Did you know that while the United States makes up only five percent of the world’s population, we house a staggering 25 percent of the world’s prison population? And according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, nearly half of all state prisoners are serving time for non-violent offenses. The racial and gender identities of these prisoners is extremely skewed, and the seeming lack of awareness that a large portion of the public seems to have about the treatment of prisoners leads to outrageous human rights violations, like the fact that 67 percent of LGBTQ inmates in California have been assaulted while incarcerated. These statistics should shock anyone who believes in a just and healthy society and it should be at the forefront in priorities for the LGBTQ movement.
This November, California will have the opportunity to become the first state in the nation to keep people that are sentenced for low level non-violent offenses from ever entering the state prison system.
Passing Prop 47, The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, will achieve this goal by reclassifying low-level nonviolent offenses, such as petty theft under $950 and simple drug possession, from felonies to misdemeanors. On top of the mountain of bias queer and trans people already face, being branded a felon makes a person more prone to further discrimination in housing and employment.
California has the highest recidivism rate in the nation. Today, 6 in 10 people released from prison return within three years. The current system does nothing to address the epidemic of overcrowded prisons and shattered lives. “What will?”, you ask… For starters, the up to 200 million dollars of annual savings that will be redirected to actual solutions.
It is estimated that between 20-30 percent of gay and transgender people suffer from substance abuse related issues, often do to chronic houselessness and lack of job opportunities, and approximately 1 in 6 people have been in state prison for crimes committed to pay for their drug addiction. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation show that 45 percent of its prisoners recently experienced mental illness. 65 percent of the annual savings from Prop 47 will go to mental health & drug treatment.
LGBTQ youth have some of the highest dropout, houseless, and arrest rates in the country and that number jumps significantly for queer and trans youth of color. Our kids are at an extremely disproportionately heightened risk of entering the school-to-prison pipeline and the status quo is keeping them there. 25 percent of Prop 47 savings will go to K-12 programs for at-risk youth while the final 10 percent goes to victim/survivor services.
The law enforcement community is split on Prop 47. Many opponents profit from the system functioning the way it does, some need to appear “tough on crime” to gain reelection, while others simply believe that some people are disposable and are susceptible to extremely bad ideas. The LGBTQ community should not be split on The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act. In the Spirit of Stonewall, we should join together against state violence & injustice and VOTE YES ON 47.
For more information on how to help fight the school-to-prison pipeline and support prisoners rights, check out Canvass for a Cause, The Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Black and Pink, the LA Youth Justice Coalition and The ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties.
