Books Not Bars

[realFedUp]

http://www.booksnotbars.org

Take action.

Books Not Bars (BNB) is fighting to redirect California's public resources away from punishment for young people and towards opportunity.

Currently, our "Alternatives for Youth" Campaign is fighting to close the California Youth Authority (CYA) eight youth prisons. We also coordinate a statewide network for parents of incarcerated youth, called Families for Books Not Bars. And, we have a youth organizing and leadership development program called Let's Get Free.

Mass incarceration is a crisis in California. For decades, the state has poured money into its abusive, costly, and ineffective prison system, claiming this will make neighborhoods safe from crime. So, what do we have to show for this? The largest, and most expensive, prison system in the nation. A prison system that warehouses and abuses people, the vast majority of whom are from low-income communities of color. And streets and neighborhoods that are no safer than they were twenty years ago.

BNB has a different vision for how to make our communities safe and healthy. We know California s current prison system was never meant to truly provide for the safety and well being of low income communities and communities of color. We also know what these communities need instead. The government should invest in opportunity -- not punishment. The safest communities are the ones with the best schools and the most jobs -- not the ones with the biggest police departments or the most jail cells. This is the future that California deserves. It is the future that Books Not Bars is fighting for. And we want you to be a part of it.

Click to sign the petition. 10,000 signatures wanted.