Care First. Jail Last.
By: Poncho Guevara, Executive Director
Our Community and Corporate Partnerships Manager, Luc Gnamien, speaking at the rally.
On January 25th, a broad coalition including Sacred Heart Community Service members and allies won significant commitments to reform the jail system in this community, but ultimately, our elected leaders wasted an historic opportunity to take even more meaningful steps away from an antiquated and broken model of incarceration.
We may not know for years what decisions made by the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors on January 25th, 2022 yield for our community, but we are proud of the progress made and wary of the road ahead.
In 2015 Michael Tyree was killed by three correctional officers while in custody at Santa Clara County jail. That tragedy propelled a public reckoning of a painful reality that many of us–too many of us–choose to ignore: the way we deal with crime and punishment is broken. A federal court agreement has spurred hundreds of millions of dollars in changes, but conditions are still abysmal.
Jails are toxic, dangerous places that do not help people heal or rehabilitate. Jails are toxic, traumatic places to work. Jails further exacerbate suffering on those incarcerated and their loved ones. The disproportionate concentration of incarcerated poor, brown and black humans with mental health challenges and disabilities is painful evidence of costly failures of our community to address the roots of economic and racial inequality.
The County decided on a 3-2 vote to move forward with plans to build a new jail facility. However, we also got some commitments to:
Close/demolish jail spaces at both Main Jail North and Elmwood Correctional Facility,
Develop a comprehensive treatment plan and continuum of care model for justice-involved clients, and
Build a stand-alone behavioral health facility under the direction of the County Health System, not the Department of Correction.
What we also won was:
Being a core part of an campaign that centered the voices and experiences of families of the incarcerated
Witnessing the passionate leadership of our leaders in Showing up for Racial Justice (SURJ) and Racial Equity & Community Safety (RECS) committees,
Working in solidarity with 47 sister community-based organizations in the Race Equity Action Leadership coalition. We broke down silos and engaged non-traditional partners.
Reframing the narrative by centering equity and racial justice in a clear and consistent message.
Over 240 of us spoke out, called, joined delegations, wrote letters and editorials. We used our voices to ask for something better, and the fight will continue.