recently as July 2004, Youth and Adult Correctional Agency Secretary Rod Hickman assured the state that Delano II would be the end of the prison-building boom. "The era of building prisons is essentially over," he told the Sacramento Bee. But in the Governor's May Revise budget is a request for funds to plan three new prisons, in Chino, San Luis Obispo and Sacramento. Total estimated cost: $1.5 Billion for construction and at least another $1 Billion in debt service.